doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Frederick Beesley

I am looking for information on Frederick Beesley and have not been finding much. More specifically I am looking for info on his years as a gun maker under his name. Can anyone point me in the right direction? There has to be some literature out there somewhere. I have read that his shop records were destroyed during the blitz in 1940 after his business was sold. It appears he made few guns, 1,800 or so. I have a Beesley side lock from around 1898. The action is not the Beesley self opener. It is a different Beesley design. Thanks for any help you can provide.

There are a couple of pages on him in Nigel Brown Vol.1- London “British Gunmakers”.

Frederick Beesley was nicknamed “Inventor to the Gun Trade” and his various patents will be found in Crudrington and Baker, Volumes 2 and 3.

He seems to have made guns for others as well as in his own name.

Beesley Patent Lancaster boxlocks were I believe made (and perhaps finished) by him, and would be given a Lancaster serial number pre-fixed by the letter O to show not of their own make.

Besides designing the famous Purdy "Best" gun, he also designed the sidelock Lancaster "Wristbreaker". Prolific inventor indeed.

There is a lot more information in “Atkin, Grant and Lang” the second book written by my my lamented Shooting friend Don Masters.

See pages 177 to 190, and a list of serial numbers/years towards the end of the book.

Don and I both used to shoot at Bearhurst, near Ockley, in Surrey. The estate is crossed by a Roman Road , Stane Street, and the Roman concrete bridge foundations still survive where the Legions crossed a stream.

He was a fine Gunsmith, and traded as Churchill’s (his other book was The House of Churchill) and an excellent historian. We lost him far too soon, but it is a blessing that he committed so much of his knowledge of the history of the London Gun Trade to print.

You mentioned Atkin, Grant and Lang. That is who I bought it from at the Southern Side by Side.

The Internetgunclub has information in their historical database on him. However, you have to be a member to obtain the information.

Ken

Having trouble posting pics. Below is a link to a few pictures of the Beesley I acquired at the Southern Side by Side.


http://forum.foxcollectors.com/viewtopic.php?t=11450

Fixed it for ‘ya. Nice looking gun.










Best,
Ted

That is a heck of a beautiful gun. Congratulations!

Crescent Fire Arms Company, Norwich, Conn., manufactured the “Triumph Hammerless Pat. June 16, 1885” from 1895-1898.
The gun was based on patents issued to Frederick Beesley and controlled by Charles Lancaster. They were made on order for Sears Roebuck & Co. and probably less than 750 were manufactured. It is a self opening action.

https://archive.org/details/consumersguideno00sear/page/354/mode/2up?view=theater