By 1839, Thomas McGivern (born in Ireland, c.1807) was trading as a cutlery dealer in Snig Hill.   He remained at that address for the next twenty-five years.  He advertised in 1856 as the ‘Cheapest House in Sheffield’.   As a ‘general merchant’, he sold butchers’, table, pen, and pocket knives and ‘always [had] a large stock on hand for American and Continental markets’.   In 1860, John McClory was listed as a partner.  Thomas’s son (William) joined the business, when he came of age in 1860, and the firm was styled Thomas McGivern & Son.  By 1871, Thomas McGivern (residing in Monmouth Street) had apparently retired.  He died on 8 August 1873, aged 65, leaving under £4,000.