William Westran (c.1822-1889) was born at Richmond, Yorkshire, the son of John and Martha.  Little is known of William’s early life.   He may have been baptised at Handsworth, where in 1841 his father was living and working as a cordwainer.  William’s whereabouts at that time are unknown, but in 1849 he appeared in a Sheffield directory as a cutler at Rockingham Lane.  Thereafter, he led a varied career.  In the Census, he usually described himself as a spring knife manufacturer or manager.   For example, in the directory of 1856 he was a manufacturer based at Wellington Street.  At about that time, he is known to have worked as a manager (usually in the warehouse) at George Wostenholm & Sons and Edward Barnes & Sons   However, in the 1860s, he was also a publican at the Red Lion Inn, Cambridge Street; and in the following decade was landlord at the Old Ball Inn, 86 Carver Street.  Westran was an ardent trade unionist.  As secretary of the spring knife committee, he was quick to publicise in letters to the press his view that the wages of spring knife cutlers had suffered a significant reduction (Sheffield Independent, 9 February, 23 February, 9 March, 1850).  Westran was especially interested in the development of friendly societies.  

At the Ball Inn, he became bankrupt in 1879, with debts of £790 against assets of £50.  However, he continued as a publican and in the Census (1881) was still at the Ball Inn (besides working as a manager at a factor’s warehouse).  He died at 86 Carver Street on 2 April 1889, aged 66.  He was buried in the General Cemetery, leaving £96.  His obituaries made no mention of his work in cutlery and instead concentrated on his association with the Order of Oddfellows (Sheffield Independent, 4 April 1889).  In 1891, a drinking fountain was erected at Meersbrook Park by members of the British United Order of Oddfellows ‘to perpetuate the memory of the late William Westran, one of its founders and corresponding secretary for twenty-one years, [who] died while still in office’.   The fountain still stands at Meersbrook Park.