William Ibbotson founder of Ibbotson Brothers, steel converters, refiners, manufacturers worldwide merchants built the aptly named Globe Works in 1824. The main building was designed to incorporate a domestic residence. The west wing was residential, the east wing counting houses and warehouses.
In 1863 Ibbotson moved to a site on Cross Smithfield before purchasing the former workhouse on Alma Street which he renamed Globe Steel Works. After Ibbotson, the main building was occupied by John Walters and Co., table and spring cutlery manufacturers; 1865 taken over by Unwin and Rodgers Ltd., occupying Globe Works until 1911. 1912 occupied by G. P. Wall, Magneto Steel Wire Co.
The workshops also occupied by Ball Brothers from 1882-1895. The Ball partnership was dissolved in 1895 but William Ball continued to operate from Globe Works until the mid 1970s.
Information from Globe Works by Kim Streets, 1990 (Sheffield Local Studies Library: MP 2867)
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