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1912-1918 - Reilly at Marylebone

I've pretty well finished up this story - the intention being to date the serial numbers of Reilly guns. The twisting and turnings of the name of the company from JC's retirement in Sep 1857, the opening of 315 Oxford Street, "Reilly's Armoury House," in January 1859, to the advent of the name "E.M. Reilly & Co.", in Sep 1859, and the subsequent switch from "Gun Maker" to "Gun Manufacturer" in Summer 1860 has been addressed.

There was one thing bothering me though and it has nothing to do with Reilly SN's; that is the fate of the name after the bankruptcy of the company in June 1912 (detailed above) and the opening of 13 High Street, Marylebone.

. . . . . . . 13 High Street, Marylebone today (a small shop)


Per the following records, that shop did exist as "E.M. Reilly & Co., gunmakers" for several years.

. . . . . . .1912 London Telephone Directory - Reilly still at 295 Oxford Street - still Gun & Rifle Manufacturers



. . . . . . .1915 London Postal Directory - E.M Reilly, "gunmaker" noted at 13 High Street



The company disappeared from the London telephone directories in 1919 per below.

..........1918 Telephone Directory with EM Reilly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1919 Tel Directory without EM Reilly


..........1921 London Postal Directory - likewise had no entry for Reilly at 13 High Street, Marylebone.


John Cambell in his article on Reilly in DGJ , Summer 2015 wrote that he had seen E.M. Reilly & Co. mentioned in the 1921 "Hughes London Business Directory." I haven't been able to access Hughes yet.....it looks to me as if the company disappeared in 1918 (before the publication of the 1919 phone directory) but we'll assume that the entry exists; (Hughes was a long lead time publication so if John is right, the shop would have still been at 13 High Street in 1920, but without a telephone and Hughes would have been typeset before the 1921 Postal Directory. Strange - I'll try to get access to that issue of Hughes to confirm; I've got to mention though that that article - like every article about Reilly found so far - had a number of errors of fact in it..not a criticism of John but rather a simple statement of fact on where general understanding of Reilly history was at the time):


The above makes the post bankruptcy history of Reilly easier to understand...
-- Dec 1911 EM Reilly & Co. changed to a limited liability company with the bankruptcy lawyer GW Roberts as a "partner," presumably to protect some assets from the pending bankruptcy;
-- Spring 1912 they advertised 295 Oxford St. as a "freehold" for sale in London newspapers;
-- 6-8 June, bankruptcy declared;
-- 1912 they moved to 13 High Street Marylebone;
-- in 1918 (or 1921) they closed it;
-- August 1922 Riggs bought the name and published it in his catalog. Therefore, following are the last three paragraphs of the "New Short History" as edited:

In 1903 the Company vacated 277 Oxford Street where they had been quartered for 44 years while the building was being renovated and moved 300 yards down the street to 295 Oxford Street. The company apparently was run by Herbert H. (Bert) Reilly and Charles A. Reilly, EM Reilly’s sons. The first extant gun with 295 Oxford Street on the rib is 35422. The company remained at 295 until bankruptcy was declared on 06 June 1912. The last extant gun with 295 on the rib is 36678.

Bert Reilly opened a small gun shop, E.M Reilly & Co., at 13 High Street, Marylebone in 1912 after the bankruptcy. No advertisements can be found for the shop though per London postal address, telephone and business directories they identified themselves as "gunmakers." No guns with this address on the rib have been found. The date of its closure is not noted although it is listed in London telephone directories up to 1919 and in business directories to 1921.

In August 1922 The Reilly name was bought by a sporting goods dealer named Charles Riggs (most Reilly history summaries put the date of purchase as 1917; this is belied by the dates of newspaper advertising). Riggs apparently decided he could use the name to promote his premium line of guns (possibly built by BSA). Whether a Reilly had any say in the design of these Riggs-Reilly guns is unknown.

I've mentioned in that edited short history above that I don't know if a Reilly was involved in the design of any of Rigg's Reilly-named guns. Surely a Reilly didn't make them and I don't count them as Reilly's. Yet one of the Reilly's must have gotten something from each gun sold with that name on it as royalties (who?) unless Riggs bought the name outright (from whom, when, for how much?), and there is a slight tinge of elegance in a pedestrian Riggs that might indicate some involvement by a Reilly initially in designing them. Riggs Reillys are regarded in the market now as journeyman guns. Lots of questions - but nothing at all to do with Reilly Serial Numbers and of no interest to this line.

SN 140415 - E.M. Reilly, London (by Charles Riggs)


I'll make two more Historical posts....a repost of the fully edited New History of Reilly, gunmaker...I think it's about as good as it's going to get and I have no interest in pursuing it further; .and of the current serial number chart. With that I'm done. The only thing that'll get me back on topic now are gun serial numbers that change something or new case labels. (I may post a couple of photos of EM from ancestry.com posted by Sally). I really think the serial number-date chart is darned good as it is now.

Of course this line will remain a great place for shooters to post pics of their Reilly's.

Last edited by Argo44; 11/14/18 10:44 AM.
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