The Barnascones were Swiss Catholics, whose original name was Bernasconi.  By 1833, Lewis Barnascone was listed as an optician, cutler, and hardware man in Waingate.  In the Census (1841), Lewis and Martha Barnascone (aged 40 and 42, respectively) were enumerated as shopkeepers, alongside Quirico Barnascone.  The latter had been born in about 1814 in Mendrisio, Switzerland, near Lake Como.   According to Industries of Sheffield (1888)¹, Lewis Barnascone had founded the business in 1820 and Quirico was his nephew.  After Lewis died in 1849, Quirico adopted the name ‘Lewis’ and began dealing in cutlery and hardware goods.   Lewis’s brother, Henry Barnascone, joined the firm.  Lewis had three sons – John (1850-1930), Lewis (30 August 1852-1925), and Charles (1855-1909) – who were also recruited.   In 1882, Lewis Barnascone had moved to Mulberry Street and also had offices in High Street.   Quirico ‘Lewis’ Barnascone died suddenly on 19 February 1877 at his residence in Mendrisio.  He was aged 62.   His widow, Carolina, died a decade later on 25 February 1887, aged 56.  Their sons continued the firm.  In 1906, Lewis Jun. relinquished his share in the Sheffield company, so that he could concentrate on the Barnascone’s Paris branch at Rue de Braque, which sold ‘spécialtiés anglaises’ (bicycles and automobiles).   Lewis Jun. died in Paris in 1925.

John and Charles continued to run the business in Arundel Street and Tudor Place.  Charles died on 26 April 1909 in Blackpool, where he was a dealer in jewellery, plate, and Birmingham goods.   Aged 55, he was found dead at the foot of the cliffs.  An inquest decided he had probably collapsed and then drowned (Sheffield Daily Telegraph, 28 April 1909).  He left £8,164.  After the funeral at St Wilfrid’s Catholic Church, Shoreham Street, he was buried in Intake cemetery.   John had been in charge of the firm since 1907.  He continued to run the firm until he retired twenty years later.  He died on 17 May 1930 and was buried at Worksop.  An obituary described him as a ‘well-known Sheffield Roman Catholic’ (Sheffield Daily Telegraph, 19, 23 May 1930).  Probate of £6,446 was granted to his widow, Mary Lavnia Bernasconi.   The company ceased trading.  The Barnascone marks were a picture of a grasshopper; and the word ‘COMBINATION’ with a picture of a comb.  The name ‘MULBERRY CUTLERY Co’ was also used.

^1. The Industries of Sheffield:  Business Review (1888)