Joseph Firth
of Sheffield
Note: Although the name Firth is synonymous with Sheffield steel, it may be that Joseph Firth should be Joseph Frith. Both names are found in old newspaper reports. See Kenyon, Frith and Woolhouse
1803 'On Sunday a dreadful accident happened to Mr. Joseph Firth, of Sheffield, one of the people called Quakers:- He was a partner in the Steam Mill Grinding Wheel, in the Ponds, where he went into a room, and, being taken with dizziness, he fell among the wheels and was hurled twice round with great velocity before the works could be stopped, when, melancholy to relate, he was taken out quite dead, a shocking spectacle; having his back broke and being otherwise much mangled. It is very singular that when the works were first erected, Mr. Firth ordered a partition to be made, to prevent accidents, in the very same place where he received his death, and, previous to that circumstance, was the person who had directed it to be taken down.'[1]
1803 Advertisement for sale by auction: 'TWO SIXTH SHARES in the POND FORGE ROLLING and SLITTING MILLS, and GRINDING WHEEL, situate in Sheffield aforesaid, late the Property of Mr. Joseph Firth, deceased.'[2]