James Purdey & Sons, or simply Purdey, is a British gunmaker based 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 ...

, England specialising in high-end bespoke sporting shotguns and rifles. Purdey holds three Royal Warrants of appointment as gun and rifle makers to the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

and other European royal families.

History

James Purdey founded James Purdey & Sons Limited in

, England in 1814, locating his business on Princes Street. Prior to starting out on his own, Purdey worked as head stocker for

Joseph Manton Joseph Manton (6 April 1766 – 29 June 1835) was a British gunsmith. He innovated sport shooting, improved weapon quality and paved the way for the modern artillery shell. Manton was a sport shooter and a friend of Colonel Peter Hawker. ...

, the foremost gunmaker of his time. In 1826 the company moved from the Princes Street location to Manton's former premises in

Oxford Street Oxford Street is a major road in the City of Westminster in the West End of London, running from Tottenham Court Road to Marble Arch via Oxford Circus. It is Europe's busiest shopping street, with around half a million daily visitors, and ...

. The founder's son, James Purdey the Younger, took over the running of the company from his father in 1858. James the Younger saw rapid change in the development and design of guns and rifles during his lifetime, essentially moving from muzzle loading

flintlock Flintlock is a general term for any firearm that uses a flint-striking ignition mechanism, the first of which appeared in Western Europe in the early 16th century. The term may also apply to a particular form of the mechanism itself, also know ...

s in the 1820s to breech loading hammerless ejectors by the 1880s. James the Younger was always at the forefront of advances in the design and building of his guns and rifles, and took out several patents for technical innovations over the years. Many of James the Younger's patents were adopted by other gunmakers. In 1882 the company moved from Oxford Street to new premises on the corner of South Audley Street and Mount Street, where the company remains to this day. James the younger designed this building to accommodate his showroom, the factory, and later the building provided living quarters for James' family. The City of Westminster unveiled a memorial plaque on the shop at 57-60 South Audley Street on 30 April 1992. Purdey guns moved briskly from

percussion cap The percussion cap or percussion primer, introduced in the early 1820s, is a type of single-use percussion ignition device for muzzle loader firearm locks enabling them to fire reliably in any weather condition. This crucial invention gave rise ...

to hammer centre-fire guns and then to the self-opening hammerless gun of 1880. This hammerless self opening mechanism was designed by Frederick Beesley, a Purdey worker of the time, and used one limb of a V spring to operate the internal hammers and the other to operate the self opening feature. Beesley sold the patent to Purdey in 1880 for £55. This was followed ten years later by the incorporation of ejectors. Apart from continual refinement and the optional single trigger mechanism, very little change has subsequently been made to the design of the side-by-side gun. In 1900 Athol Purdey took over from his father and ran the business through the prosperous

Edwardian The Edwardian era or Edwardian period of British history spanned the reign of King Edward VII, 1901 to 1910 and is sometimes extended to the start of the First World War. The death of Queen Victoria in January 1901 marked the end of the Victori ...

years, as well as supervising Purdey's manufacturing of gun parts and other items of ordnance for the

War Department War Department may refer to: * War Department (United Kingdom) * United States Department of War (1789–1947) See also * War Office, a former department of the British Government * Ministry of defence * Ministry of War * Ministry of Defence * D ...

during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. Athol's sons, James and Tom, both of whom had survived serious injuries whilst fighting in France, joined the firm in the 1920s, and took over from Athol Purdey on his retirement circa 1929. The Purdey "over & under" gun is a development of the Woodward patent of 1913 which was incorporated into the company on the purchase of J.Woodward & Sons by Purdey in 1949. Whilst James Purdey & Sons is best known as a maker of shotguns, it also produces rifles, both double-barrelled and bolt-action. The guns are custom-made, largely by hand. They are extremely expensive. A new Purdey shotgun starts at around £89,000. Richard Purdey, the sixth generation of the family from the founder, retired as chairman in February 2007. Nigel Beaumont took over as chairman until his retirement in 2014. James Horne was chairman from 2014 to December 2019. The current Chairman is Dan Jago.

Ownership changes

In 1946, after 132 years of Purdey family ownership, Hugh Seely, 1st Baron Sherwood, purchased James Purdey & Sons Ltd. In 1994, The Hon Richard Beaumont, who had been chairman since 1970, upon deciding to retire, sold James Purdey & Sons Ltd to Compagnie Financière Richemont SA.

Royal clientele

As early as 1838,

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 ...

is recorded as having bought a pair of Purdey pistols. During the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries the company supplied ornate guns and rifles to various Indian princes.

Warrants

The company was granted its first Royal Warrant in 1868 by The Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII; today the company holds warrants from

King Charles III Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. He was the longest-serving heir apparent and Prince of Wales and, at age 73, became the oldest person to a ...

. The company also held warrant from The Duke of Edinburgh and Queen Elizabeth II until their deaths in 2021 and 2022.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Purdey Richemont brands British Royal Warrant holders Shotguns Firearm manufacturers of the United Kingdom Manufacturing companies established in 1814 1814 establishments in England British companies established in 1814 Mount Street, London