William Rufus Nutt (1848-1931) was born in Sheffield.  He was enumerated in the Census (1871) in Shortridge Street, living with his widowed mother, Ann Nutt (d.1876, aged 54).   His father, William Rufus (born c.1816), had been a cutlery merchant (Glossop & Nutt).  William Rufus Sen. was bankrupt in 1843 (Sheffield Independent, 7 October 1843).   He was a warehouseman in the Census (1851).   His son became a silversmith, who by 1878 was a manufacturer of electro-plated goods at Wentworth Works, Burgess Street.  In the early 1890s, he relocated to Norfolk Place, Suffolk Road, and restyled the firm ‘& Co’.   According to Scott (1980)¹, Nutt occupied the former premises of Shaw & Fisher.  In 1896, he registered the silver mark ‘WRN’.  He partnered John Walter Biggins (see Biggins Bros) until 1903, but afterwards left Sheffield to live at Barker Street, Villa Cross, Birmingham.  In 1911, he was working as a poulterer and egg dealer.   William Rufus Nutt died on 12 June 1931 in Thanington Road, Deal.   He left £1,198 to his widow, Amelia.

^1. Scott, Jack L, Pewter Wares from Sheffield (Baltimore, 1980)