doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com James Purdey the Elder

Today is 150 years exactly after the death of Mr. Purdey.

He then left the business to his son known as Purdey the younger who was the one whose drive and skill made Purdey the world renowned gun maker it is today.

I take it, based on the design of the gun he's holding, that the painting is of Purdey the Younger.
Steve

Yes, and Donald Dallas has recently brought out his new book for the bicentenary of Purdeys. Expensive at �75 but of interest to any Purdey owners. Lagopus.....

This is the best likeness I could find of the man who started it all off James Purdey Senior.

Its interesting history to note just how many great English firms that existed and crafted the finest of muzzleloaders but only a select few of these great craftsmen survived into the breechloading era.

James Purdey Senior is the one who is supposed to have said "were it not for Manton we would all be a a parcel of blacksmiths"?

Interesting that Manton himself, along with Twigg and Wogdon apprenticed under Edward Newton in the village of Grantham. I have looked but cannot find much about this Newton and how he got to be the teachers' teacher while working alone in an out of the way village.

Does anyone know anything about him?

Several months ago I mailed to Mr,Richard Purdey transcripts of hand written letters by James Purdey Junior,dated Dec 12 1855 and April 25 1856.These letters ran to several pages, in which James Purdey Jnr; discusses the design and performance of large bore duck guns. I was of the opinion that these letters would be of historical interest to Purdey,s. Apparently I was mistaken in that to date Purdeys have not deemed my letter worthy of response!
Compare this to the excellent reception when I visited Purdeys in the past years. Their welcome included an hour plus spent in the long room with the late Harry Lawrence and on a second visit lunch with the late Mr;Richard Beaumont. No I was not visiting Purdeys as a potential customer, just as an amateur historian.
This has been a disappointment to me not at all what I expected from a prestigious company such as Purdey.

Roy it does not surprise me at all because business is only interested these days in the here and now and how they are going to stay in business in the future.
It was made all to clear to me when I was working for Siemens in Germany one day a telephone call was transferred into the office it was a guy from Ireland, he had come across a piece of Siemens kit from the 1880s. The conversation went would you like it for a display piece or your Museum, name and location was taken but as soon as the phone receiver was put down the paper was placed in the bin.
Noticing the puzzlement on my face the recipient of the phone call said we can�t make a profit out of the company�s product history only from what we make and market today, history is for those who have the time and the money to indulge them selves. It may not have been the company policy it was just one overworked office managers view at the time that resulted in a piece of the companies history disappearing!!

Interestingly (to me), because it happened to be rather co-incidental that I remembered Purdey's date of death, and I thought it was of interest, considering they are due to celebrate 250 years of existence next year, I contacted Purdey to make them aware on November the 6th. Nothing! No reply, no interest.