Born in Sheffield in about 1821, Burrows was a fork grinder in Spring Street by 1841 and had started his business.  He employed six men in 1851, when he displayed his table cutlery at the Great Exhibition.  By the end of the 1850s, he had moved to Garden Street, where he continued to ply his trade in table cutlery, with a speciality of fork and patented table knives.  In 1861, his workforce was 17 (eight men, six boys, and three women).  Samuel Burrows remained in Garden Street until 1887, when he left to become innkeeper of The Old Heavy Gate Beerhouse, Matlock Road.  He died there on 31 January 1892, aged 71, and was buried in the General Cemetery.  He left £932.  Sarah, his widow, died in 1893.