Westley Richards is a British manufacturer of

gun A gun is a ranged weapon designed to use a shooting tube (gun barrel) to launch projectiles. The projectiles are typically solid, but can also be pressurized liquid (e.g. in water guns/cannons, spray guns for painting or pressure washing, p ...

s and rifles and also a well established gunsmith. The company was founded in 1812 by William Westley Richards, who was responsible for the early innovation of many rifles used in wars featuring the

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during the 1800s. It remained in the hands of the Richards family until it was purchased by Walter Clode in 1957. Currently the company has two listed directors, Alexander Clode and Sheikh Sultan Bin Jassim Al Thani of Qatar. The company has received a number of royal warrants since 1840. Famous gun owners have included

Ernest Hemingway Ernest Miller Hemingway (July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer, and journalist. His economical and understated style—which he termed the iceberg theory—had a strong influence on 20th-century f ...

, Maharaja of Alwar and actor Stewart Granger. Today, Westley Richards is one of the oldest surviving traditional gun and rifle makers in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. In 2009, the company diversified into a number of other markets, including country clothing.

History

Westley Richards was founded in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...

in 1812 by William Westley Richards at the age of 22. His family background had been in fine

jewellery Jewellery ( UK) or jewelry (U.S.) consists of decorative items worn for personal adornment, such as brooches, rings, necklaces, earrings, pendants, bracelets, and cufflinks. Jewellery may be attached to the body or the clothes. From a wester ...

, cutlery and the gun trade. Early in the company's history, Richards coined the motto, "to be the maker of as good a gun as can be made", which is still used to this day. William Westley Richards was an early gun innovator, creating a number of gun-related

patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A ...

s. The two most significant was the patent relating to the use of a new waterproof primer for the ignition of percussion guns and also the first flip-up

sight Visual perception is the ability to interpret the surrounding environment through photopic vision (daytime vision), color vision, scotopic vision (night vision), and mesopic vision (twilight vision), using light in the visible spectrum reflecte ...

, which went on to be used by the

. Richards opened a gun store in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

in 1815 on

New Bond Street Bond Street in the West End of London links Piccadilly in the south to Oxford Street in the north. Since the 18th century the street has housed many prestigious and upmarket fashion retailers. The southern section is Old Bond Street and the ...

. The store was owned and managed by William Bishop, who was known as the Bishop of Bond Street. It was stated in a book published by G. T. Teasdale-Buckell in 1900, that Bishop had served as a

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often ...

In 1865, control of the gunsmith company was inherited by Westley Richards, who was the eldest son of the founder. Richards carried on in a similar vein to his father, innovating various guns and registering patents. In 1862, he was responsible for the innovation of the fastening system used on some rifles. His innovations with rifles continued for the next decade, creating the

falling block A falling-block action (also known as a sliding-block or dropping-block action) is a single-shot firearm action in which a solid metal breechblock slides vertically in grooves cut into the breech of the weapon and is actuated by a lever. Descri ...

rifle in 1868 and a solid drawn-metallic cartridge case. John Deeley took over the commercial side of the company, with the aim to expand the business from 1871. These expansions were mainly focused on

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

and

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

, both of which were part of the

British Empire The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts e ...

. Before the

Second Boer War The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the South ...

, the two Boer republics' most common rifle was the .450 Westley Richards falling-block, single-action, breech-loading rifle, with accuracy up to 600 yards. It was similar to the Martini-Henry Mark II used by British troops.http://samilitaryhistory.org/vol052fm.html, Firearms and Firepower First War of Independence, 1880-1881 A book about the

First Boer War The First Boer War ( af, Eerste Vryheidsoorlog, literally "First Freedom War"), 1880–1881, also known as the First Anglo–Boer War, the Transvaal War or the Transvaal Rebellion, was fought from 16 December 1880 until 23 March 1881 betwee ...

, (J. Lehmann's ''The First Boer War'', 1972), offered this comment: "Employing chiefly the very fine breech-loading Westley Richards - calibre 45; paper cartridge; percussion-cap replaced on the nipple manually - they made it exceedingly dangerous for the British to expose themselves on the skyline". In the decades to come, these expansions proved to be vital to the company's global success. Following the establishment of the new type of shotgun mechanism, the company's success in manufacturing both

military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...

and sporting weapons saw them move to a new base in 1894. The gun factory in

Bournbrook Bournbrook is an industrial and residential district in southwest Birmingham, England, in both the Selly Oak Council Ward and the Parliamentary District of Selly Oak. Prior to what is commonly termed the Greater Birmingham Act, which came in ...

was then established and designed by the architect Charles Bateman. Prior to the turn of the century, Leslie B. Taylor took over the operations at Westley Richards & Co. He was responsible for the ongoing improvement of the boxlock action, In 1898-1903, WR acted as Mauser agents, selling pistols as well as rifles/carbines and their actions to most of the British gun trade. During the next 50 years and two

World War A world war is an international conflict which involves all or most of the world's major powers. Conventionally, the term is reserved for two major international conflicts that occurred during the first half of the 20th century, World WarI (1914 ...

s, the company survived and pressed their skills into the war efforts. Following

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, there was a decline in the manufacturing of weapons in general. The war efforts over the past decades had changed the organisation into a producer of military weapons, but due to the end of the war, the demand slowed dramatically. In 1957, Walter Clode purchased the company and was responsible for turning around the fortunes of the company. He purchased the company for £2,000 and then invested a further £12,000 to get it back on its feet. During this period, he moved his focus to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. He restored many old weapons used in India, reselling them as vintage restorations at shows around the world, including

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

. Shortly after the company announced that it would be expanding its operations into the clothing market. The reason behind the move was said to be down to the large close season for shooting in the United Kingdom, which traditionally runs from January through to August. By launching a clothing brand, it allowed the company to capitalise on this slow period. In 2012, the company celebrated its bicentenary, publishing the book, ''In Pursuit of the Best Gun'', written by Jeremy Musson.

Notable guns

One of the most famous guns was created by John Deeley in the late-1800s. Deeley produced the first boxlock action shotgun, which was a hammerless action of a type commonly used in double barrelled shotguns, dating back to roughly 1875. The boxlock action uses concealed, self-cocking hammers in a break-open action. It was strongly opposed by most sportsmen and manufacturers at first, but became the dominant form of double barrelled shotgun action. The 12G Westley Richard Droplock is one of the more famous guns produced by the gunsmith. One of the guns is said to be on display at the Queen Elizabeth's residence,

Sandringham House Sandringham House is a country house in the parish of Sandringham, Norfolk, England. It is one of the royal residences of Charles III, whose grandfather, George VI, and great-grandfather, George V, both died there. The house stands in a estat ...

Clients

During the 1920s, Jai Singh Prabhakar, Maharaja of Alwar was the owner of a number of Westley Richards rifles. Around the same period of time, it was reported that

Maharaja Bhupinder Singh Maharaja Sir Bhupinder Singh, (12 October 1891 – 23 March 1938) was an Indian royal and cricket player. He was the ruling Maharaja of the princely state of Patiala in British India from 1900 to 1938. Biography Bhupinder Singh was born at ...

also possessed a number of Westley Richards rifles; it was reported by ''The Tribune'' that Singh's rifle would be sold for an estimated £30,000.

George Eastman George Eastman (July 12, 1854March 14, 1932) was an American entrepreneur who founded the Eastman Kodak Company and helped to bring the photographic use of roll film into the mainstream. He was a major philanthropist, establishing the Eastman ...

notably referred to his Westley Richards guns in his book ''Chronicles of an African Trip'', which was published in 1927. Stewart Granger was also known to own Westleys, including a .577 rifle. It was said that he carried the rifle during the filming of ''

King Solomon's Mines ''King Solomon's Mines'' (1885) is a popular novel by the English Victorian adventure writer and fabulist Sir H. Rider Haggard. It tells of a search of an unexplored region of Africa by a group of adventurers led by Allan Quatermain for the ...

'' in 1950.

was said to be an owner of numerous Westley Richards guns and rifles. In March 2011 it was announced that one of Hemingway's double rifles has been sold in

auction An auction is usually a process of buying and selling goods or services by offering them up for bids, taking bids, and then selling the item to the highest bidder or buying the item from the lowest bidder. Some exceptions to this definition ex ...

for $295,000. The double rifle was a

.577 Nitro Express The .577 Nitro Express is a large-bore centerfire rifle cartridge designed for the purpose of hunting large game such as elephant. This cartridge is used almost exclusively in single-shot and double express rifles for hunting in the Tropics or h ...

. James H. Sutherland, the noted elephant hunter who shot between 1,300 and 1,600 elephants, used a Westley Richards single-trigger Droplock

double rifle for most of his hunting, along with a bolt action

.318 Westley Richards The .318 Westley Richards, also known as the .318 Rimless Nitro Express and the .318 Accelerated Express, is a proprietary medium bore centerfire rifle cartridge developed by Westley Richards. Design Westley Richards introduced the .318, prim ...

which he used in open country where the quarry was difficult to approach and long shots were required. Upon his death, Sutherland bequeathed his rifles to his friend Major G.H. Anderson. In 2007, Sutherland's .577 Nitro Express brought £68,000 at auction.

Jim Corbett Edward James Corbett (25 July 1875 – 19 April 1955) was a British hunter, tracker, naturalist, and author who hunted a number of man-eating tigers and leopards in the Indian subcontinent. He held the rank of colonel in the British Indian ...

owned a Westley Richards 275 model as mentioned in ''The Temple Tiger and More Maneaters of Kumaon''.

Clothing and accessories

From 2009 onwards, the company began to focus on branded clothing as well as firearms. They focused on the

hunting Hunting is the human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to harvest food (i.e. meat) and useful animal products ( fur/ hide, bone/tusks, horn/antler, ...

and shooting communities, stating that professional shooters and social groups would benefit from another luxury clothing brand in this field. The product range includes bags and

suitcase A suitcase is a form of luggage. It is a rectangular container with a handle typically used to carry one's clothes and other belongings while traveling. The first suitcases appeared in the late 19th century due to the increased popularity of m ...

s. Since the launch of the clothing and accessory lines, it is said that clothing now accounts for 50% of the company's turnover.

Royal honours

The company has a number of royal warrants, dating back to their first in 1840. Prince Albert was the issuer of the first warrant received by the company. Other royal warrants were issued by

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days was longer than that of any previo ...

, King Edward VII and

King George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936. Born during the reign of his grandmother Qu ...

. The company also received a Royal Warrant in

Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

, from Shah of Persia and the Royal family. The last of the warrants came in 1911, which was presented by

References

{{Reflist, 2 Manufacturing companies established in 1812 Firearm manufacturers of the United Kingdom Manufacturing companies based in Birmingham, West Midlands Privately held companies of England 1812 establishments in England