Just found these notes to records held at Gloucestershire County Archives:-


(Sources: notes by Claude and Anthony Fletcher; Tewkesbury parish registers; Gloucestershire trade directories; Gloucester diocesan probate records; 1851 census returns)

The firm's founder, Thomas Fletcher, had gunsmith's premises in Westgate Street, Gloucester, by 1829. His father, William, may have been one of the two gunsmiths by that name recorded in Tewkesbury in 1820 (Thomas was baptised at Tewkesbury on 3 January 1808); his younger brother, also named William, worked with him at Gloucester but later set up his own business. By 1842, a Gloucester trade directory lists Thomas Fletcher at 161 Westgate Street and William Fletcher at Cross Keys Lane.

After Thomas' death in 1858, his widow Elizabeth carried on the business until her own death in 1890, when she was described in a newspaper obituary as Gloucester's oldest business woman. Their son Frederick then took over until 1909, when he, too, was succeeded by his widow, Rose. By this time, gun production had virtually ceased and orders were being put out to Birmingham gunsmiths. Claude Fletcher took over at his mother's death in 1921; his own son, Anthony, joined the firm in 1952 and became a director in 1957.

The Westgate Street premises were left in 1931 in favour of a site in The Oxbode, King's Square, and an additional Gloucester shop was acquired in 1960 in the Grosvenor House development in Station Road. Branch stores in Cheltenham and Tewkesbury opened in 1962 and 1975 respectively.

The business was incorporated as a limited company in 1938, and in 1970, management was divided between Claude and Anthony Fletcher: Fletcher (Prams) Ltd. in Grosvenor House under Claude, and Fletcher (Sports) Ltd. of King's Square under Anthony.

By the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s, financial difficulties beset the trade, and both companies were put into liquidation in 1978.

The records

The only substantial record to have survived for the early gunsmith's business is a repair journal for the 1850s. The bulk of the collection relates to the 1950s-70s, although a good (if incomplete) series of accounts for 1924 onwards has also survived.”


If you have a Fletchers Ltd gun from 1950 to 1978 you might be able to get some info from the archivist at Gloucester, but it seems unlikely they will be able to help in relation to earlier guns.