The Hinchliffes were scissors manufacturers, though the family could not always agree on their name.  ‘Hinchcliff’, ‘Hinchsliffe, and ‘Hinchcliffe’ were among the variations.  This branch of the family can be traced to John (a scissorsmith), whose three sons entered the scissors trade, after apprenticeship to their father.  The trio were John, Robert, and David, who became Freemen in 1769, 1770, and 1776, respectively.  They specialised in fine scissors.  In the first Sheffield directory (1774), John and Robert Hinchsliffe & Co was listed in Copper Street, using the marks ‘LAMPREY’ and ‘SARUM G’.  By 1787 John (using ‘LAMPREY’) was in Gibraltar, but he abandoned scissors to work as a constable and landlord of The Greyhound, on the corner of Copper Street and Gibraltar, which had a bowling green on the other side of the street (Sheffield Independent, 21 December 1874, 1 May 1879).  The pub (pictured in Liversidge, 1999¹) was also once operated by William Broadhead (the trades unionist involved with the Sheffield Outrages).  The Greyhound was demolished in 2005.  

John’s son was Joseph Hinchsliffe.   David Hinchsliffe was listed in Nursery Walk between 1797 and 1817 (using a Maltese cross/heart device, with the letter ‘IH’) and was briefly involved with Broomhead, Hinchsliffe & Co.  In 1785, he became the first Methodist Sunday school teacher in Sheffield.

Robert Hinchliffe became a renowned scissor maker.  According to Leader (1905)², he made:

An immense stride in perfecting scissors … in 1761, when [he] produced the first pair made of cast steel, hardened and polished.  The story is that love stimulated his inventive genius, and that his efforts were inspired by desire to win the affections of a young woman he wished to take for his wife.  The forming of the bows was his greatest difficulty.  His first method was to make them solid; then drilling a hole, he enlarged this to the required size by laboriously filing away the metal.  Afterwards he hit upon a simpler plan …

Leader did not describe this plan, though it may have involved hot-forging the blades and shaping them with a beaked anvil.  Hinchliffe was apparently the first to hang up a signboard as a ‘fine scissors manufacturer’.   Holland (1843)³ added that Hinchliffe was also the first to make left-handed scissors, ‘an article suited to his own convenience’.   By 1787, Robert was in China (Cheney) Square, using ‘SARUM G’.   Robert died on 26 October 1802: an ‘ingenious man, who had essentially contributed towards the improvement of the manufacture of scissors in the town’ (Sheffield Local Register).  He was buried in St Paul’s churchyard (age not stated).  The Champions gained experience with the firm.  Robert Hinchsliff and Smith, scissors manufacturer, was listed in Cheney Square in 1811.  Hinchcliffe’s daughter, Betty, married Joseph Hobson.  In 1816, Hinchcliffe & Hobson was listed in Cheney Square, until Hobson ‘succeeded’ to the business.

^1. Liversidge, Michael, Sheffield Public Houses (Sheffield, 1999)

^2. Leader, R E, Sheffield in the Eighteenth Century (Sheffield, 2nd edn, 1905)

^3. Holland, Calvert, The Vital Statistics of Sheffield (London, 1843)