doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Thos. Forsyth hammer gun

The appearance of a second Thos Forsyth gun prompted me to research the Thos Forsyth name.Records show that a Thos Forsyth was a Merchant Trader located in Liverpool, England. Liverpool was in the era that the guns in question were made was a major departure point for those emigrating to the New World.Liverpool was second only to Birmingham as a manufacturing/trading centre for guns with 125 makers and dealers listed.
In Birmingham a Merchant Trader, Samuel Buckley, who was by virtue of being a Birmingham justice of the peace,appointed to serve on the board of the Birmingham Proof House, was as part of his Trade business exporting Birmingham made guns to North America engraved with his name.
The addition of the word London on barrels of guns did not always signify the location of the maker In many cases it was a sales ploy!

That would explain the presence of the word "London", yet absence of a specific street address. That and the Birmingham proofs. In this case "London" inferring a business location, rather than referring to a barrel type such as "London Fine Twist", etc. (often on Belgian barrels!) This type of stuff is fascinating, yet, because I think it's been narrowed down that this Forsyth was a "seller", it's doubtful that any specific maker will ever be identified. Not really surprising given the nature of the Trade of the day. Thank God for proofmarks!

So, now there are at least three types of "Forsyth" marked guns. First, the Alexander Forsyth and "Forsyth & Co" guns, Second, the "W W Forsyth" marked guns. Lastly are the "Thomas Forsyth" ones. I suppose the logical next question would be to determine if there was a link between "WW" and 'Thomas".

I'll try to get some photos of my J. Forsyth to post in the next day or two. I had some computer problems and lost the ones I had. Dr. Drew had some pictures of the barrels on his unusual damascus photo site, but I don't know if they are still there. The pattern is tight towards the muzzle, but about 3 or 4 inches from the breach it opens up very wide on both barrels.