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Joined: May 2022
Posts: 33 Likes: 4
Sidelock
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OP
Sidelock
Joined: May 2022
Posts: 33 Likes: 4 |
Has anyone ever heard of this maker, or have any information? I have recently purchased a 12 gauge side by side stamped with this name and an address in Hythe, Kent. It’s not familiar to me at all, and I can’t find much of anything online. Someone fitting the name, place and time period was a musketry instructor for the British army, and an Olympic rifle shooter in 1908. No company information at all that I have found.
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Joined: Nov 2015
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Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Nov 2015
Posts: 1,134 Likes: 19 |
Charles Churcher was a gunsmith in Hythe Kent. He more than likely bought and sold guns from the trade.
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Joined: Dec 2020
Posts: 1,199 Likes: 550
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Dec 2020
Posts: 1,199 Likes: 550 |
Nigel Brown, Volume 2 lists him.
Charles William Churcher, 73 Dymchurch Road, Hythe, Kent, c.1934 - c.40*.
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Joined: Jun 2008
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Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 2,768 Likes: 115 |
Interesting connection with Hythe in that is also where the Military rifle training ranges were in the 19th. and early 20th. Century. Maybe your Instructor stayed on in that area and set up as a Gunsmith. No doubt (as above) he sourced the gun from the Gun Trade and sold it on with his name. That was, and still is, common practice making English gun research a real head scratcher at times. Lagopus.....
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Joined: May 2022
Posts: 33 Likes: 4
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: May 2022
Posts: 33 Likes: 4 |
I have that impression, as this fellow was the Queen’s Gold medal winner in 1905, and was assigned as an instructor at Hythe during World War One. Someone with the same name ran a pub in Hythe next door to the address on the shotgun, and was apparently called as an expert witness in a coroner’s inquest. Fascinating bits of history, but they tell me little about my new double.
The one I purchased appears to be Birmingham proofed between 1925 and 1954
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Joined: Dec 2020
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Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Dec 2020
Posts: 1,199 Likes: 550 |
A photo of the Proof Marks showing the viewers mark (crossed sceptres with code letters) could confirm or narrow down the year.
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Joined: Apr 2018
Posts: 454 Likes: 129
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Apr 2018
Posts: 454 Likes: 129 |
this address is worth marking for reference.....https://www.shotguns.se/html/uk.html
go to the bottom of the post.
best regards,
tom
"it's a poor sort of memory that only works backwards."
lewis carroll, Alice in Wonderland
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Joined: Feb 2016
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Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Feb 2016
Posts: 3,535 Likes: 451 |
Started searching "Churcher" through the UK press database but it looks like this research has already been well done. Couldn't add much more. Thanks for the link to Birmingham proof marks. I had it somewhere. . .I made this date chart for my own reference. ![[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]](https://i.imgur.com/nHm5tD2l.png)
Last edited by Argo44; 04/10/23 09:03 PM.
Baluch are not Brahui, Brahui are Baluch
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2 members like this:
gil russell, BrentD, Prof |
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Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 7,893 Likes: 651
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 7,893 Likes: 651 |
That is a very nice cheat sheet you have made. Quickly gives a date if you can read the date codes. Copied and filed with all the rest of my great “where is it” reference material, in a drawer.
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1 member likes this:
BrentD, Prof |
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Joined: Jan 2004
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Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 7,515 Likes: 569 |
Be nice if Dave could pin this at the top where it would be handy.
_________ BrentD, (Professor - just for Stan) =>/ ![[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]](https://i.imgur.com/qclHjMQ.jpg)
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