doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion Classic & Custom Single Barreled Sporting Rifles @ doublegunshop.com Rigby 276

I just recieved a "factory" letter for my Rigby. It states the rifle was sold to E.Leslie on 10 Sept.1898. Despite looking through the Index of all my books on Africa/India, I could find no mention of E.Leslie. I am almost computer illiterate and my attempts at a search were not fruitful. Has anyone heard of E.Leslie who was in London on 10 Sept. 1898?
Mike

Mike,
Is there any info that relates to Mr. Leslie being in Africa or India? He could have been a British Officer or even a Civil Servant in the Foreign Service, in either case he could have been posted to anywhere in the British Empire, which covered one forth of the world back in those days. He could even have been a civilian who just wanted to do a little deer hunting here in the U/K.

Harry

I tried to do some searches, you can imagine that you get
a lot of hits when a surname is also a common first name.
I did find an "Emma Leslie", a rather well-known Christian writer living in Kent. Perhaps, the rifle was purchased by her as a gift for a missionary traveling to Africa, India, wherever.

I just checked my copy of the 1900 British version of "Who's Who" and while there are a few Leslie's, there were no E. Leslie's.

Harry,
That is all true,I was more or less "shooting in the dark", I have a fair number of books about Africa/India, so that looked like a good place to start. I guess Emma is a possibility,women sometimes used their initial instead of their name, to avoid being IDed as a woman (still do in phone books).I appreciate the help,please keep trying.
Mike

When this was first posted, the "E. Leslie & Africa" reference seemed familiar. Nothing yet, but I am sure there is a clue somewhere and that one of us will find it.

That sounds interesting, both rifle and owner. Please keep the board apprised of y'r findings. Should you be able, pics and physical description would be welcome, Thank you.

JohnM,
I haven't learned how to post pictures ,but pictures wouldn't be that interesting yet. This is the Rigby I wrote about in "Waidmannsheil"#41,Fall 2009(a publication of the German Gun Collectors Assn.).I had found it in a pile of parts, from a bunch of destroyed guns,and have been restoring it as best I can since.A lot of people think restoring one destroys its collector value, but since it was on its way to becomming a lawnmower blade(or automobile)it would have a value of $0.02/pound otherwise.It's welded back together and I now need an old stock from the same period to use as a pattern in a pantograph. Thanks everybody for looking.
Mike