It has five schools, four churches, a variety of small shops, a large supermarket, and a range of commercial and light industrial businesses.

Politically, Handsworth is part of the Woodhouse ward in the Sheffield South East parliamentary constituency.

In the Domesday Book account,[4] Handsworth is spelt "Handeswrde" and is joined to Whiston ("Witestan") to form a single manor.

[7] St Mary's Parish Centre holds displays of artefacts, documents, records, photographs and maps relating to Handsworth and its history.

The origins of this ancient ritual are unknown, but written records held by the team go back to the middle of the 19th century.

It survived through the Second World War because the sword dancers had priority occupations in the coal mines and in the steel works, so they were not conscripted.

The traditional dancing on Boxing Day in Handsworth and Woodhouse was revived in 1963, and in 1976 the clowns were reintroduced, though they later lapsed.

The Stayce family had lived at Ballifield Hall in Handsworth for centuries but it was in Trenton, New Jersey, in America, that Mahlon made his name and his fortune.

During the Interregnum, Quakers were treated with suspicion and hostility, and persecution continued following the restoration of Charles II, as they still refused to conform, even outwardly, to the Church of England.

Some members of the Stayce family are buried in a private Quaker graveyard at Cinder Hill, now in the back garden of a house.

Huntsman made a highly significant scientific discovery which enabled Sheffield to develop from small township into one of the leading northern industrial cities that shaped the destiny of Victorian Britain.

It seems probable that Huntsman moved to Handsworth because he was aware of the nearby glassworks in Catcliffe where vessels were used in which the materials were melted at very high temperatures.

Huntsman found that he could benefit in Handsworth not only from the experience of the glass makers but also from the ready access to refractory materials and fireclays in the Sheffield district.

He was keen to play an active role in the civic affairs and so became a candidate for Attercliffe ward in the town's first municipal elections on 1 November 1843.

William Jeffcock was succeeded as Sheffield's Mayor in 1844 by his first cousin, Thomas Dunn, who was also a Handsworth resident.

Group Captain Percy Charles "Pick" Pickard (1915–1944) was a Royal Air Force bomber pilot and commander during the Second World War.

Actor Sean Bean, born 1959, grew up in Handsworth and attended Brook School (now a housing estate).