Aaron Harrop was born in Sheffield in 1848, the son of George and Mary Harrop.  His father was a labourer, though Aaron was trained as a table knife cutler.  In 1879, thirty-one year-old Aaron Harrop was listed as a table knife and fork manufacturer in Rockingham Street.  He had a staff of one man and two boys.  By 1883, the firm was Aaron Harrop & Sons, located at Sheffield Ivory Works in Rockingham Street.  In 1886, the firm displayed at the South Yorkshire Trades Exhibiton bread knives, which had been carved out of the old oaken pews of the parish church.  In 1887, an advertisement for the company at Carlisle Works, Rockingham Street, offered a wide range of cutlery from table cutlery, bread, butchers’, and spring knives.  The trade mark was a presentation cup (picture) on which was the letters ‘AH’.  However, in 1887 the stock, goodwill, and trade mark of the company were offered for sale.   In the 1890s, George Edward Harrop (one of Aaron’s sons) started his own business.   However, by 1905 the name Aaron Harrop & Sons had reappeared in directories at Rodgers’ Wheel, Norfolk Street.  It was listed until about 1921.   Aaron Harrop, Upper Hanover Street, died on 25 February 1919, aged 70.  He left £228.