After George Woofindin died at his home at Kenwood Bank, Sharrow, on 21 June 1895 (aged 84), his press obituary was brief.  A few weeks later, the press reported a ‘local sensation’:  this unobtrusive resident had left a fortune of £131,516 – mostly to charity (Sheffield Independent, 2, 3 August 1895).  This charitable bequest – the largest ever in Sheffield (surpassing even the £102,445 sum left by Samuel Bailey – created the George Woofindin Almshouses at Hunter’s Bar and Woofindin Convalescent Home at Whiteley Wood.  Woofindin was described as a ‘cutlery manufacturer’ or simply ‘manufacturer’, though his occupation and how he accumulated such wealth have been unclear.   According to one account, his father was Richard Woofindin, a man of German descent, who in 1800 lived in Charles Street (Sheffield Daily Telegraph, 13 April 1900).  He died in Fitzwilliam Street on 6 May 1842, aged 73, and was buried in St James churchyard.   His wife was apparently Ann.   Woofindin had a daughter (Ann) and four sons:  Alfred (c.1800-1867), Verdon (c.1803-1888), Vincent (c.1807-1880), George (c.1811-1895), and James (1815-1879).   George was a ‘die sinker’ in the Census (1841); another source stated that he was a ‘modeller’ – presumably making patterns for silverware dies.   Verdon was also a die sinker, silver chaser, and embosser.   James was a carver, gilder, and operator of an ‘artists’ repository’ in Fargate.  Alfred and Vincent became pressers and dealers in horn, with premises in Bowden and Wellington Streets.  

By the 1860s, the Woofindins had largely disappeared from the trade sections of local directories, but were listed as gentlemen (in other words, retired).  Alfred, Verdon, Vincent, and George never married (and their sister, Ann, died a spinster).   Alfred, Verdon, and George lived in the same house.   The brothers were ‘all successful in business and they were very thrifty’ (Sheffield Daily Telegraph, 13 April 1900).   Alfred left under £6,000; Verdon £21,975; Vincent £29, 615; and James under £6,000.   George garnered the Woofindin wealth.  He was buried in the General Cemetery, where his trustees later erected a monument (close to the statue of James Montgomery).