In the Census (1851), John and Martha Forde were in Sheaf Street, living with two sons, John (aged 12) and Thomas (aged 10).   John, who was born in Dronfield, was a forty-year-old ‘caster’; Martha, born in Worrall, was aged forty, with no occupation.  By 1854, Martha was listed as a scissors manufacturer in Sheaf Street.   By 1861, her sons had joined her.  In 1871, the Census enumerated John (61) and Martha (65) in Sheaf Street, though only Martha was described as a scissors manufacturer.  She employed two men, a boy, and five females.   Her husband may have been ill, because he died in Sheaf Street on 26 September 1871, aged 61.   By 1876, Martha’s two sons, John and Thomas, had established Forde Bros, a cutlery caster in Hollis Croft and Whitecroft.   Mrs Martha Forde & Sons was a scissors manufacturer at the same Hollis Croft address.  In a directory (1880), the latter was listed as a maker of fine steel scissors, tailors’ shears, vine scissors, pruners, horse trimmers, and lamp scissors for home and export trade.  Martha died at 40 Hollis Croft on 7 February 1879, aged 72, leaving under £300.  In 1881, the Hollis Croft business was operated by John and Thomas, who employed six men in scissors manufacture and cutlery casting.  By 1883, apparently only John was active and Mrs Martha Forde & Sons was soon defunct.