doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Had a decent day at Gavin's this morning

Mike,

Glad you bought the WR. There certainly aren’t many sidelever WRs out there. Are you going to get a WR very expensive letter to see who ordered it?

Ken

I've emailed them today. We'll have to see what they say.

The 10 bore ball and shot was a Purdey, I won it.

... So did any of you bid on / purchase Lot 308, a 16 bore ejector retailed by (Captain!) James Kirk of Ayr???

HB

Mike - congrats on both lots...I had bookmarked both but ended up not bidding on anything at Gavin's this go round. Looking forward to seeing how that 375 shoots.

Steve - Neat looking Purdey. Missed that one somehow.

Chris

Chris,
It may have been a late addition, I didn't notice it until the last minute, Gavin didn't even confirm my bid and I thought someone else won it until I received my invoice. I like ball and shot guns, this one should be fun. I wonder if the load is engraved on it anywhere, soon to find out.
Steve

Conrats Steve. If I hadn't won the other two I'd have run it up quite a bit more. Enjoy.

I just received the following email from Westley Richards.

Dear Sir,

Thank you for your kind enquiry,

Your gun was completed for a Sir William Burdett on the 25th of November 1896 & must have had a second gun made later.
Our sidelever shotguns were a special order & we have only seen a handful of them over the years, sadly we cannot confirm how many were made.

With best regards,

Steve


Steven Harridence
Showroom Manager

So far google hasn't come up with anyone I can match that title/name/period to. Finally found this.
Based on records from the late 19th century, the prominent figure matching this description is likely William Burdett-Coutts (formerly Ashmead-Bartlett), who was knighted in 1897 and was a prominent British MP, philanthropist, and author. While he traveled to Turkey and Ireland, records emphasize his work in politics, charity, and fishery development rather than big-game hunting.
Identity: He was an American-born British politician who married the famous philanthropist Baroness Burdett-Coutts in 1881 and took her name.
1896 Activities: During the 1890s, he was deeply involved in London politics as the Member of Parliament for Westminster and managed major philanthropic initiatives.
Background: He was not a traditional landed English hunter-gentleman by birth, but rather a prolific writer and political figure.

Chaps,

From Kelly's "Handbook to the Titled, Landed and Official Classes 1905" the most likely family would be that of Sir Francis Burdett, 8th Baronet of Foremark (granted 1618), who was the only son of the 7th Baronet. He was born in 1869, and is listed as a Justice of the Peace for the counties of Derbyshire and Wiltshire [150 miles from each other]. As of 1905 he was unmarried.
He was an ADC to the Governor of Ceylon in 1901, and had addresses at Ramsbury Manor, Wiltshire and also Foremark Hall, Burton -on-Trent, Derbyshire.

So it could be his son (too young?) or a cousin from further back.

There is also an entry for Sir Henry Charles Burdett, (knighted in 1897) the son of Rev. Halford Robert Burdett, born in 1847 and married in 1875, who did lots of good works with various London hospitals, so could be a son of his??

Good hunting!

HB