Just noticed a new book has been published a couple of months ago.

The Gun Makers of Birmingham 1660 1960, by Joseph McKenna.

I just ordered a copy through Amazon. The author worked at the Birmingham Library for many years, so I think the book will be very well researched.

Regards

AlanD
Sydney

Thanks for that. I'll seek one out. Lagopus…..

Just ordered one. Big subject for a small book.

Do give us a report after you have read it. The snippet Amazon allowed was interesting but I wonder if the book is going to devolve into a catalog of known makers.

Can you also let us know if the pictures and/or diagrams are good enough to justify buying the book as opposed to the cheaper Kindle version.

I have changed my OP as the date the book covers is 1660 to 1960.(not 1860)

I will report back once the book arrives but as I live in Australia others may receive it before I do, and can post their comments.

Regards

Alan

I've got one on order now from a local bookshop. They say a couple of weeks before arrival. I also heard a rumour that Nigel Brown; before he passed away, had almost completed a Volume 4 to his British Gunmakers set which is to be published at some date. Anyone else heard anything about it? Lagopus…..

The book arrived a couple of days ago. Joe, no catalogs like you feared. Nice histories , written well, and quite heavily researched.

I'm intrigued, but $50 for a paperback?

Does it make any mention of Edwinson Green who, although primarily based in Cheltenham (and for a time in Gloucester), presumably had a workshop in Birmingham.

Parabola,
Regarding Edwinson Green, it does not.

Dear Steve

Thanks for checking.

When I admired a 20 bore Edwinson Green Sidelock Ejector in East Grinstead Guns some years ago I looked in the records up for them.

It was made in 1919 and the notes indicated that it was the first gun completely made in Cheltenham (at least by them- there were other Cheltenham gunmakers in the mid 19th century).

On the other hand a pre First World War pair of Boxlock ejectors is noted as “stocked and finished in Cheltenham”.

It seems likely that with post war re-organisation they either brought their tooling and machinery down from Birmingham, or perhaps bought in equipment from firms that had in the past been their suppliers in the trade.

Unfortunately it is likely to remain mostly guesswork and is now well outside any living memory.

Again many thanks

Parabola

Lloyd you would be sick at the prices for text books these days. $50.00 for a paper back is cheap for them and to me this is a better text book.

Not an outrageous price these days for a book with such a small target audience.

Mass market paperbacks are $15 and their hard cover equivalents are $28 and up. I've switched to a Kindle for new & recent books partly due to cost and mostly that I am running out of room to keep all my actual books. I expect more and more books will no longer be published in paper leaving only coffee table style books or books with lots of illustrations and pictures like the 'British Gunmakers'.

The book arrived yesterday, its 250 pages including the index.

A few things its not. It is not a detailed history of individual Birmingham gunmakers, nor is it a book which covers the mechanics of shotguns or their inventors patents. Rather it is a treatise about the the gun trade in Birmingham through various periods in time, with individual gunmakers being mentioned as examples, in places. It does have a large listing at the back of the book of 2346 gunmakers in Birmingham and a further 428 ancillary tradesmen operating in the Black Country. This list has been complied - somewhat painstakingly I would imagine - from a number of journals, directories and parish archives. It covers the period from 1660 to 1960.

The author worked at the Birmingham Central Library for about 30 years and this shows in his writing as the book is very thoroughly researched. There is much information in the book that will not be found elsewhere. This includes a number of tables showing how many gunmaking firms were in Birmingham at various times and details of locations.

When I get a new reference book I always read the bibliography and references at the back of the book, as these can lead to the location of original source research materiel. These are listed and show where some of the tables come from, which in some cases are PhD dissertations, written in the 1950's and 1960's.

On page 108 there is a table showing the number of gunmaker plants in Birmingham in 1949 and the number of workers in various bands, 1-9, 10-24 and so on. In the final column for the 4 firms employing over 200 people the table gives the total number of workers as 84. This is a typo and the figure is 2209. The figure 84 is in fact a percentage,meaning that in 1949 of the gunmking firms in Birmingham 84% worked for one of the big 4 firms. Although not named these would have to be, Webley & Scott, WW Greener, BSA, and Parker Hale. There is a caveat to this mentioned in the book and that is a lot of very small operations employing only a handful of men are not included. I am trying to get a copy of the dissertation that these statistics came from to get a better handle on it.

So if you are interested in the British gun trade as an entity I would recommend this book.

Regards

Alan David

Thanks for the update. Still awaiting my copy. My main reason is that it goes back in time farther than most of my books on Gunmakers and therefore a useful reference work. Lagopus…..