Walker & Co was launched in 1909 in Mary Street as an electro-plate cutlery manufacturer.  The owner was Sheffield-born Herbert Walker (1877-1951), Kenbourne Grove, Kenbourne Road.  He was the son of file manufacturer William Henry Walker (who in 1881 employed two men and a woman ‘partially’) and his wife, Sarah A.   During the First World War, Walker & Co operated from Cambridge Street.   Between 1919 and 1938, the address was Homeland Works, Button Lane.   In 1923, the firm became a private limited company, with £5,000 capital.   The address was Ringmark Works, Button Lane.  The directors were Herbert Walker (who was permanent managing director and chairman) and Frank Walker (Herbert’s brother).   

In 1932, Walker & Co and L. Nicholls (representative of A. E. Nicholls, Totley) registered a patent for tobacco pipe scrapers.  Walker & Co was liquidated in 1938, when it sold its plant and marks: ‘HOMELAND’ and ‘I WILL’ (Sheffield Daily Independent, 8 February 1938).  According to Scott (1980)¹, ‘HOMELAND’ was stamped on pewter wares.  The mark was later used by Thomas H. Goff.  Herbert Walker died on 2 May 1951, aged 74, leaving £527.

^1. Scott, Jack L, Pewter Wares from Sheffield (Baltimore, 1980)