doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Thomas Turner & Son for sale/closing

A friend of mine who lives at Reading was at Thomas Turner & Son about some airgun pellets. The manager informed him that they would be closing. The current owner, Peter Stratton, is well past the age of retirement and has been unable to find a buyer for the operation. A specific date of closing was not mentioned. Perhaps an opportunity for someone.

Sad to see another old English Gunmaker going. Let's hope someone steps in and buys the business and continues. I have an old Turner of Reading circa early 1860's in my collection. A fine well made old hammer gun. Lagopus.....

I have a Thomas Turner BLE 12 gauge that the late Alfred Gallifent thought dated to the 1890s. If I recall correctly (it's at home and I am not), it has Birmingham proofs. Lovely old gun with an interesting engraving pattern - scrolls around a fully opened flat acanthus leaf at the center of the pattern on each side of the receiver. I don't think I've ever seen another British gun engraved with such a pattern.

Isn't Dig's "main-shooter" a Turner?

I think it's a Thompson

Oh yeah, I believe you are correct, Franc.. I get all those "T" names mixed up!

It is always sad to see the demise of a respected name in the gun trade, Not so long ago we also lost Turner of Sheffield .
Records show that during the 18-19-20th; centuries there where at least 15 gunmakers at various locations the U.K.with the surname Turner.
To my knowledge, the connection between the Turner families located in London,Birmingham and Reading has never been established.
So what have I uncovered regarding the Turner family of Reading?
Two year old John Napier Turner,son of a deceased gunmaker living near Reading emigrated with his widowed mother to Canada during the 1920,s.
So what became of John Turner following his arrival in Canada? We know that he did not become a gunmaker.He did have an outstanding academic record.He was also an exceptional athelete.At the pinical of his career became the 17th Prime Minister of Canada.

Gents,
From what I've gathered doing reasearch on my Thomas Turner rifle the shop that uses that name now is in no way related to "The" Thomas Turner the gunmaker. I read that the gunmaker went out of business just after the turn of the century.. 1912 sticks in my mind. IIRC he died about 1898 and his son continued on for a bit.

Does this sound correct?

Turner of Reading were still advertising very recently. The Turner of Sheffield shop closed a bit back but the name still lives on but trading from a private address as I had something from them only a few months ago. Lagopus.....

AkMike
Turner in Birmingham [1834-1890] and Turner in Reading both made shotguns.
T.Turner,Birmingham held several patents related to rifle and non foul rifling of barrels.T.Turner 2 was proof master at Birmingham in 1899.
T.Turner of Reading was I believe one company that developed light weight 12G shotguns.We also see illustrations of Turner guns built on the semi hammerless patent of D.Bentley #17037 of 1884, these guns often have a London address.
For further reading/research see;English Gunmakers by De Witt Bailey and Douglas A,Nie.and the British Shotgun by Crudgington and Baker.