John Holmes Laver (1880-1950) was born on 25 April 1880 in Sheffield, the son of Hugh Press Laver, a police constable, & Eliza, his wife (nee Holmes).
He initially trained as a grinder, specialising in making farriers' knives for leading Sheffield firms before eventually setting up his own business - J. H. Laver & Company, Cambridge Street.

He was also gained a reputation nationally as an artist and one of his paintings was exibited at the Royal Academy on 1938.  The press reported at the time that: "It was not until he was over 20 years of age that Mr Laver began to take a keen interest in art.  Previously he was a well-known local athlete, and keen on physical culture... He joined the Hallamshire Society of Artists, the Heeley Art Society and the Sheffield Society of Artists".  (Daily Independent, 28 April 1938)

J. H. Laver died in 1950, at the age of 70 and is buried in City Road Cemetery.  His obituary in the Sheffield Telegraph noted that "most of the major art galleries in the country exhibited [his] pictures". (Sheffield Telegraph, 9 Oct 1950)  Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet has one of his works which has the title of 'Jobbing Grinder'.