History

[عاصــم الشبراوينــي]

William Davis founded the original business in 1790 in Weaman Street in Birmingham, England. His business was the manufacture of bullet moulds, gunmakers tools and gun implements. In this early period Birmingham flourished as the greatest manufacturing centre of firearms in the world. Yet the only official proof house was in London, then in 1813 the world famous Birmingham Proof House was established by an Act of Parliament.


In 1827 14 year old Philip Webley was apprenticed to Benjamin Watson a, Gun Lock filer. Having completed his apprenticeship he joined up with his brother in 1835 and formed Webley Brothers - Percussioners, Gun Lock & c.makers in Weaman Street, next door to William Davis. Philip began courting Caroline Davis, who following the death of her father three years earlier was running the family business alongside her mother. When the pair married in 1838 the two firms amalgamated. Over the next sixty years P. Webley and Sons prospered and grew, sons Thomas and Henry joining the company.
During the 1850s they began manufacturing percussion cap and ball revolvers. This was a time of unrest across the globe with the Crimea War, Indian Mutiny and the American Civil War and it created great demand for Webley's products. During the last quarter of the 19th century saw the introduction of firstly muzzle loaders, then breech loading rifle and the change from black powder to smokeless powder. In 1887 the company took over the well known firm of Tipping & Lawden of Constitution Hill, Birmingham, England and in the same year saw the award of the first of many Government contracts for the supply of revolvers from its new, modern and automated factory. Philip Webley died in 1888 aged 76 leaving the firm in the capable hands of his sons, and under their guidance they continued to prosper. In 1896 they built a second factory in Weaman Street for the production of rifles, notably the Martini-Henry Target Rifle, which had a world wide reputation.


W & C Scott was founded in 1832 by the brothers William and Charles Scott, who had moved to Birmingham from their native Suffolk and by the mid 1840s were gaining a reputation for the production of high quality double guns. Two of Williams Son's, William Middleditch and James Charles joined the company and it was renamed as W & C Scott & Sons, and in 1855 moved to larger premises at 94-95 Bath Street, Birmingham.
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Queen Victoria and Prince Albert visited Birmingham in 1858 and the gunmaking community wished to pay a special tribute to their monarch and commissioned the construction of a triumphal arch to be built at Gosta Green. The designers of the arch were the young William and James Scott. It was a magnificent sight, 80ft high and 50ft wide, consisting of 10,000 pistols, muskets, ramrods, bayonets and lances and 86 flags. This was a terrific success for two young men in their early twenties and the Queen greatly admired the arch saying she had never seen anything more perfect.

In 1864 the continued success of the company necessitated a move to larger premises and the building of the world famous Premier Gun Works on Lancaster Street, Birmingham.
William Middleditch was a truly brilliant engineer, having his first patent filed in 1865 and in 1878 he became the first man to design and patent a successful side lock shotgun. This shotgun was manufactured under royalty arrangements by a number of firms, including Holland and Holland. He retired from the firm in 1894 and James became head of the company until he too retired at the time of the amalgamation of the three companies in 1897.
There is very little recorded evidence concerning Richard Ellis and Sons the third company involved in the amalgamation, although in the Share Prospectus unveiled at the time of amalganation they are described as “a firm with an established and rising reputation and they are well known in the gun trade.”
The amalgamation in 1897 of the three companies created a new public company registered under the name Webley and Scott Revolver and Arms Co Ltd, with a total capital of £335,000. Thomas Webley became Managing Director, Martin Scott, Richard Ellis, William Henry Ellis and Albert Ellis became departmental managers. Such was the international reputation of Webleys revolvers and Scotts shotguns that the future success of the new company was virtually guaranteed.

Whilst it is true to say that in the 19th century the name Webley is better known for its revolvers by 1860 the firm was also well established in the production of guns, muzzle loaders and later breech loaders. From 1862 the firm exhibited shotguns at International Exhibitions and took many awards. This lack of fame as a shotgun manufacturer is largely due to Webley’s policy of producing shotguns “in white” for the trade. Each trade buyer had his own name engraved on the barrels and action and there was nothing to indicate that they had actually been manufactured by Webleys. This type of trade accounted for up to 90% of output and this policy continued right up to 1938.
W & C Scott and Son on the other hand sold their entire output under their own name and so acquired a worldwide reputation for shotguns of the highest quality. They exhibited at all the International Exhibitions and when in 1873 Scott guns came first and second in all four classes at the International Gun Trials held in New York their position was assured.
The Scott brothers were true innovators with many patents to their name, some of them truly historic. One of the earliest was the Scott spindle in connection was the top lever, this is still used today by makers of high grade breach loaders. They introduced the block safety catch for hammerless guns and later still the double catch hammerless lock which is still in use today.

To list all the types and models of guns and rifles produced by the company over the centuries would take an entire book but some of the more famous are the Webley falling block rifles, the Scott Imperial Premier Sidelock Hammerless shotgun and the Model 700 Boxlock Hammerless Sporting Shotgun. An indication of the quality of the shotguns comes from an early Scott catalogue that states that between 1873 and 1905 Scott pigeon guns won no fewer than 189 prizes and awards at international matches!
Over the 20th Century many forces came to bear on the company such as the 1920 Firearms Act that virtually barred individuals from owning handguns, the compulsory purchase of the Weaman Street factory for a road widening scheme and a general increase in competition from aboard. The company changed hands several times and in 1965 the company took over the gunmakers WW Greener who had started manufacture in Newcastle in 1829 before moving to Birmingham in 1844.
The company diversified, producing parts for cars, airguns and general engineering components. At the end of the 1970’s the production of shotguns was extracted from Webley and Scott and a seperate company was formed, W&C Scott (Gunmakers) Limited. In January 1985 this entire business was sold to the world famous shotgun makers Holland and Holland. Holland and Holland had been one of the companies that originally bought bodies “in white” from Webley and Scott. The result was that the association of the Webley and Scott names with shotguns disappeared for over 20 years.
In 2006 Webley and Scott were purchased by AGS with the intention of resurrecting this world famous name once again and the launch of the new 910 series Over and Under shotguns and the 810/20 Series Semi Automatics in the first fruit of that ambition.