Charles Wreaks was a scissors manufacturer.  He was probably the son of John, a scissor smith, and his wife Elizabeth, who baptised Charles on 19 July 1797 at St Peter’s parish church.  Charles’s early career is obscure, but by 1833 he was apparently listed as a pork butcher at 25 Pinstone Street.  By 1837, he was still residing at that address, but operating as a scissor smith in Burgess Street.  The Census (1841) enumerated him as a scissors manufacturer, Pinstone Street, where he lived with his wife, Margaret, and three infants (two sons and a daughter).  By 1845, Wreaks had moved his workshop and home to Carver Street.  He died there in March 1851, aged 53.  He was buried in St Paul’s churchyard on 30th of that month, though his passing was not apparently reported in the press.  His wife, Margaret, died at Heeley Bank on 25 June 1863, aged 65.  She left under £600.