The name ‘Joseph Rodgers, Clun Street’ appeared on stainless table knives, straight razors, carving knives, and spoons.  The founder was Joseph Rodgers (c.1867-1917), who was born in Sheffield.  In 1890, he married Fanny (1866-1937), the daughter of George W. Senior, a file cutter at 24 Clun Street, Burngreave. George Senior died in the following year. By 1901, Joseph Rodgers was living at the house of his widowed mother-in-law, with wife Fanny and their daughter, Florence (1894-1962).  Joseph was working as a spring knife cutler.  By 1911, Joseph and his family occupied a residence/business at 8 Clun Street.  He now classed himself as a ‘cutlery manufacturer’, with Florence as the ‘lady clerk’. Joseph Rodgers died on 4 November 1917, aged 50, leaving £1,230.  The business was continued by Fanny and Florence. Photographs of the premises (PictureSheffield.com) show that 8 Clun Street (assuming the address had not changed) was a compact, three-storey house. It would have had space for no more than a small workshop or ‘warehouse’, which mostly dealt in factored goods.

Nevertheless, in 1923 Joseph Rodgers & Sons Ltd, of Norfolk Street, launched a legal action against Fanny and Florence.  The plaintiffs objected to the use of the name ‘Joseph Rodgers’, without distinguishing to buyers that the products were made by different manufacturers.  The outcome of the case is unknown, but Joseph Rodgers & Sons had mixed success with such pleadings.  The defendants were described as ‘persons in a humble business’ (Sheffield Daily Telegraph, 13 July 1923).  The press headline, ‘Action against Widow and her Daughter’, was unlikely to have burnished the bigger company’s reputation.

In the interwar years, ‘Joseph Rodgers’ continued to be listed at Clun Street in directories. Fanny died on 6 February 1937, leaving £4,351. Florence continued to trade as a ‘cutlery manufacturer’ at 8 Clun Street, with a single ‘warehouse hand’ (Alice Oliver) at the same address (Register of England & Wales, 1939). ‘Joseph Rodgers’ apparently traded until about 1940.  Florence died on 23 February 1962, leaving £6,471. The Rodgers’ family grave is at Burngreave Cemetery.