Purdey & Sons Shotgun Pair

This week for Firearm Friday we are bringing you a pair of James Purdey & Sons Shotgun’s which are on display in our Museum. They are numbered 20638 and 20637.

These Shotguns are hand-crafted, detailed, rare and expensive pieces of history that we have been fortunate to be caretakers of for over 20 years.

James Purdey & Sons is a British gunmaker based in London, England specialising in high-end bespoke sporting shotguns and rifles. Purdey holds Royal Warrants of appointment as gun and rifle makers to the British and other European royal families.

James Purdey was born in Whitechapel in 1784, and apprenticed to his brother-in-law, Thomas Keck Hutchinson. After he completed his seven-year apprenticeship, James went to work for the 'King of Gunmakers' Joseph Manton. Three years later, he began working for Alexander Forsyth, the inventor of the percussion cap, before establishing his own company in London, England, in 1814, locating his business on Princes Street, now Wardour Street, near Leicester Square.

In 1826 James moved his company to larger premises at 314/315 Oxford Street, renaming it 314½ Oxford Street the following year. His last child and only son, James the Younger, was born above this shop two years later.

In 1843 James the younger started apprenticing to his father as a stock maker and in 1858 took over running of the company. James saw rapid change in the development and design of firearms during his lifetime, essentially moving from muzzle loading flintlocks in the 1820s to breech loading hammerless ejectors by the 1890s. James was always at the front of advances in designing and firearms and took out several patents for his designs.

In 1863 James Purdey the Founder died at Rifle House, his home in Margate, at the age of 79. Having been born in the flintlock era, he had lived long enough to see his son patent Purdey bolts, the locking system still used on Side-by-Side guns today.

In 1868 the company received its first Royal Warrant for Prince Albert of Wales. Earlier in 1838 Queen Victoria is recorded to have purchased a pair of Purdey pistols. Following the coronation in 1954, both Queen Elizabeth II and The Duke of Edinburgh awarded their warrants to the company. In May 2024 Purdey was granted a Royal Warrant by King Charles III, continuing over 150 years of service to the British Royal Family.

The first James Purdey was renowned as a maker of not only fine shotguns, but also rifles and pistols as well. He and his son worked together to develop the first ‘Express’ rifle, introduced in 1851. Since 1931, Purdey have also offered bolt-action rifles using Mauser actions. In 2018 it launched an updated model, utilising a titanium chassis to allow the barrel to be free-floated, for greater accuracy.

In 1949, Purdey purchased another gunmaker, James Woodward & Sons, primarily for its ‘Under & Over’ design, which they had patented in 1913. A slightly-modified design remains in production today.