Robert M. McTurk’s parents were Scottish.  They were Andrew McTurk, a draper, and his wife, Helen (or Ellen) Frances.  In the Census (1841), the McTurks lived in St James Street.  By 1852, Robert described himself as a merchant and manufacturer in Carver Street.  In the following year, he advertised as the ‘sole manufacturer’ of Russell’s Patent Seamless Metallic Handle Table Cutlery, alongside Bowie knives, daggers, silver plated desserts, and scales for pen and pocket knives and razors (Sheffield Independent, 25 June 1853).  He later introduced an ‘entirely new feature’: a composition covering for the metallic handles, which offered scope for various colours and designs for ornamentation.  He also offered for sale razors with Britannia metal scales.  McTurk’s cutlery ventures did not prove successful.  A partnership with George East as a manufacturer of patent enamelled collars was dissolved in 1863; and in the following year he was bankrupt.  He later moved to Rotherham and died there on 30 June 1903, aged 75.  The McTurk family grave (unconsecrated) is in the General Cemetery, Sheffield.