What was here?
The shop and premises of Westley Richards, gunmakers, at 82 High Street, the old commercial street running down to the Bull Ring. The guns were largely made by specialist workers in and around the Gun Quarter; this was the master’s address.
History
A gunmaker in a toyshop
In 1812 William Westley Richards, then about twenty-two, went into business at 82 High Street. According to Grace’s Guide, his father and grandfather had kept a toyshop at the same address. In Georgian Birmingham a toyshop sold small metal goods such as buckles, seals and snuff boxes, and the Richards family were silversmiths and jewellers as well as gunmakers. James Bisset’s directory of 1800 lists the gun maker Theophilus Richards, William’s father, and, among the High Street’s shops, “Richards T. & T., Goldsmiths & Jewellers”.
A Birmingham name for London
From here Richards built a reputation for fine sporting guns. They were sold in London by his agent William Bishop at 170 New Bond Street, and by 1838 the shooting writer Peter Hawker called him “quite the star of Birmingham”. In 1840 he was appointed gunmaker to Prince Albert.
In 1832 a partnership between Richards and Henry Edwards was dissolved, according to Grace’s Guide. A directory of 1835 lists Henry Edwards, silversmith, at 82 High Street.
Moving out
The High Street premises remained the firm’s address as the business grew under William’s son, Westley Richards. In 1894 the firm opened a new factory at Grange Road, Bournbrook.
What happened here?
From 1812 William Westley Richards ran his gunmaking business from this address, selling sporting guns that were praised as equal to London’s best.
Why it mattered
It was the starting point of Westley Richards, one of the few historic Birmingham gunmakers still working in the city.
Why it disappeared
Redevelopment
The firm left for Bournbrook in the 1890s. High Street has been rebuilt many times since; the fate of No. 82 has not been traced.
The same spot, then and now
1888–1913
Today
Old map: Ordnance Survey six-inch, reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland (CC BY 4.0). Today: © OpenStreetMap contributors.
What’s there now
What replaced it
Later High Street shops and offices.
What survives
Nothing is known to survive.
Today
High Street runs between the Bull Ring and the junction with New Street and Bull Street. Nothing marks the Richards shop.
Key dates
- 1812 — Westley Richards sets up as a gunmakerWilliam Westley Richards, about 22, goes into business at 82 High Street. Selling through a Bond Street agent, his firm becomes one of Birmingham’s best-known sporting gunmakers and is still working in the city today.
Sources and further reading
Georgian and Victorian street numbers on High Street do not match today’s, and No. 82 has not been located on an old map, so the map point is general. The family toyshop and the 1812 date come from Grace’s Guide and the firm’s own history. Whether ‘Richards T. & T.’ in Bisset’s 1800 directory were the same family is not proved. Wikipedia (lead only) says the firm left the High Street in 1896.
- Westley Richards and Co — Grace’s Guide to British Industrial History, Grace’s Guide
- William Westley Richards — Grace’s Guide to British Industrial History, Grace’s Guide
- William Westley Richards, Founder (1789–1865) — Westley Richards & Co., Westley Richards (The Explora blog)
- A Poetic Survey round Birmingham, with a Magnificent Directory — James Bisset, Swinney & Hawkins for the author, Birmingham, 1800. plates D and E
- Instructions to Young Sportsmen in All that Relates to Guns and Shooting (8th edn) — Peter Hawker, Longman, London, 1838
- Westley Richards — Wikipedia. lead only
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