This firm made silver fruit knives and also dealt in cutlery goods.  It was apparently founded in 1831, when it registered a silver mark (H & B) from Union Lane.  The partnership involved Samuel Hardy, John Bell, and Thomas Hardy.  That arrangement was dissolved in 1834.  Thereafter the only partner who can be tracked with reasonable certainty is Thomas Hardy (c.1800-1881).  He registered his own mark in 1836.  Most of his subsequent life was spent living in Brown Street, with a workshop in Union Lane and then Arundel Street.  He described himself variously as a pearl handle studder and fruit knife and German silver blade manufacturer.  He may also have briefly operated a shop in Charles Street.  In the Census (1881), he was enumerated as a ‘silver cutler’ in Arundel Street.  He died there on 2 August 1881, aged 81, and was buried in the General Cemetery.