During and after the French revolution at the end of the 18th century Birmingham was the greatest manufacturing centre of firearms in the world, made over half a million stand of arms for the British and Irish Board of Ordnance.
William Davis (born 1790) founded the business in Birmingham, England, at Weaman Street. He was apprenticed at the age of 9 to the gun trade, and in 1817 he took up the trade with the manufacture of bullet, shot and fishing-net moulds, gun implements, gunmaker- tools, etc. Many of the cased sets of pistols and revolvers contain bullet moulds made by William Davis are stamped with his initials, W.D.
Following his death at the early age of 41 in 1831 his widow Sarah continued the business, beeing ably assisted by her eldest daughter Caroline.
In 1827 Philip Webley was apprenticed to Benjamin Watson the younger, who was a Gun-lock filer to the trade. In 1935 with the age of 21 he got out of his apprenticeship joined his brother James Webley as percussioners, gun-lock, etc. makers in Weaman Street. James Webley also traded as a gunmaker in Birmingham.
1838 Philip Webley married Caroline, the eldest daughter of William and Sarah Davis and in 1845 he bought the business founded by William Davis.
Around 1853 James and Philip Webley were engaged in rnaking certain models of percussion cap and ball revolvers, which, in finish and performance, were equal in all respects to many of their established contemporaries, but these weapons could not compete in price with the rnass-produced revolvers then being made by Colt in England at the factory on Thames' Bank, Pimlico, London. But when Colt shut down his London factory in 1857, this left the British field of mass-production and standardisation to Webleys, who had been constantly trying to produce the interchangeable component and factory system of production, and thus the firm began its steady rise, though still eluded by Governrnent contracts, which were held by a weapon of Robert Adams' design.
During the period of 1860-1870 two of Philip Webley's sons, Thomas William and Henry, who were known by the family and the employees as Tom and Harry, joined their father. On their entry a company was registered in the name of P.Webley and Son of Birmingham and London. In addition to the manufacture of revolvers the cornpany was also engaged in making ships' muskets and pistols, ship leg-irons, handcuffs, cutlasses, boarding pikes and tomahawks as well as the original bullet moulds and gunmakers tools.
In 1877, P.Webley and Son took over the well-known gunmaking firm of Tipping & Lawden of Birmingham.
During the wars of the 19th century England, along with other European countries, realized that Government arsenals and gunmaking concerns could not keep pace with the demand for weapons of war and the United States of America helped to close the gap.
Up to this time the application of machinery to the manufacture of revolvers had been very small, production relying almost wholly on the handwork of craftsmen and semi-automatic methods. But these methods were slow and output could not keep up with the demand. It was therefore up to the firm to introduce automatic production, such as was in use in America. To obtain the required special machinery, T. W. Webley travelled to the United States, but he was not satisfied with the plant offered and after his return during 1885-1887 the money was spent in Birmingham. When one considers that at this time such arms plants as Mauser of Oberndorf and Enfield Small Arms Factory were equipped with American tools made by Robbins & Lawrence, T. W. Webley showed great faith in his own people when he decided to have the tools and machinery made in his own town of Birmingham rather than import from America.
It is to the credit of the brothers T. W. and H. Webley as well, that they had the foresight to build and equip a factory with the most up-to-date machinery for dealing with the Government contracts for revolvers which were then being placed with them.
1887 was a very special year for the firm and marked a turning point in their history as this year they received their first contract from the British Govemment for the supply of revolvers. In the light of the many Government contracts placed during the next 40 years it would appear that the armed forces of the Crown were quite satisfied with the Webley revolver. And so were the sportsmen.
After the dead of Philip Webley in 1888 his sons continued this business, and in 1889 P. Webley & Son, who had not up to now not marked all revolvers manufactured by them with their name, decided to do so in the future.
In 1897 P. Webley & Son, who were now advertising as makers of revolvers, sporting guns and rifles, amalgamated with W.& C. Scott & Sons and Richard Ellis & Son, both high-class gunmakers. A public company was registered under the name of The Webley & Scott Revolver & Arms Company Limited of Birmingham and 78 Shaftesbury Avenue, London. Following the amalgamation with W.C. Scott & Sons and Richard Ellis & Son and its formation into a limited company, Mr Henry Webley retired from business.
The business of W.& C. Scott & Son was founded in 1834 by William M. Scott at Weaman Street followed by his sons, W.M. Scott and J.C. Scott. The business was carried on in Bath Street, Birmingham, for many years and then removed to Lancaster Street, where the Premier Gun Works was erected. The brothers Scott did a great deal to make the name of their firm known throughout the world and were ever out for any opportunity to make their production of single and double barelled shotguns the best. Many patents were brought out by them, some of them quite historic.
W. M. Scott the younger was accustomed to make an annual business tour in America during the years 1860-1886, and in 1874 W.& C. Scott & Son became Smith & Wesson's agents in London. Mr James C. Scott took over the management of their business and was in fact at the head of it when the amalgarnation with Webley's took place.
The three businesses were carried on separately in their respective factories until the Weaman Street Works were enlarged by taking down the old gun factory. The new plant included modern smithy and barrel-making installations.
Around 1900 great efforts were made to join the far east and Chinese market. But civil war in China and the quickly succeeding prohibition to import arms into China made this impossible.
In the following years, some new revolver developments like the Webley-Fosbery Automatic Revolver appeared on the market.
In November 1902 Webley revolvers were to be supplied to infantry regimental Transport drivers. During this year negotiations had been procceeding towards an association of Birmingham and Belgian interests. The amalgamation between two well-established firms was finally settled in November, when The Webley & Scott Revolver &, Arms Company Limited associated with the Belgian firm of Lebeau-Courally -described as the Purdey of Belgium. From 1903 the joint manufacturers traded under the name of The Webley-Lebeau-Courally Continental Firearms Company Limited with a London address at Lower James Street, Golden Square. In Belgium their title was Societe Continentale pour la Fabrication des Armes a Feu Webley Lebeau-Courally.
In 1904 Thomas William Webley had passed away at the age of 65. Mr F. T. Murray, F.C.A., was appointed Managing Director.
At the annual general meeting held 1905 reference was made to the Depression in the firearms trade following the Boer War and the fact that no orders were forthcoming from either of the combatants in the Russo-Japanese War. The company and shareholders agreed to a scheme for capital rearrangement.
In 1905 the first Webley self loading blow back pistol appeared, and designer William J. Whiting, works manager at this time, went to America to exploit the patent rights.
Mr Ernest B. Winn, nephew and executor of the late Mr. Thomas William Webley was elected to a seat on the board of the company.
The name of the firm was changed to Webley & Scott Limited. Until about this year part of the plant was driven by means of gas and part by electricity, both produced by the company but coal strikes caused a change in policy and the company then took its power supply from the electricity department of the city.
In 1909 the popularity of Webley's automatic pistols and the resultant increase in sales necessitated a review of factory accommodation and the firm decided to adopt a departmental system. RevoIvers and pistols continued to be made at the Weaman Street Plant. The Premier Works (formerly W. & C. Scott's) in Lancaster Street were to be devoted to the manufacture of shotguns, especially of the kind requiring highly skilled hand labour.
1914-1918 during World War I the company was working under contracts from the Ministry of Munitions. The shotgun trade at home was virtually at a standstill and production was switched to fulfill Government contracts for military weapons. During 1915-1916 the new factory in Weaman Street was built and occupied.
In 1920 Henry Webley passed away in his 74th year after a life-long service to the gun trade.
The introduction of the Firearms Act in 1920 dealt British home and overseas markets a blow from which recovery has been very difficult. Still sporting guns sold as well as ever and the years between the World Wars saw a considerable increase in the production of these.
This period also saw (to the sorrow of many) the passing of the .455 calibre revolver which had reigned supreme as the British military sidearm for nearly 40 years and its substitution by the new .38/145/200 revolver -the answer to the demand for a lighter arm.
From 1887 to 1928 the War Office and Webley's had worked in close cooperation and all modifications were interchanged so that the Arm remained cornmon in the event of an emergency. ln 1929, however, the War Office decided otherwise, and from that date Webley's departed slightly from the Government Enfield revolver and went into production with the Mark IV .38 and .32 calibre C.F. Police and Military models and the .22 S.S. Rimfire Target Pistol.
Due to contracts and orders received during World War II 1939-1945 it was necessary to increase output and as there was not room for expansion at the Weaman Street factory premises, additional accommodation had to be obtained. Rather than occupy a single building, Webley & Scott Limited followed the Government's lead to disperse factories in an attempt to reduce damage by bombing raids and several plants were leased as follows:
Two small factories at Stourbridge, two at Selly Oak, Birmingham, and one at Great Barr, Birmingham. The offices were located at Rednal, near Birrningham, for the duration of the war.
During the period 1958-1960 great changes took place in the firm, both as regards location and organisation. Dealing with the immense increase in road traffic in Birmingham, Weaman Street was demolished.
In the years since World War II, many industrial firms have been 'taken over' or founded into groups and among these Webley & Scott Limited has been concerned with the following groups:
In October, 1958, the cornpany was taken over by R. H. Windsor Limited, manufacturers of plastic injection moulding machines",.
In March, 1959, Webley & Scott Limited took over R. H. Windsor Limited and their associate companies.
In October, 1959, the Windsor group, including of course Webley & Scott Limited, was taken over by Arusha Industries Limited.
At their new plant at Handsworth, Webley & Scott Limited continue in business as small arms rnanufacturers and precision engineers, in addition they have embarked on the production of machinery used in the plastic industry.