Westley Richards Decades: The 1920's

It was a pivotal time in the history of civilization. Anyone over the age of twenty-five was born a Victorian, yet the pace of industry, transport and technology was changing the world faster than anyone could have anticipated and driving humanity irreversibly into the twentieth century.

In 1925, the first moon landing was only forty-four years in the future, yet the first manned flight was a mere twenty-two years past. The British Empire was at its zenith and customers all around the globe sought-out sporting shotguns and rifles for the purposes of exploration, sport and survival.

Cordite had replaced black powder for rifles twenty-five years earlier and one could argue that in terms of technology and bench skills combined the industry was peaking.

The Wall Street Crash in the final year of the decade would create huge repercussions but for those few short years, all must have seemed well with the World Order, from the point of view of the British establishment, at least.

It was certainly a busy period for orders at Westley Richards and the 1920s Gun Order Book shines a brilliant spotlight on the activities of the company and its customers.

Actually, the 1920s decade starts in one book, runs the entirety of another, and the last year begins a third book.

The main book itself is hard-backed ledger made by Evans, Leslie & Co. of London, who usefully provided a label inside the cover with a number (14219) to be quoted, should a duplicate order be required.

The cover is now battered and split, with some signs of historic repair. The spine is detached. The pages within, however, are in good order and largely undamaged.

These ledgers begin with an index of names. This enables anyone searching for a customer to see immediately which pages contain any orders pertaining to him. For example, under ‘M’ we have an entry showing that H.H. The Maharaja of Mysore has orders on pages 181, 188 and 502.

Anyone wishing to search the ledger for a family member or famous personality may do so by perusing this index. It helps if the name us a unique title or an uncommon one. ‘J.L. Evans’ will be hard to identify correctly as a particular individual, whereas ‘Lady Burghley’ should be a person of historical record.

Within the pages of the ledger we often find orders pasted onto a page from ‘Westley Richards & Company Ltd., 23, Conduit Street, London W.1.’ These orders would have been sent to the Birmingham factory from the London shop for attention, and they are provided on a standard form.

This form details all the key specifications for the gun or rifle to be made. Terms include outlining the payment of a ‘prompt cash price’ or a ‘Deposit of one third of above cost’.

These orders detail the cost of rifles, shotguns and ammunition at the time of ordering.  For example, when Count Alfred Potocki of the Polish Embassy ordered a pair of ‘Explora Ball & Shot Guns’ on 25^th March 1920, they cost, including the case, two hundred and eighty four pounds. He paid a fifty-pounds deposit when he placed the order.

When H.R. Blanford, of the Indian Forest Service, placed an order for a ’plain hammerless 2-trigger ejector’ on April 12^th of the same year, he paid eighty-five pounds for it.

Charles Lancett Esq of Quebec ordered a plain quality, Mauser-action, 3-capacity magazine rifle in  .280 Ross, on August 3^rd 1920 for a cash price of thirty-five pounds.

These orders nicely represent the range of firearms customers were ordering. There were best guns and rifles for the aristocracy, plainer guns for civil servants and plain rifles for colonists in far-flung places. Westley Richards had a product to suit everyone.

However, notable during this period are the orders of the Maharajas. These Indian princes ruled their provinces without undue interference from the British, and they profited from the regional peace and stability conferred on the sub-continent by the ‘Pax Britannica’.

The absence of local territorial squabbles and inter-state fighting enabled them to focus on internal development and culture. Many were fabulously wealthy and educated through the British public school system, often attending Oxbridge colleges and becoming fully integrated into British Indian society.

Among the passions of the maharajas was hunting and they had ample opportunity to partake of a great deal of it in their own forests. Their orders from British gunmakers, including Westley Richards, often tended towards the lavish and ostentations, though they did order guns and rifles from across the range.

While the typical British customer opted for fine scroll engraving, maharajas often preferred much more elaborate embellishment, including the inlay of precious metals. However, not all their orders were for ‘exhibition quality guns and rifles, as the book shows.

Among the entries in the main 1920s Gun Order Book we have the following examples:

H.H. The Maharaja of Alwar: A .318 best hammerless ejector double rifle ‘inlaid with gold’ to match No. 17216. #180.00

Nawab Ali Khan: A best .318 magazine rifle. #45.00

H.H. Nasrullah Khan of Bhopal: A best quality hammerless ejector Super Magnum Explora 12-bore. #157.10.0.

H.H. The Maharaja of Alwar: Two .318 Magazine sporting rifles. #35 each.

H.H. The Maharaja of Bijawar. A best double hammerless ejector .318 rifle with HD locks & 2 triggers. #165.0.0

H.H. The Maharaja of Orchha: A .318 single magazine rifle ‘engraved as sketch’. #45.10.0.

H.H. The Maharana of Udaipur: A best quality hammerless ejector .425 H.V rifle with ‘Ovundo’ action. #225.0.0

H.H. The Maharaja of Orchha: A best quality 20-gauge ‘Fauneta’, detachable locks & one-trigger.

H.H. The Maharaja of Patiala: A set of four best 12-bore hammerless ejector guns, with case & accessories. #595.18.0. Also, another set of four best quality hammerless ejector guns with case & accessories. #595.18.0. Also, a best quality hammerless ejector .577 H.V. double rifle#165.0.0. All these orders were placed on the same day; August 8^th 1921.

However, that last order was not especially exceptional. The Maharaja of Indore ordered fifteen cased rifles at once on 10^th August 1921, along with 16,000 rounds of ammunition. This gives some indication of the importance to Westley Richards the patronage of these princes really had.

While Indian princes dominate the big orders, there is one from Bangkok for a ‘Modele de Luxe’ double, hammerless, one-trigger, 12-bore, ejector with HD locks. It notes ‘special engraving but no dogs to appear anywhere’. Inlay in 18ct gold of a snipe in flight on heel-plate. Gold crest plate engraved in monogram ’C.A’. Cased and with accessories it cost #197.16.0.

The same customer, named Nai Chung Apai Wongse, later ordered a 12-bore Modele de Grand Luxe ‘for special shooting at longest possible killing range at snipe with No.8 shot’. Hippopotamus ivory heel plate ‘stock of finest quality, where roots show best’.

This customer provided his own sketches for engraving and gold inlay, for which Westley Richards charged an extra #30 to execute. They depict ‘English & Siamese characters, figure with bow & arrow, in gold on the ivory & other parts’. He added an order for a double hammerless ejector ‘as above but fully inlaid in gold as sketches’ and a Super Magnum Explora with external hammers and two triggers.

Feedback from customers as to the performance of our rifles in the field provides interesting reading today. In placing his order, Mr. Apai Wongse advised that ‘Tests show with this charge (6 ¼ drams No.4 black powder) that reasonable shooting can be got at 100 yards with the L.T Explora bullet, but the lead Paradox at this distance is useless, it shoots too wildly, but both bullets with black powder shoot well at 50 yds’.

Careful perusal of the pages of the 1920's order book also uncovers some names that will be familiar to history buffs interested in the colonial era. The name Richard Meinerzhagen is one such. He was a notorious adventurer, fantasist and trouble-maker in Africa at the turn of the century and led a life full of mystery, deceit and skullduggery, as well as claiming for himself some glory in military and in scientific matters.

On 16^th February 1924, Meinerzhagen ordered a plain quality,  .318 fixed-lock double rifle for his friend Capt. E.T. Carlyon of Hawkes Bay N.Z. The order, which is signed by Meinerzhagen, states the rifle is wanted by March 3^rd! Orders take a little longer to deliver today.

As is the case now, Westley Richards customers could be very exacting in the way they wanted their rifles delivered. One, from Hugh Healley in the ‘Kenya Colony’, dated January 21^st 1921, specifies ‘This gentleman sights with the whole of his bead in the V. The rifle should be sighted for the fairly high altitude of the Nairobi district. i.e. it should shoot probably be 3” low here’.

The sheer number of orders from Maharajas during this period underscores their importance to the prosperity of the company. It is not hard to imagine how badly the order book suffered less than two decades later, when the Raj ended and the halcyon days of unfettered wealth enjoyed by the princes ended.

In time, the heirs of these very princes would be selling their extensive collections of sporting firearms back to British dealers. Among them were Walter Clode, who then owned Westley Richards and it was these transactions that were largely responsible for keeping the company afloat during a very difficult period, during which the demand for new guns and rifles was decidedly limited.

Fortunately, for collectors and historians, both our records and many of our guns and rifles survive to tell the story of those halcyon days for the company, a century ago.