Map sources for Gun Quarter at grid reference SP071874

The Gun Quarter is the name given to an area of the city of Birmingham, in England, traditionally (and still) associated with the manufacture of firearms and sporting guns. The area is to the north of the city centre, bounded by Steelhouse Lane, Shadwell Street and Loveday Street. In the 1960s part of the gun quarter was demolished, and the area was split in two by the construction of an inner ring road. Image File history File links Dot4gb. ... Image File history File links Gb4dot. ... The British national grid reference system is a system of geographic grid references commonly used in Great Britain, different from using latitude or longitude. ... The city from above Centenary Square. ... Motto: (French for God and my right) Anthem: Multiple unofficial anthems Capital London Largest city London Official language(s) English (de facto) Unification    - by Athelstan AD 927  Area    - Total 130,395 km² (1st in UK)   50,346 sq mi  Population    - 2005 est. ... The 1960s decade refers to the years from January 1, 1960 to December 31, 1969, inclusive. ...

17th century

During the early to mid 17th century Birmingham's population numbered only several thousand, the town was home to many foundries and workshops that made a wide variety of metalware, including guns. Sir Richard Newdigate approached manufacturers in the town in 1689 with the notion of supplying the British Government with small arms. It was stressed that they would need to be of high enough calibre to equal the small arms that were imported from abroad. After a successful trial order in 1692, the Government placed its first contract. On 5 January 1693 the "Officers of Ordnance" chose five local firearms manufacturers to initially produce 200 "snaphance musquets" per month over the period of one year, paying 17 shillings per musket, plus 3 shillings per hundredweight for delivery to London. Events Louis XIV of France passed the Code Noir, allowing the full use of slaves in the French colonies. ... Small arms captured in Fallujah, Iraq by the US Marine Corps in 2004 The term small arms generally describes any number of smaller infantry weapons, such as firearms that an individual soldier can carry. ... Events February 13 - Massacre of Glencoe March 1 - The Salem witch trials begin in Salem Village, Massachusetts Bay Colony with the charging of three women with witchcraft. ... January 5 is the 5th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Events January 11 - Eruption of Mt. ... Snaphance or Snaphaunce refers to a mechanism for igniting a firearms propellant usually in a muzzleloading gun. ... Muskets and bayonets aboard the frigate Grand Turk. ... The shilling was a British coin first issued in 1548 for Henry VIII, although arguably the testoon issued about 1487 for Henry VII was the first shilling. ... Hundred weight or hundredweight is a unit of measurement for mass in both the system of measurement used in the United Kingdom (and previously throughout the British Commonwealth), and in the system used in the United States. ... London (pronounced ) is the capital city of England and the United Kingdom. ...

18th century

At the start of the eighteenth century, gun manufacture was concentrated in the Digbeth area, but fifty years later the trade had moved to the present-day Gun Quarter. Many of the gunsmiths also expanded to less cramped parts of the city - the Gun Quarter is a very small area, and early accounts describe many "higgledy piggledy" houses and factories with different gunshops and gunsmiths residing in close proximity to one another. A commemorative plaque in the Gun Quarter claims that around this time Birmingham was the "foremost arms producer in the world", the town's closest rival being London. Digbeth is an area of Birmingham, England. ...

By the end of the eighteenth century the Gun Quarter had become a thriving gun manufacturing community. Government viewing rooms were opened in Bagot Street in 1798, employing sixty or seventy people to ensure that guns produced: were of the necessary standard to provide for the British army. Military use, however, was accompanied by a major market in the Atlantic slave trade. A 1788 Parliamentary report counted over 4,000 gun makers, with 100,000 guns a year going to slave traders. [1] 1798 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... The Atlantic slave trade was the purchase of people in and transport from West Africa and Central Africa, and to a lesser degree East Africa, into slavery in the New World. ... 1788 was a leap year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ...

19th century

The British Government began to rely heavily upon the skilled gun manufacturers of the town. The Napoleonic Wars required special efforts, and between 1804 and 1817 a total of 1,827,889 muskets, rifles, carbines, and pistols were manufactured for the Government alone. 3,037,644 barrels and 2,879,203 locks were made and then delivered to London for assembly, and around 1,000,000 items were also delivered to the East India Company which fought alongside the British forces. It has been estimated that production of guns and components between 1804 and 1815 averaged more than three quarters of a million items per annum, more than two thirds of England's production during this period. Combatants Allies: Austria[1] Ottoman Empire Portugal Prussia[1] Russia[2] Spain[3] Sweden United Kingdom[4] French Empire Denmark-Norway Holland Kingdom of Italy Kingdom of Naples Duchy of Warsaw Confederation of the Rhine: Bavaria Saxony Commanders Mikhail Kutuzov, Michael Andreas Barclay Count Wittgenstein Count Bennigsen Duke of Wellington... 1804 was a leap year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... 1817 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... Muskets and bayonets aboard the frigate Grand Turk. ... A rifle is a firearm with a stock and a barrel that has a spiral groove or grooves (rifling) cut into its interior. ... A carbine is a firearm similar to, but generally shorter and less powerful than, a rifle or musket of a given period. ... A Browning 9 millimeter Hi-Power Ordnance pistol of the French Navy, 19th century, using a Percussion cap mechanism Derringers were small and easily hidden. ... The BEIC, sometimes referred to as John Company, was a joint-stock company which was granted an English Royal Charter by Elizabeth I on December 31, 1600, with the intention of favouring trade privileges in India. ... 1804 was a leap year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... The Battle of New Orleans 1815 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ...

Birmingham Proof House was built in 1813, then one of only two such proof houses in England, the other being in London. The building was managed by a consortium of the town's gun traders, its purpose being to ensure that the guns manufactured in the area were safe for use. It is still in use. Birmingham Gun Barrel Proof House The Birmingham Gun Barrel Proof House was established in 1813 by an act of Parliament at the request - and expense - of the then prosperous Birmingham Gun Trade. ... 1813 is a common year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ...

The number of firms in Birmingham's gun industry was 125 in 1815, 455 in 1829 (two-thirds of these in the Gun Quarter), and by 1868 there were 578 gun firms in the city. The trade employed 2,867 people in 1851, out of a total of 7,731 in the whole of England and Wales. The Battle of New Orleans 1815 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 1829 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... 1868 (MDCCCLXVIII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar or a leap year starting on Friday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar. ... 1851 (MDCCCLI) was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Friday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar). ...

"Gun-makers" did not usually manufacture the parts for their guns or even assemble them: in keeping with the traditional nature of Birmingham's manufacturing industries, parts were manufactured by independent specialist sub-contractors and assembled by "fabricators" or "setters-up", the "makers" commissioning and marketing the completed guns. In the late 18th and early 19th century barrels were mainly manufactured outside the quarter (in Aston, Deritend, Smethwick and West Bromwich), and locks were mainly sourced from the Black Country, but other parts were usually manufactured and assembled within the Quarter. In the late nineteenth century, Showell's Dictionary of Birmingham [2] listed more than fifty specialist trades involved in gun manufacture, "till late years most of them being carried on under different roofs". The city of Birmingham, in England, is an important manufacturing and engineering centre, employing over 100,000 people in the industry and contributing billions to the national economy. ... Aston is an area of Birmingham, England, in the north-east of the city centre. ... Deritend is an historic area of Birmingham, England. ... Smethwick (pronounced Smethick) is a town adjacent to Birmingham and West Bromwich in England. ... Map sources for West Bromwich at grid reference SO9992 West Bromwich is a town in the English county of the West Midlands, five miles north west of Birmingham lying on the A41 London to Holyhead trunk road. ... The Black Country is a loosely-defined area of conurbation to the north and west of Birmingham, and to the south and east of Wolverhampton in the English West Midlands, around the South Staffordshire coalfield. ...

The Crimean War brought much business to the gun makers of Birmingham, and from 1854 to 1864 more than 4,000,000 barrels were proved there. Most military gun stocks were made from walnut, whereas for the cheaper African market common beech was used. During the Crimean War a large saw mill was erected in Turin by a gun maker from the quarter, and nearly a third of a million gun stocks were produced from this source alone. Combatants United Kingdom France Ottoman Empire Kingdom of Sardinia Russian Empire Casualties 17,500 British 90,000 French 35,000 Turkish 2,050 Sardinian killed, wounded and died of disease 256,000 killed, wounded and died of disease The Crimean War lasted from 1854 until 1 April 1856 and was... 1854 (MDCCCLIV) was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... 1864 (MDCCCLXIV) was a leap year starting on Friday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar or a leap year starting on Sunday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar. ... A stock or buttstock is present in many firearms and some crossbows to transfer the recoil from firing the weapon into the shooters shoulder. ... Species See text The walnuts (genus Juglans) are plants in the walnut family Juglandaceae. ... A world map showing the continent of Africa. ... Species Fagus crenata - Japanese Beech Fagus engleriana - Chinese Beech Fagus grandifolia - American Beech Fagus hayatae - Taiwan Beech Fagus japonica - Japanese Blue Beech Fagus longipetiolata - South Chinese Beech Fagus lucida - Shining Beech Fagus mexicana - Mexican Beech or Haya Fagus orientalis - Oriental Beech Fagus sylvatica - European Beech Beech (Fagus) is a genus... This article or section should be merged with Sawmill A saw mill is a machine used in forestry to cut trees into logs. ... Turin (Italian: ; Piedmontese: Turin) is a major industrial city and business, cultural, and religious center in northwest Italy, capital of the Piedmont region, located mainly on the west bank of the Po River. ...

The Birmingham Small Arms Trade Association had supplied many of the guns during this period, and in 1861 fourteen of these gun smiths formed the Birmingham Small Arms Company (BSA). 1861 is a common year starting on Tuesday. ... The Birmingham Small Arms Company (BSA) was a British manufacturer of vehicles, firearms, and military equipment, and still exists as an airgun sport manufacturer and distributor. ...

It is estimated that around 800,000 weapons were shipped from Birmingham to America during the latter's Civil War. One of the main suppliers was William Tranter who supplied revolvers to the Confederate forces. General Custer is known to have owned a Galand and Sommerville .44 revolver, which was faster to load than existing American pistols. United States is the current Good Article Collaboration of the week! Please help to improve this article to the highest of standards. ... Combatants United States of America (Union) Confederate States of America (Confederacy) Commanders Lincoln, President Ulysses S. Grant, General Jefferson Davis, President Robert E. Lee, General Strength 2,200,000 1,064,000 Casualties 110,000 killed in action, 360,000 total dead, 275,200 wounded 93,000 killed in action... William Tranter (1816-1890) was a British gunmaker and gun designer. ... Motto: Deo Vindice (Latin: With God As Our Vindicator) Anthem: God Save the South (unofficial) Dixie (popular) The Bonnie Blue Flag (popular) Capital Montgomery (until 29 May 1861) Richmond (29 May 1861–2 April 1865) Danville (from 3 April 1865) Language(s) English (de facto) Government Confederate Republic President Jefferson... George Armstrong Custer George Armstrong Custer (December 5, 1839 - June 25, 1876) was an American cavalry commander in the Civil War and the Indian Wars who is best remembered for his defeat and death at the Battle of the Little Bighorn against a coalition of Native American tribes, led by... Charles-François Galand (1832-1900) was a French gunsmith who operated out of Liege and Paris, France. ... rEVOLVEr (2004) is the fourth studio album release by Swedish thrash metal band The Haunted. ...

20th century

The outbreak of World War I saw the Government once again approach Birmingham engineering companies with the prospect of arms manufacture, and within a matter of weeks Birmingham and the gun quarter witnessed much preparation for ammunition and gun manufacture. Many of the workers were women due to the enlistment of men into the armed forces. Combatants Allied Powers: British Empire France Italy Russia United States Central Powers: Austria-Hungary Bulgaria Germany Ottoman Empire Commanders Ferdinand Foch Georges Clemenceau Joseph Joffre Victor Emmanuel III Luigi Cadorna Armando Diaz Nicholas II Aleksei Brusilov Herbert Henry Asquith Douglas Haig John Jellicoe Woodrow Wilson John Pershing Wilhelm II Paul...

21st century

There are still several gun manufacturers and traders based in the Gun Quarter. Due to the UK's severely restrictive laws regarding gun ownership, including sporting arms, there is only a small commercial market for firearms in the United Kingdom; consequently, the majority of Birmingham's gun manufacture today is for the air gun sports trade, which first began in the city during the late 19th century. Air guns are weapons that propel a bullet using compressed air or another gas, possibly liquefied. ...

Gunmakers

Hundreds of gunmakers have existed in Birmingham, some of the better known examples include:

• Joseph Bentley - shared patents with Webley and Scott.
• Thomas Bland & Sons - now trading the USA. but still using Birmingham proof for quality assurance.
• Braendlin and Sommerville - eventually Galand and Sommerville.
• A A Brown & Sons - Founding member John Joseph Brown, learned his trade at Webley and Scott, B.S.A. and W. W. Greener, the company ceased trading in 2004.
• Thomas Chambers - originally of Bristol, manufactured in Birmingham from 1753 to 1757 at which point he moved to London.
• Farmer and Galton - supplied weaponry to the Company of Merchants in Africa.
• W. W. Greener - Owned the large Prize Gun Works in Loveday street.
• Thomas Ketland - established in the early 18th century and became one of the largest businesses in the gun quarter.
• The Kynoch Gun Factory.
• Parker-Hale - closed down in 2000.
• William Perry - established in 1778, manufactured brass and silver guns, often marking them with a London tag.
• Westley Richards.
• E. Roberts - specialised in walking stick shotguns.
• William Tranter - founding partner in B.S.A..
• Webley and Scott - revolver manufacturers.

A patent is a set of exclusive rights granted by a state to a person for a fixed period of time in exchange for the regulated, public disclosure of certain details of a device, method, process or composition of matter (substance) (known as an invention) which is new, inventive, and... Charles-François Galand (1832-1900) was a French gunsmith who operated out of Liege and Paris, France. ... Bristol (IPA: ) is a city, unitary authority and ceremonial county in South West England, 115 miles (185 km) west of London and located at With a population of 400,000, and metropolitan area of 550,000, it is Englands sixth, and the United Kingdoms ninth, most populous city... 1753 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... 1757 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... London (pronounced ) is the capital city of England and the United Kingdom. ... A world map showing the continent of Africa. ... Kynoch was a manufacturer of ammunition, later incorporated into ICI but remaining as a brand name for sporting cartridges. ... This article is about the year 2000. ... 1778 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... Brass is the term used for alloys of copper and zinc, the amount of zinc varying from 5-45 % to create a range of brasses each with unique properties[1]. Note that in comparison bronze is principally an alloy of copper and tin. ... General Name, Symbol, Number silver, Ag, 47 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 11, 5, d Appearance lustrous white metal Atomic mass 107. ... One of the best and oldest surviving traditional English gunmakers. ... A walking stick (or two) is a tool used by many people to ease pressure on the legs when walking. ... William Tranter (1816-1890) was a British gunmaker and gun designer. ... The Birmingham Small Arms Company (BSA) was a British manufacturer of vehicles, firearms, and military equipment, and still exists as an airgun sport manufacturer and distributor. ... The famous Webley Mk VI, standard sidearm of the British Army 1915-1932 Webley and Scott is an arms manufacturer based in Birmingham, England. ...

External links

• Thomas Bland & Sons
• Chambers gunmakers
• The Firearms Technology Museum
• Parker-Hale gunsmiths
• A.A.Brown & Sons
• Brocock gunmakers
• Westley Richards
• Birmingham Gun Barrel Proof House