The Dungworth name originated in Bradfield chapelry.  It is one of the most common names listed in the burial registers of All Saints Parish Church in Ecclesall.  Various Dungworths were involved in the cutlery trades – usually making pocket knives or scissors.   For example, Jonathan Dungworth appeared in the 1787 directory as a maker of common pen and pocket knives in Meadow Street.  He used the mark ‘1772’.  The name appeared again in 1811 in Edward Street.  Possibly this was Jonathan Dungworth, son of Jonathan, who was apprenticed to Benjamin Hobson (a cutler in Worrall), who was granted his Freedom in 1771 (Leader, 1905-06¹).  Dungworths proliferated in the Sheffield cutlery trades in the early nineteenth century – several named ‘John’.   For example, between 1816 and 1833 three John Dungworths operated in the town (in Cornhill, Allen Street, and New Church Street) manufacturing pocket knives, farriers’ knives, and phlemes.   After 1833, it becomes possible to find more detail about these cutlers:

John Dungworth (1785-1841): scissors manufacturer, Hollis Croft.  Possibly, he was the John Dungworth who partnered Thomas Hunt in Pond Street, c.1816-1819.  This cutler was listed in 1833 and 1841.  He was buried in Portobello churchyard on 1 May 1841, aged 57.  In 1809, he married Mary Cox (1787-1851) and they had at least one son, Henry (1816-1878).  (John Dungworth Jun., a phleme, lancet, and veterinary instrument maker – listed in Cabbage Alley in 1841 – may also have been related).  Henry continued in his father’s trade as scissors manufacturer and was based in Pea Croft.  Henry died in 1878, aged 62.  In 1836, he had married Sarah Oglesby in Rotherham and they had a son, John.  The latter was born in about 1837 and also became a scissors manufacturer.  His wife was Mary Ann.  This John Dungworth is the likeliest candidate for the fine scissors maker of that name, who advertised in 1862 in the local directory.  He apparently died in 1900.

John Dungworth (1800-1863): table blade forger, who may have been the cutler of that name listed in 1833 in Duke Street.  He was enumerated in the Census (1851) in Bramall Lane, employing one boy.  He died at the residence of his son in Fitzwilliam Street on 17 September 1863, aged 63, and was buried in Ecclesall.  He bequeathed under £300 to his wife Elizabeth.  

John Dungworth (c.1816-1884): scissor smith, whose wife was also named Mary Ann.  He died in Bank Street on 11 October 1884, aged 68, leaving £1,510.  He was buried in Ecclesall.

John Dungworth (c.1827-1899): scissor smith, who was the son of Jonathan Dungworth (c.1791-1859) and his wife Ann.  This branch of the Dungworths lived at Dove Houses, Greystones.  By the 1880s, John Dungworth had become a farmer and gardener.  He was buried in Ecclesall on 24 October 1899, aged 73.

^1. Leader, R E, History of the Company of Cutlers in Hallamshire in the County of York (Sheffield, 1905-6)