The Manufacture Of Firearms At Liege
Board of Trade Journal, Volume 10 1891
http://books.google.com/books?id=-X3NAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA556&dq
The following information respecting the firearms industry of Liege, is extracted from a report by Vice-Consul Menzies, which was forwarded to the Foreign Office by Mr. G. de Courcy-Perry, Her Majesty's Consul-General at Antwerp.
The most important industry of Liege is the manufacture of firearms. There are over 180 gun-makers in the town alone, and in the district the industry gives employment to more than 40,000 workmen. The peculiarity of the Liege gun-making is that there are hardly any manufactories, as we understand the term, the various component parts of the firearms being made by the workmen at their own homes, and brought in ready made to the gunmaker, who thus merely requires premises for finishing and storing the arms. It will be at once seen how the economy realised by no extensive plant nor costly workshops being required enables the Liege maker to compete favourably with the manufacturers in, in this respect, less favoured countries.

Those 180 gun makers and 40,000 workers were the barrel makers, lock makers, actioners, stockers & finishers providing parts, and parts of guns to the major sporting arms players like Dumoulin, Francotte, Janssen Bros., Manufacture dArmes Feu Ligeoise & others.

Fabrique Nationale Herstal was established Oct 15, 1888 by Albert Simmonis, Jules Ancion, Dresse-Laloux, M.A.L., Dumoulin Freres, Joseph Janssen, Henri Pieper, Pirlot et Fresart, Credit General Liegeois, Nicolas Vivario, Auguste Francotte, and Emil et Leon Nagant BUT most of those makers continued to produce branded, "guild", and tradename guns for the U.S. market.

More here
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1vgxxWD_hui-i629-T1yxwY559DU-xzFFBDVe9ur3mCo/edit