David Miller was born in Brampton, Cumberland, in about 1794.  By 1829, he was listed in Sheffield as an ironmonger, merchant, and table knife manufacturer in Orchard Street.  Between 1833 and 1849, he was running a ‘Birmingham and Sheffield warehouse’ in Fargate.  In about 1851, David Miller & Son was operating from Eldon Works in Eldon Street as a merchant and razor and spring knife manufacturer.  In the 1850s, the founder lived at Tapton Ville with his wife, Jane, and son, Joseph.  David Miller died at Tapton Ville on 20 March 1870, aged 76, and was buried in Ecclesall.  He left under £5,000.  Joseph died in Ranmoor on 30 August 1880, aged 54, and was buried in Fulwood.  His estate was under £14,000.  The leasehold warehouses in Eldon Street and the four-storey workshops at the back were offered for sale, along with the trade mark – a  picture of a broom, which the firm had used since about 1851 (Sheffield Independent, 4 June 1881). 

The Miller name and mark passed to Castle & Turton, a scythe manufacturer, based at Premier Works in Wentworth Street.  In 1883, ‘David Miller & Son’ advertised table and pocket cutlery in a Sheffield directory.  After one of the partners – Jonathan Castle – died in 1887, the other partner, Charles Turton, sold Premier Works in 1895.  The Miller name and mark passed to Thomas Henry Blake.  Miller remained listed at Blake’s address in Carver Lane between about 1911 and the 1920s.