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Reilly's were not Freemen of the Worshipful Company of Gunmakers.

At the suggestion of David Trevallion (Crossed Chisels) I contacted the Worshipful Company of Gunmakers in London, asking if either J.C. or E.M were ever actual members of the Company. A 1926 book stated this as fact. I doubted its accuracy. There were a lot of people involved in the gun trade who were not Freemen and there were members who were not involved in the gun trade. But it was a detail to tie up. Here is the response from Mr. Dereck Stimpson, the honorary archivist of the Company:

Dear Mr Williams,

Many thanks for your email and information. I will read your article with interest during the week.

I seemed to recall that neither Reilly entered the Gunmakers’ Company. I have now checked our records - the index and the Freedom (and Livery, just to be sure) pages for those dates (early 1820’s to 1870”s to be sure) and they are not there. The answer appears therefore confirmed - that they did did not become Freemen.

For your interest I own a pair of much used Reilly hammer ejectors nos. 30394 and 30395. They are described in Double Gun Journal Vol 19 Issue 3 Autumn 2008. There are a couple of typos in the article (one being - sides should read slides, describing the ejector mechanism) and the colour reproduction, usually good, is unfortunately rather dark. The address on the rib is Oxford St.

I also have a Reilly 28b hammer S/L serial no. 23898 - a lovely little gun with beautiful damascus barrels. All three fit me well!

Please let me know if I can assist in any other way.
with best wishes
Derek Stimpson

I've thanked Dereck for his help and will let David know. I've asked about those Reilly's he owns. I already had a 30394, a 12 bore sold by Christies in 1995 with no mention of a pair. I always suspect auction houses of not being (how to put it diplomatically) particularly fastidious about the accuracy of the information they put out about the guns they're selling - perhaps I'm paranoid and that was the dawn of the internet? If anyone has a copy of that DGJ article - Double Gun Journal Vol 19 Issue 3 Autumn 2008 - would much appreciate your forwarding the article....I just cannot stuff more books on another hobby into the house.

I will be changing the History shortly. At this point I would push the first Reilly made gun to 1827 when the first gun advertisements can be found in the London papers. For the moment I don't feel like changing the chronology though I ultimately will.

Thanks for forwarding it Stephen. From the article it's evident that Dereck's #1 is most likely the Christie's gun. I change the chronology description.

Last edited by Argo44; 06/07/20 11:36 PM.
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