| Administrative History | Charles Cammell (1810-1879) was born in Hull, Yorkshire, where he was later apprenticed to an ironmonger. On completing his apprenticeship in 1830, he moved to Sheffield and was employed by Messrs. Ibbotson, of the Globe Works, as a commercial traveller. In 1837 with Thomas Manby Johnson and Henry Johnson, Charles Cammell established Johnson, Cammell and Company, an iron and steel manufacturers and merchants at Furnival Street, Sheffield. The firm later became known as Charles Cammell and Company (first mentioned as such in the Sheffield and Rotherham Independent, Supplement, Saturday, 25 Oct 1856).
In 1861 the company started to make rails and railway material and in 1863 began making armour plates. Business had expanded considerably, and in the same year, additional works were built at Grimesthorpe. The company adoped limited liability in 1864. After Charles' death, the company acquired various others, including Dronfield Steel Works in 1882. By 1885 the company consisted of: Cyclops Steel and Iron Works, Sheffield; Grimesthorpe Ordnance, Tyre and Spring works, Sheffield; Yorkshire Steel Works at Penistone; Derwent Steel and Iron Works at Workington; Old and new Oaks Collieries, near Barnsley; other iron mines near Whitehaven. In 1903 Took over the Birkenhead shipbuilding yards of Laird Brothers and this became Cammell, Laird and Co. In 1928, this company was one of several merged to create the English Steel Corporation , which was then nationalised in 1968.
Charles Cammell often resided at Norton Hall, but also spent time in Hampshire, Kent and Surrey, and is found at Westwood House, Lewisham on the 1851 census and Ditchman House, Buriton in 1861. He died at 7 Southwick Crescent, London on 12 January 1879 and was buried at St Michael's Parish Church in Hathersage on 17 January. |
| Custodial History | These records were deposited at Sheffield City Library by Cooper, Bake, Fettes, Roche and Wade in October 1965 and transferred to Derbyshire Record Office in February 2015. |