doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com E.M. Reilly; History; Chronology; Serial Numbers

============*15 New Label Dec 1847 - 1856 FOOTNOTES ============

*15 December 1847: New Label for 502 New Oxford-Street

*15a - Trade label changed to "Reilly, Gun Maker." It was rectangular shaped with scolloped corners and featured a sketch of 502 New Oxford Street




==========*15 New Label Dec 1847 - 1856 END FOOTNOTES ==========

============ *16 Early 1850: Reilly organization TEXT ============

*16 Reilly in the early 1850's: Company organization

Some business anthologies and gun history sites from this period claim that J.C. Reilly made guns, E.M. Reilly air guns, and that the company had split into two entities.*16a,*16b But, both worked from the same building used the same case labels, etc. This distinction has been made too much of. They essentially operated as one company. 1850's Reilly advertisements confirm this conclusion.*16c. (However, per the above speculation on the origin of the December 1847 label, it appears that E.M. was increasingly the doiminate force in the company.)

The 1851 census recorded Joseph Charles Reilly as living with a servant at 502 New Oxford Street. The rest of the family is not mentioned and may have gone on with their lives. It appears that Martha, J.C.’s wife had left him and was very much alive though he claimed he was a widower.*16d

There is no way to determine the size of the Reilly workforce in 1850. The 1851 census did not inquire about the number of men an employer engaged. However, there may be data for this enquiry somewhere. London: A Social History commented that London’s industries were small; “out of 24,323 employers only 80 employed over 100.” “Small workshops predominated.”*16e This data had to come from someplace and it apparently was sourced to that 1851 census though no such information is included in the questions asked. Was there a separate census of business owners?

========== *16 Early 1850: Reilly organization END TEXT ==========

========== *16 Early 1850: Reilly organization FOOTNOTES ===========

*16 Reilly in the early 1850's: Company organization

. . . . .*16a 1851 Commercial Directory:


. . . . .*16b 1850 London Postal Directory: “Trades”; “Gun and Pistol Makers:


. . . . .*16c – 1855 ad relationship between JC and EM
15 Sep 1855, “The Field”; It's interesting to see J.C. continued relationship to Holborn 8 years removed from that area.


. . . . .*16d – 1851 Census:


. . . . .*16e - Number of employees: London: A Social History:


========== *16 Early 1850: Reilly organization FOOTNOTES ===========

Question is will they lock you away in the nutt house before you click on this thread two million times.

========== *17 1851-1888: Reilly 300 yard Shooting Range TEXT ===========

*17 1851 - late 1880's: Reilly 300 yard outdoor Shooting Range:

Advertisements from 1851 papers show that Reilly had a 300 yard shooting range near his London establishment.*17a Reputable London gun makers seemed all to have had their own ranges.

Research shows that Reilly's range was located off Wood Lane, Shepard's Bush. It was still in use through the 1880's.*17b Wood Lane was near the center of London but remained a rural area until the 1890’s when it became the site of a world’s fair.*17c A number of London gunmakers had ranges in the area, there was a pigeon shooting competition field, and a Militia range.*17d.

======== *17 1851-1888: Reilly 300 yard Shooting Range END TEXT =========

==== *17 1851-1888: Reilly 300 yard Shooting Range FOOTNOTES/ANNOTATION =====

*17 1851-late 1880's: Reilly 300 yard outdoor Shooting Range:

. . . . .*17a Crystal Palace 1851 Advertisement for 300 yard range:


. . . . .*17b 1882 "Modern Sportsman" - but other ads continued until 1888. (Note mention of the "Hurlingham weight" - Hurlingham, the principle pigeon shooting club, limited pigeon guns to 7lbs 8oz beginning 1883)


. . . . .*17c Shepard’s Bush: 02 October 1875, "Illustrated Sporting News"


. . . . .*17d Wood Lane range:

. . . . . . . . .*17d(1) 1841 map - Wood-Lane, Shepard’s Bush was open country for years:

p.24

. . . . . . . . .*17d(2) It began to be built up when the Wood Lane station was opened in 1863. There is a long history of rifle ranges being in the area: "A gunmaker of Bond Street owned a shooting range provided with an iron stag which ran backwards and forwards on rails. Purchasers would test their guns on this stag.."


. . . . . . . . .*17d(3) 1867 Print of pigeon shooting range at Shepard’s Bush:


. . . . . . . . .*17d(4) In 1879 the military took over Wormwood Scrubs just off Wood Lane just north of Shepard’s Bush. They had ranges there but were forbidden to build structures other than the range bunkers. Sometime in the 1890's the maneuver area was guaranteed to remain open to the citizens of the neighborhood.



. . . . . . . . .*17d(5) The buildings at Wormwood Scrubs is now a pub called "The Pavillion." The pub was built in 1861 as “The Rifle Pavilion,” named after the surrounding rifle ranges where volunteer units trained:


=== *17 1851-1888: Reilly 300 yard Shooting Range END FOOTNOTES/ANNOTATION ====

"The General Armory of England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales: Comprising a Registry of Armorial Bearings from the Earliest to the Present Time.", 1884
https://books.google.com/books?id=WmpmAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA1198&lpg
"Shooting Ground, Wood Lane, Shepherd's Bush"



A.B. Frost in “The Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News” April 6, 1878
"An Afternoon At Wormwood Scrubs"

Thanks Dr. Drew. Those are great illustrations...they were on the Reilly line at one time but somehow disappeared. Those armed spectators outside the grounds were there to shoot pigeons which escaped. Hurlingham even adopted special rules for a pigeon which might be going to fall within the boundary but which a bystander subsequently shot. There must have been shot raining all over the place at those competitions.

The advertisement, has to be after February 1868 and before August 1885...it mentions rue Scribe, and after 1875 (mentions choke bores)..

=============== *18 1851: Crystal Palace Revolution TEXT ================

*18 1851: Crystal Palace Exposition – the Lefaucheaux revelation

Reilly exhibited at the 1851 Crystal Palace International Exposition*18a as Edward M. Reilly).*18b. This is one more indication of the increasing prominence of E.M. in company affairs. Among other items exhibited by Reilly (air guns, pistols, etc,) were examples of engraving and chasing.*18b

There were two extremely influential guns shown at the exposition. Colt showed his heavy revolver which became a sensation. However, Reilly and the UK long-gun world was much taken by the Casimir Lefaucheaux’s center-break gun, used in France since 1836.*18c Reilly, Lang and Blanch ultimately became the major advocates for the Lefaucheaux new type of break-action guns in England, something that would cause a profound technological revolution and a great deal of dispute and public wrangling amongst the UK gun-owner fraternity.

Comment: This said, one cannot overstate the impact on UK gunmaking that the colt revolver had and in particular, the fact that it was made mostly by machinery. Colt was asked to speak to the British Society of Civil Engineers in fall 1851, the first American to do so, where he discussed his methods. Numerous publications commented later on his London works and the fact that the workers finishing machine-made parts were not skilled and this in turn provoked dozens of trips by UK delegations to visit US factories. This ultimately led to Enfield establishing an “American system factory” circa 1860. The system did not arrive in Birmingham until the 1870’s. This is mentioned here because it is possible that Reilly tried elements of “The American System” later on in serial production of Prince and Green Brothers breech loaders).*18d

============= *18 1851: Crystal Palace Revolution END TEXT ================

=============== *18 1851 Crystal Palace Revolution FOOTNOTES ================

*18 1851: Crystal Palace Exposition – the Lefaucheaux revelation

. . . . .*18a – Illustration of Crystal Palace Exposition:


. . . . .*18b – Reilly catalog entry:



06 Jul 1851, “Bell’s Life”


. . . . .*18c – Lefaucheaux exhibition gun:


. . . . .*18d - Dissertation the effect of Samuel Colt's machinery at Crystal Palace:
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=9164&context=etd


============= *18 1851 Crystal Palace Revolution END FOOTNOTES ==============