Beginning the last quarter of the century with a prominent position in bulk steels, the Sheffield share of these grades fell as other districts with greater advantages got fully into their stride. As late as 1877 the Sheffield–Leeds district made 25.3 per cent of the nation's Bessemer steel; by 1890 it made 14.6 per cent though by 1900 its share recovered to 18.8 per cent. In open hearth steel Sheffield did not rank as high and its relative decline was steadier as the great shipbuilding steel areas of the North-east and Scotland made their impact: 9.4 per cent in 1880, 8.6 per cent in 1890 and 8.1 per cent in 1900. In total tonnages its 1900 production of bulk steels was almost twice that of 1880. In both processes Cammell's remained one of the three giants in the ‘east end’.

Charles Cammell died at the end of 1878. He had been associated with steel-making for almost 50 years and a company leader for over 40, but since the formation of the limited company in 1864 he seems to have been little more than a figurehead. The obituary writers summed him up in words that speak eloquently to a generation not so wedded as the Victorians were to reserve or ambiguity. He was a ‘self-made man’, whose success in Furnival Street had been due to ‘perseverance’ and whose ‘energy and shrewdness’ had brought about the early growth of Cyclops.