William Needham was born in 1801 but where he was born and who his parents were is not known. He appears to have been the elder brother of Henry Needham (b.1812 in Birmingham) who traded in Birmingham before moving to Vine Street in London. He also appears to have been related to Joseph Needham (b.1811) of Ashtead Row, Birmingham, who had a son named Joseph Vernon Needham (b.1836), the Birmingham gun maker who was famous for the first successful ejector gun.
In the 1841 census William was recorded living in Sherborne Road, Kings Norton, a few miles south of Birmingham. He was married to Suzannah (b.1801) and they had four sons and three daughters. His second son, Joseph was born in 1828 and became a gun maker, but no more is known about him.
William moved his business in 1841 to Royal Hotel Yard, Temple Row, Birmingham. On 24 June 1843 he patented a tube primer and special nipple (patent No. 9801 also covered under Scottish patent No. 103). In the same year a musket designed by him was rejected by the Board of Ordnance.
In 1845 William moved to London where he opened at 26 Piccadilly trading as William Needham & Co. The name he used from 1849 to 1851 William Needham without the "& Co".
In 1851 the name of the business changed to William & Joseph Needham, but this Joseph does not seem to have been his son, if it had been then the business would have been named William Needham & Son. The Joseph concerned appears to have been Joseph of Ashtead Row. It seems that this Joseph and his son, Joseph Vernon, Needham manufactured guns in Ashtead Row for William (and possibly also for Henry in Vine Street). Joseph was recorded in the 1841 census at Ashtead Row with his wife, Emma (b. 1811), Joseph Vernon (b.1835) and Emily (b.1831). They were also recorded in the 1851 census at 135 Ashtead Row when a second daughter was recorded.
In the 1851 census Suzannah Needham was recorded at 26 Piccadilly as a widow. She was living with Joseph (aged 23) and George Henry and two of her daughters, and a few other more distant members of her family.
In 1851 W & J Needham exhibited at the Great Exhibition "A Patent Self-Priming Gun, Double and Single Guns to Load at the Breech, etc".
On 2 October 1852 Joseph Needham of Ashtead Row, Birmingham registered patent No. 184 for a gun lock and the first successful hammerless needle-fire gun. He is known to have made needle-fire guns on the Rissack design. In 1850 Jean Jacques Rissack of Liege, Belgium patented a needle-fire gun in which the primer was in the base behind the powder as opposed to backing onto the over-powder wad, and the pin was either in the breech plug or on the hammer. Rissack's pistols and gallery rifles were very popular, the cartridges were made by Eley.
In 1853 the name of the London business was changed to Joseph Needham & Co. Almost certainly, the businesses of Henry Needham and William Needham merged and their London business continued at the Piccadilly premises. Almost equally certain is the fact that Henry (II), son of Henry (I), was working for what was then Joseph Needham & Co.
In 1861 Joseph may have died, because in 1861 Joseph Vernon Needham was recorded in business at 108 1/2 New Street, Birmingham. However, in the 1861 census he was recorded as a visitor at a boarding house at 32 Cloudesley Street in Islington, London.
On 22 May 1862 J V Needham registered patent No. 1544 for a sidelever automatic self half-cocking breechloader in which the breech opened by moving the barrels forward (see W J Harvey patent No. 1056/1860 and E Brooks patent No. 1585/1863).
On 14 July 1864 J V Needham registered patent No. 1760 for a revolving sliding breech block and under-lever.
On 30 January 1865 C H Russell and J V Needham registered patent No. 265 for a hinged and sliding breech block. On 20 October 1865 J V Needham and George Henry Needham (known as Henry, son of William Needham) registered patent No. 2709 for a forward facing side-lever which operated external cams each half-cocking the hammers, and simultaneously turning a spindle which retracted the firing pins (No. 2709); the patent also covered an improvement to patent No. 184/1852.
On 22 April 1867 J V Needham took out a further patent on a hinged and sliding breech blocks (No. 1167).
On 8 October 1870 J V Needham's patent No. 2674 covered a side opening breech.
In 1870 the name of the business in London changed to Joseph and Henry Needham. This Henry Needham was the son of Henry of 4 Vine Street, Piccadilly (1849 to 1851) and 5 Meards Court, Wardour Street in London (1850 to 1856).
In the 1871 census J V Needham was recorded living at 108 1/2 New Street, Birmingham, with his wife, Elizabeth, and a daughter, Florence.
In 1872 J V Needham patented a dagger handle (No. 3538), and on 2 January 1873 patent No 31 covered a lever operated extractor and hinged striker.
On 7 April 1874 J V Needham patented the first gun in which the barrels cocked the tumblers and ejectors, it was also the first gun to have an integral ejector mechanism. This was a drop-down and laterally moving barrel action incorporating Francis Bacon's split extractors with a lever and using a powerful mainspring to power the tumblers and eject the fired cartridge cases (No. 1205). The gun was a little difficult to open and close. Although the firm was sold in that year to W W Greener, Needham retained the patent rights and licensed them to many other gun makers reportedly earning himself about 1000 a year. Greener modified the design and used it, as did Holland & Holland.
It seems that J V Needham continued working with Greener because in 1874 the Birmingham business moved to 27 Cannon Street, where it continued to trade under the name of J V Needham. Henry Needham however, left the business and became a manufacturer of electroplated goods, returning to Birmingham by 1891.
On 7 August 1875 J V Needham registered patent No. 2793 for improvements to his patent No. 1205/1874.
In 1876 W W Greener moved the London shop to 53 Piccadilly. He continued to operate the London business under the name of Joseph & Henry Needham, but in 1878 moved the shop to 1a Wilton Place, Knightsbridge.
On 21 February 1879 J V Needham and George Hinton (later of Taunton and patentee of an intercepting bolt) patented under No. 706 a drop-down barrel action, safety devices and, apparently a cartridge (the "Uneedem"). George Hinton may have worked for the firm in Birmingham until 1884.
In 1880 the London shop was at 6 Park Side, Knightsbridge, but no London shop was recorded after that date.
In the 1881 census J V Needham and Elizabeth were recorded living at 46 Duchess Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham, with their daughter.
On 19 February 1881 J V Needham and J T Atkinson patented a two chambered hinged revolver, with magazine and ejector (No. 716) which referred to patent No, 184 of 1852.
On 30 November 1882 J V Needham registered patent No. 5710 for a trigger finger operated safety.
On 2 October 1883 George Henry Needham registered patent No. 4693 for a revolving chamber for drop-down guns and a butt plate safety mechanism.
In about 1883, the 27 Cannon Street, Birmingham factory closed.
0n 21 May 1884 Joseph Needham of Birmingham and T H S Hawker patented a Martini type hinged breech-block action operated by an under-lever or recoil (No. 7995).
In 1887 Greener moved the factory to the Damascus Works, Loveday Street, Birmingham. The factory appears to have ceased trading under the J V Needham name in about 1900 by which time W W Greener was using the Needham name for second and third quality guns. The Damascus Works continued in production until about 1928.
In 1888 Cogswell & Harrison claimed that their "Avant Tout" was first successful ejector gun, but Needham's 1874 patent was moderately successful and clearly preempted the Avant Tout.
The only known records of the Needham firm exist in "Needham's Action Book" currently held by the firm of W W Greener. This book only covers the years 1886 to 1926 and serial numbers 1254 to 5000 and 6001 to 9892, lower numbers are known
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