Short answers, pulled from the story.
Benjamin Huntsman (the 4th of June 1704 - the 20th of June 1776) was an English inventor and manufacturer who developed the crucible steel process. His method used clay pot crucibles each holding about 34 pounds of blistered steel, heated with coke for around three hours, producing cast steel of exceptional hardness and consistency.
Huntsman began experimenting with steel in Doncaster, Yorkshire, then moved to Handsworth, near Sheffield, in 1740 to continue his work. In 1770 he relocated his enterprise to Worksop Road in Attercliffe, where he operated until his death.
The Sheffield cutlery manufacturers refused Huntsman's cast steel because it was harder than the German steel they were accustomed to working with. Huntsman responded by exporting his entire output to France, until French cutlery made from his steel began competing with Sheffield's own trade.
The first object to contain crucible cast steel was a longcase clock made by Huntsman himself. It is on display in the Enid Hattersley Gallery at Kelham Island Museum.
Huntsman never patented his process, and a Sheffield iron-founder named Walker discovered it. According to legend, Walker entered Huntsman's works disguised as a starving beggar asking to sleep by a fire, allowing him to observe the operation.
Benjamin Huntsman was buried with a commemorative tomb at Hilltop Cemetery on Attercliffe Common. In Sheffield, one of the original main buildings at the Northern General Hospital is named after him, and a Wetherspoons pub in the city centre bears the name The Benjamin Huntsman.