Kynoch was a manufacturer of

ammunition Ammunition (informally ammo) is the material fired, scattered, dropped, or detonated from any weapon or weapon system. Ammunition is both expendable weapons (e.g., bombs, missiles, grenades, land mines) and the component parts of other weapo ...

, later incorporated into ICI but remaining as a

brand name A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's good or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create a ...

for sporting cartridges.

History

Memorial card - victims of explosion at Messrs Pursall and Philip's of Whittall Street, Birmingham, England - 1859

The firm of Pursall and Phillips operated a '

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 ...

manufactory' at Whittall Street, in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the We ...

, in the mid 19th century. In 1856, Scottish entrepreneur George Kynoch joined the company. An explosion in 1859 destroyed the works, killing 19 of the 70 employees. As a result, the firm moved to Witton in 1862, on a site adjacent to the

London and North Western Railway The London and North Western Railway (LNWR, L&NWR) was a British railway company between 1846 and 1922. In the late 19th century, the L&NWR was the largest joint stock company in the United Kingdom. In 1923, it became a constituent of the ...

's Grand Junction line. In 1863, Kynoch took over the business, which was subsequently renamed G. Kynoch and Co. A further series of explosions in the 1860s and in 1870 led to dozens of deaths and hundreds of injuries. In 1895 Kynoch built an explosives factory east of

Shell Haven Creek Shell may refer to: Architecture and design * Shell (structure), a thin structure ** Concrete shell, a thin shell of concrete, usually with no interior columns or exterior buttresses ** Thin-shell structure Science Biology * Seashell, a hard ...

, Essex (now known as Coryton). This opened in 1897, with an estate for employees called Kynochtown. Products included

cordite Cordite is a family of smokeless propellants developed and produced in the United Kingdom since 1889 to replace black powder as a military propellant. Like modern gunpowder, cordite is classified as a low explosive because of its slow burn ...

guncotton Nitrocellulose (also known as cellulose nitrate, flash paper, flash cotton, guncotton, pyroxylin and flash string, depending on form) is a highly flammable compound formed by nitrating cellulose through exposure to a mixture of nitric acid and ...

gunpowder Gunpowder, also commonly known as black powder to distinguish it from modern smokeless powder, is the earliest known chemical explosive. It consists of a mixture of sulfur, carbon (in the form of charcoal) and potassium nitrate ( saltpeter) ...

, and cartridges. After

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

many of the UK

and explosives manufacturers were brought together under Nobel Explosives to become Nobel Industries, which was a founding element of

Imperial Chemical Industries Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) was a British chemical company. It was, for much of its history, the largest manufacturer in Britain. It was formed by the merger of four leading British chemical companies in 1926. Its headquarters were at M ...

Ltd (ICI) in 1926. Once Nobel Industries, including Kynoch Ltd, had merged to form ICI, the original Kynoch factory in Witton became the head office and principal manufacturing base of the "ICI Metals Division". Kynoch, along with names such as Eley, became brands of subsidiaries. Kynoch, established a munitions factory on the north side of

Arklow Arklow (; ; , ) is a town in County Wicklow on the southeast coast of Ireland. The town is overlooked by Ballymoyle Hill. It was founded by the Vikings in the ninth century. Arklow was the site of one of the bloodiest battles of the 1798 r ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. This factory employed several thousand workers during World War I, but closed shortly after it, all production being moved to

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

. Seventeen workers were killed in an explosion there on 21 September 1917. It was believed that the plant was shelled by a German U-boat During the 1950s, the sound of test firing of munitions still occasionally shattered the peace over Witton, but with the

standardization Standardization or standardisation is the process of implementing and developing technical standards based on the consensus of different parties that include firms, users, interest groups, standards organizations and governments. Standardization ...

of cartridges across the Western powers and a general downturn in ammunition requirements, the sidelines in sporting cartridges were discontinued by Imperial Metal Industries (IMI) in 1970. IMI became independent of ICI in 1977, still producing rimfire and

shotgun A shotgun (also known as a scattergun, or historically as a fowling piece) is a long-barreled firearm designed to shoot a straight-walled cartridge known as a shotshell, which usually discharges numerous small pellet-like spherical sub- p ...

cartridges for the sporting markets. The more economically viable production of shotgun and rimfire ammunition continued. The Ammunition Division was incorporated separately as Eley Limited in 1983.

Kynamco

In 1996, David Little working under the company name Kynamco Ltd (Kynoch Ammunition Company) took over the Kynoch brand. Initially production commenced in Royston, Hertfordshire and in 2000, moved to a purpose built facility in Mildenhall, Suffolk. Kynamco, using the Kynoch trademark manufacture 51 of the more popular Kynoch calibres from 6.5x54 ms up to the .700 Nitro Express. They also produce various other types of ammunition for industrial, film and re-enactment use. To date, Kynoch continues to manufacture in a smaller capacity.

The Kynoch Press

The Kynoch Press was founded as a company press in 1876 to print packaging. To manage publicity, the company set it up as a

fine press Fine press printing and publishing comprises historical and contemporary printers and publishers publishing books and other printed matter of exceptional intrinsic quality and artistic taste, including both commercial and private presses. Histo ...

, which, when Kynoch became part of ICI in 1926, continued as a division and kept its name, The Kynoch Press. The Kynoch Press not only handled the firm's printing, but performed independent work, operating at times like a

small press A small press is a publisher with annual sales below a certain level or below a certain number of titles published. The terms "indie publisher" and "independent press" and others are sometimes used interchangeably. Independent press is general ...

, and at other times like a

, and yet at other times like a

private press Private press publishing, with respect to books, is an endeavor performed by craft-based expert or aspiring artisans, either amateur or professional, who, among other things, print and build books, typically by hand, with emphasis on design, grap ...

Gallery

File:455in SAA Ball - Webley 455 Ammunition.jpg, A Kynoch-produced (centre) Webley .455 cartridge File:Eley-Kynoch ammunition (circa 1950s) - front.jpg, Eley-Kynoch consumer packaging for .30/30

centrefire Two rounds of .357 Magnum, a centerfire cartridge; notice the circular primer in the center A centerfire cartridge is a firearm metallic cartridge whose primer is located at the center of the base of its casing (i.e. "case head"). Unlike r ...

rifle cartridges (front) File:Eley-Kynock Ammunition (Circa 1950's) - Inside.JPG, Eley-Kynoch consumer packaging (inside of packaging) for .30/30

rounds. Headstamp is "KYNOCH 30-30" File:Eley-Kynoch ammunition (circa 1950s) - back.jpg, Eley-Kynoch consumer packaging for .30/30

rifle cartridges

References

External links