Excellent news that Guy Smith has written this book. I know how tricky it is to gather enough data on a gunmaker when little exits, so he is to be congratulated.
Here is what IGC have on them to whet your appetite!
Name Midland Gun Company
Address1 76 Bath Street
Address2 80 & 81 Bath Street
Address3 Price Street
Address4 Demon Gun Works, 77 Bath Street
Address5 Demon Gun Works, 76 & 77 Bath Street
Address6 10 Bailey Street
Address7 74 Whittall Street
City/Town Birmingham
Country United Kingdom
Trade Gun, rifle & pistol makers
Other Address 55 & 56 Price Street, Birmingham; 127 Cleethorpes Road, Grimsby, Lincolnshire; Unknown address in London.
Dates 1888-1964
Notes
The Midland Gun Company was founded in 1888 by Joseph Lightwood of Court, 16 Bath Street. All the Lightwood family, about 15 of them, were outworkers in the Birmingham gun trade, stockers, finishers, action filers and gun implement makers.
In the late 1880s the larger gun making firms such a P Webley & Son, W & C Scott and Westley Richards were producing the bulk of Birmingham's guns. The smaller gun makers and outworkers did not have the expertise to market their products and services and found it difficult to compete with mass production. In 1888 Joseph was one of the first in the gun trade to produce a catalogue, as opposed to brochures and pamphlets, of the products the Lightwoods made or could supply from other trade makers. They established the Midland Gun Company.
The Midland Gun Co was recorded in 1889 at 76 Bath Street, they may have had additional premises in Price Street. These and some subsequent changes of address may reflect changes of the principal offices of the company rather than actual acquisition and disposal of premises.
Joseph, the father, was recorded in the 1891 census living with his wife and two daughters. In previous censuses he had described himself as a gun stocker then as a gun action filer, but in this census he described himself as a gun manufacturer so he considered himself on or near the same social level as makers like the Scotts, Webleys, and Westley Richards.
Joseph died in 1896 and the company was reportedly bought by H Ludlow England who in that year also bought Holloway's shareholding in Holloway & Naughton. It is not known who or how many Lightwoods were employed by the company. In about 1897 the principal offices moved to 80 & 81 Bath Street, but the 76 Bath Street premises appear to have been retained.
By 1900 Joseph, the son, appears to have returned to his former business as an outworker.
Frank W Lightwood (b.1875) was the youngest son of William Lightwood, a gun implement maker in Birmingham. The 1901 census records him living at Bellevue, Ballifeary Road, Inverness, Scotland, with his wife, Ada (b.1873 in Hitchin, Hertfordshire) and his mother-in-law, Esther (b.1850 in Hitchin). Unusually and somewhat grandly he described himself as a small arms gun maker which suggests that he had been and perhaps was still employed by the Midland Gun Co, possibly to find customers for Midland products in Scotland.
Frank may have ceased being directly employed by the Midland Gun Co and became an agent because from about 1909 to about 1922 he was recorded as a gun and rifle maker at 12 Market Place, Brigg, Lincolnshire (see George Hockey, Charles Leonard, John Lofley and Lincolnshire Gun & Ammunition Co). In the 1911 census he was recorded as a gun maker living at 12 Market Place with his wife and mother-in-law, but he seems to have had a close relationship with the Midland Gun Co and may have loaded cartridges for them. Both Frank W Lightwood and Midland Gun Co sold a cartridge under the name "Four Best".
In 1913 Frank (sometimes incorrectly recorded as Frederick W Lightwood) opened a branch at 122a Cleethorpe Road, Grimsby, Lincolnshire. The Midland Gun Co had a branch at 127 Cleethorpe Road from about 1909 and Frank may have been involved in this (see Frank W Lightwood). Grimsby had been a major whaling port where other gun makers had established offices to promote their harpoon guns, but this may not have been the reason for Midland's Grimsby premises. Both of Frank Lightwood's shops in Brigg and Market Rasen closed in about 1922. Frank died in 1925 but who took over his business is not known.
In about 1903 the principal offices of the Midland Gun Co moved to Price Street but in 1909 returned to 77 Bath Street and it seems that by this time the factory was called the "Demon Gun Works"; the company had adopted a naked male demon as its logo (engraved on the butt plates which were sometimes made of pierced steel), they applied the name "Demon" to their top grades of guns and cartridges.
In 1928 the company's address was 76 & 77 Bath Street, and at about this time the company had an office in London where they sold a wide range of guns, pistols and shooting equipment made by British and foreign manufacturers. They had a small wholesale export market, and they made components e.g. actions for the trade.
In 1941 the principal offices moved to 10 Bailey Street, Birmingham, possibly because of wartime bomb damage, but in 1942 these moved to 74 Whittall Street.
In 1952, the company, then a shadow of its former self, was bought by Parker-Hale.
In 1959 the Bath Street premises were given up and the company's only address was 74 Whittall Street.
In 1962 the Midland division of Parker-Hale, as in then was, moved to 55 & 56 Price Street, it closed in 1964. At this time the manager of the Midland division was Harold King who left to establish his own business in Birmingham.
Some reports say that Parker-Hale continued to use the Midland name on its guns up to about 1970.
Other Info
The company sold cartridges under the names "Best of All", "Demon", "Double Demon" (a steel-lined pigeon cartridge), "Edward", "Jubilee", "Keeper", "Keeper High Velocity", "Perfect Smokeless", "Perfection Smokeless", "Rabbit Special Smokeless", "Record", Record Brand", "Sudden Death". In addition, the Lincolnshire branch loaded a 12 bore cartridge under the name "Four Best"(as did Frank W Lightwood of Brigg, Lincolnshire). The company also loaded U.M.C. Remington cartridges (post 1915).
The models of shotgun listed in the 1930 catalogue included the following hammerguns: the "Defiance", the "Demon", the "Excelsior", the "Farmer", the "Keeper", the "Perfection", the "Pioneer", the "Quicksure", the "Rabbit", the "Sudden Death" and the "Very". Boxlock guns included the "Demon", the "Farmer", the "Favourite", the "Featherweight", the "Formidable", the "Invincible", the "Triumph", the "Twentyfive", and the "Victrix". Sidelock guns included the "Dreadnought", and the "Supreme".
Tim
