Joseph Hancock (bapt.1711-1791) was probably the son of Benjamin Hancock, who was apprenticed in 1728 to cutler Thomas Mitchell.  He started in business in about 1750, when he manufactured plated handles for cutlery and snuff boxes.  By the end of that decade, he had led the way in adapting fused plate to much larger articles than those made by Thomas Boulsover.  These included pans and other household utensils.  Hancock’s wider success with fused plate overshadowed Boulsover.  He became Master Cutler in 1763 – the year he was appointed Town Trustee.  At about this time, he established a water-powered mill on the Don for glazing cutlery and rolling plated metal.  He was joined by his sons, Joseph Jr. and William, in Hancock & Sons, which had a capital of £3,000 and had its main office at High Street (Crosskey, 2011¹)

In 1771, Joseph ended the partnership with his son, William (apparently, Joseph Jun. had died).  In 1773, Joseph became one of the thirty original Guardians of the Sheffield Assay Office.  He also continued to operate the rolling milling.  In 1787, Joseph Hancock (presumably the Joseph) was listed in a directory as a plated metal roller at Union Street.  Meanwhile, William Hancock joined John Rowbotham and others, but left Sheffield in 1773 and later set up a workshop at Boulton & Watt’s Soho manufactory (Crosskey, 2011¹).

Joseph Hancock died on 25 November 1791, aged 80.  The Sheffield Local Register described him as the ‘founder of the plated trade in Sheffield’, because he was the first to start a manufactory for plated ware.  His ‘relict’, Martha née Brooks, died on 4 March 1802 and (like her late husband) was buried at the parish churchyard.  The rolling mill was run for a time by their son, Ebenezer, who had been baptised at Upper Chapel in 1765.   Ebenezer died  in April 1814, aged 48, and was buried at St James Church on 25th .  The register noted his occupation as ‘rowlin mill’ [sic].

^1. Crosskey, Gordon, Old Sheffield Plate: A History of the 18th Century Plated Trade (Sheffield, 2011)