Joseph Ruston

Born Chatteris, Cambs in 1835, he went on to become the founder and owner of Ruston, Proctor & Company in 1857, a Lincoln-based industrial equipment manufacturer employing 1600 men. RPC became a public company in 1889, Joseph Ruston receiving £465,000 as the proceeds of the flotation. RPC was taken over by GEC in 1967.

Joseph Ruston died in 1897.

William Jessop & Sons

Thomas Jessop was born on 30th January 1804 at the family home in Blast Lane, Sheffield. The house was situated next to William Jessop’s works, the company, taking the name of the partners, being known as Mitchell, Raikes and Jessop. With expanding markets in the United States Thomas and his brothers joined the business in 1830 and just two years later the small crucible steelmakers became William Jessop & Sons.

The business moved to a site in the Brightside area of Sheffield and later a works at Kilnhurst was added. The Brightside works eventually covered 30 acres and included the site of the former water works. Following the deaths of his father and brothers, Thomas was in sole charge of the business by 1871. The company which was originally established in 1793 became a Limited Company in 1875. Thomas Jessop died on 30th November 1887 and is buried in Ecclesall Parish Churchyard.

In 1901, with problems in Sheffield caused by the high price of fuel and an adverse American tariff the company was having difficulty offering competitive prices to its U.S. customers. Following an amalgamation of some U.S. crucible steel makers, which would make competition even harder, it was considered that a successful melting facility could be set up in the U.S.A. Many British steelmakers considered that the "Made in England" or "Made in Sheffied" marks were a big selling point for their materials, however Jessop's did not hold the view and considered that they could use their Sheffield name on steel which was made in America.

Source: wikipedia.org