Once more thanks for the speedy response. I was looking for Howells rather than Howell as she is listed as Howells on the Familysearch.org transcription of the 1881 census. I ought to know by now to look for similar names!
She is probably distantly related as one of my relatives (the nephew of the one who went to Sheffield) married someone who was a widow called Hale (Mrs. Hale nee Fox) and I notice that the daughter of George Howell is listed as Hale (but this is assuming she is listed as Hale not in error for Howell, i.e. if the name Hale is correct she is more likely to be Mr. Howell's step-daughter or other relative through marriage). The family you have found has a steel connection and is therefore likely to be accurate.

The Mushet- Samuel Osborn steel venture is well documented (I think there are some documents about it elsewhere on this site, the names of the six men to whom I referred are recorded in a book written by one of the Osborn family (referred to by someone else in another section of this website). Osborn Mushet was a very large steel works and significant in the history of steel not just in Sheffield but world-wide as it specialised in making the special kind of steel developed by Mushet. The original works is still in Sheffield but sadly the building is now for sale. The Mushets were originally Scottish and moved to the Forest of Dean.

Thanks for this. All I know is that Emma Howells was living in Sheffield in 1881. The family she lived with were teachers. In the area where they were living were a large number of police officers as it was very close to what was/still is/ the main police station. Coalway is where my Rook family lived (not just one branch of it but several)so I would be surprised if there were no connection. As the name Hancox was that of one of the other men who moved from Coleford to Sheffield to work at Osborn Mushet, could the Hancox have been related to Emma's mother (nee Hancock)? The Mr. Hancox in question was called George. I have tried to find out more about the other men who came to Sheffield but I have not found anything conclusive (I don't know essential things like their date of birth etc) and I wonder whether some might have gone back to the Forest of Dean or moved on elsewhere?
If you have more information I'd be pleased to hear it, meanwhile it would be interesting to see whether Emma married, whether she moved back to Coleford etc.

Name: Alexander Hancock
Estimated birth year: abt 1811
Year of Registration: 1883
Quarter of Registration: Jul-Aug-Sep
Age at Death: 72
District: Ecclesall Bierlow
County: Derbyshire, Yorkshire - West Riding
Volume: 9c
Page: 154

Name: Violet Hancock
Estimated birth year: abt 1813
Year of Registration: 1882
Quarter of Registration: Jul-Aug-Sep
Age at Death: 69
District: Ecclesall Bierlow
County: Derbyshire, Yorkshire - West Riding
Volume: 9c
Page: 153

1881
Alexander Hancox abt 1811 Sheffield, Yorkshire, England Head Nether Hallam, Yorkshire
Violetta Hancox abt 1813 Yorkshire, England Wife Nether Hallam, Yorkshire
Esther Hancox abt 1849 West Bromich, Staffordshire, England Daughter Nether Hallam, Yorkshire
Alexander Hancox abt 1851 Coleford, Gloucestershire, England Son Nether Hallam, Yorkshire

1871 Nether Hallam, Yorkshire
Alexander Hancocks 59
Violetta Hancocks 57
Esther Hancocks 22
Alexander Hancocks 19
Mary Hancocks 15

1861
Alexander Hancock abt 1811 Sheffield, Yorkshire, England Head Sheffield, Yorkshire
Violet Hancock abt 1813 Sheffield, Yorkshire, England Wife Sheffield, Yorkshire
Emma Hancock abt 1839 Handsworth, Staffordshire, England Daughter Sheffield, Yorkshire
Sarah Hancock abt 1846 West Bromwich, Staffordshire, England Daughter Sheffield, Yorkshire
Esther Hancock abt 1849 West Bromwich, Staffordshire, England Daughter Sheffield, Yorkshire
Alexander Hancock abt 1851 Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, England Son Sheffield, Yorkshire
Isaiah Hancock abt 1854 Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, England Son Sheffield, Yorkshire
Mary Hancock abt 1856 Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, England Daughter Sheffield, Yorkshire

1851 Milkwall nr Dark Hill and the furnaces
Alexander Hancox abt 1811 Seville, Yorkshire, England Head West Dean, Gloucestershire Steel Fitter Journeyman
Violetta Hancox abt 1813 Seville, Yorkshire, England Wife West Dean, Gloucestershire
Elizabeth Hancox abt 1835 Ashworth, Staffordshire, England Daughter West Dean, Gloucestershire
George Hancox abt 1837 Ashworth, Staffordshire, England Son West Dean, Gloucestershire
Emma Hancox abt 1838 Ashworth, Staffordshire, England Daughter West Dean, Gloucestershire
William Hancox abt 1841 West Bomwich, Staffordshire, England Son West Dean, Gloucestershire
Sophia Hancox abt 1844 West Bomwich, Staffordshire, England Daughter West Dean, Gloucestershire
Sarah Hancox abt 1846 West Bomwich, Staffordshire, England Daughter West Dean, Gloucestershire
Esther Hancox abt 1849 West Bomwich, Staffordshire, England Daughter West Dean, Gloucestershire

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Ἀριστοτέλης A Gloster & Hereford Boy in the Forest of Dean ><((((*>

Ancestry list them as HANDLEY - but can see it is HANDCOX

1841 Census, Staffs West Bromwich, District 10 - Page 4 and then Page 5 of 13
Bromford Street

Alexander - 25 - not born in County (a smudge over his occupation) *
Violety - 25 - not born in County
Elizabeth - 6 - all born in County
George - 5
Emma - 3
William - 10 months

* on later census - Alexander is a Steel Tilter (Journeyman)

to hammer or forge with a tilt hammer

to tilt steel in order to render it more ductile

As the Hancox family lived in West Bromwich (this is still called the Black Country today) and Wednesbury is just a few miles away..... this shows the working conditions of Alexander and talks about a tilt hammer + adverts showing the uses for Steel etc

History of Wednesbury

http://www.localhistory.scit.wlv.ac.uk/articles/Wednesbury/industry.htm

Church of Latter Day Saints

Elizabeth HANCOX - born 18 December 1834, christened 13 March 1836
@ Saint Thomas, Birmingham, Warwick

parents Alexander & Violette HANCOX

Church of Latter Day Saints : (siblings ? of Alexander HANCOCK)

Sheffield - parents Saml & Sarah

Sophia HANCOCK - born 19th September 1810 - christened 25 September 1810

Edwin HANCOCK - born 28 September 1813 - christened 2 April 1815

I cannot find anywhere in Yorkshire with such an exotic name as Seville, however it could be a poor transcription of Sheffield couldn't it? Some people pronounce Sheffield in different ways which to an untrained ear could sound like "Sheffeel".

This evidence you have found shows that the Hancox family were originally from Sheffield, moved to the FoD and then moved back again. It is fascinating because it shows how the steel industry led to people moving around the country.
The name Hancock is common in Sheffield but extremely common nearby in Derbyshire (parts of Sheffield were in Derbyshire once too), in fact many people say it's a Derbyshire name, so this is likely.
As the connection is with the steel industry it all seems to fit.
P.S. I wrote this before reading Slowhands' finding where there is a direct link with Derbyshire which bears out what I have said, Ecclesall Beirlow and Nether Hallam border onto Derbyshire though they are parts of Sheffield. It's only four or five miles from Ecclesall to Derbyshire even with today's boundaries.

The Birmingham connection with the steel industry may also be significant here too.

From the notes I made long ago when I read The Story of the Mushets by Fred M. Osborn,(published in 1952), I have checked and it was George Hancox who went to work in Sheffield along with my ancestor Thomas Rook and George Tomlinson, William Phelps, Jim Brookfield and Louis Joseph Turton. The George Hancox you have found sounds like one and the same person. I think the book states what each person's skill in the steel industry was but I only copied out what it said about my ancestor as a blacksmith and not what it said about the others. As far as I can remember they weren't blacksmiths but had other significant skills.