Gun-Making : Ireland.
(From the “Industrial Movement in Ireland”- By
J.F. Maguire, M.P.)
In this sporting country of ours, the gun trade ought to be
a prosperous one; and if a large consumption, or use, of the article could
ensure to it that prosperity, it would long since have been established. But,
unhappily, in this as in many other instances to which we can refer, the whole
or greater part of the benefit of such extensive use of the article by the
Irish consumer, or purchaser, is enjoyed by the manufacturer and artisan of
another country. The Irish gentleman dares not hope for a fortunate day and a
full bag, unless he shoulders gun of London
make- at least, a gun with the magical brand of London maker on its lock or barrel. Nay, it
is much to be questioned if he would venture to require the services of a
“friend” unless he or his “friend” were duly provided with a Manton, a Purdy
(sic), or a Moore. Even his game-keeper and wood-ranger lawfully kill game, and
officially warn off trespassers with a weapon of genuine Birmingham origin. Of course, he is quite
prepared to “pay for a whistle”, and that to a pretty high tune. Juliet asked,
and answered, too-
“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet.”
Juliet was madly in love with Romeo, when she failed to see
the value of a name; but were love-sick
maid of Verona the dowered daughter of a
modern London
gun maker she might have answered her own question differently. Everything is
in a name in the gun trade- in the possession of a name, or in the want of a
name. I have been assured that there are Irish gentlemen whose prejudice is so
strong about this matter of a name, that they could not bring themselves to the
idea of using a gun with an Irish brand upon it. And yet this prejudice is not
shared in by strangers, to whom guns made in this country are readily
acceptable, and by whom they are highly prized; for it is a fact that certain
of the Dublin makers do a large trade with England, and
receive frequent orders from English sportsmen. Indeed, the success of Irish
makers at the Great Exhibition in London,
ought to be sufficient to banish this unjust prejudice from the minds of their
countrymen, and do away with the silly notion that there is everything in a
name. The only two Irish exhibitors of gun work at the Exhibition of All
Nations, obtained prize medals: which pre-eminent mark of distinction, I may
add, was awarded to but very few of the English gunmakers. I venture to assert
that the best guns now exhibited by Rigby or by Truelock of Dublin, or by
Allport, Richardson, Moreton (sic), of Cork, are as good, and as true as any
other similar articles from London or Birmingham; and that the best Dublin gun
can be sold, and is sold, fifty per cent cheaper than the so called best London
gun that is branded with the name of the maker of the highest modern repute.
Indeed I hold the Irish gentleman not unworthy of a cell in our new Lunatic
Asylum, who, after having inspected the cases of gun-work exhibited by those
Dublin and Cork makers whose names I have mentioned, would be guilty of the
folly of sending to London for what he might get as good, and fully fifty per
cent cheaper, almost at his own door.
Curiously enough, the policy of “discouragement”, so ably
and so vigorously put into operation by King William, in reference to the
Woollen Trade of Ireland, has not been lost sight of by his Royal successors in
reference to the gun trade in Ireland,
as I shall prove. Previous to the year 1816, large contracts for military arms
were executed in Ireland.
There were then several factories in Dublin,
where the manufacture flourished in all its branches. But about the period
mentioned , the contracts were gradually withdrawn; and shortly afterwards ,
the Board of Ordnance, and all the machinery necessary for carrying on military
contracts, such as the staff of men called “viewers” who are appointed to
superintend the work in every stage, disappeared from the country. In the year
1840, an eminent Dublin manufacturer, whose name I have before mentioned,
applied for a share of the contracts which were then being given out; and , in
reply, he was offered a contract on the terms that he bshould send the work, in
every stage , to be viewed in London!- which offer, it is needless to say,
amounted to a direct refusal- a prohibition as positive William’s tax of twenty
per cent on Irish woollen-cloths. And to make the matter less justifiable,
there was an armoury staff in the Pigeon house; which place could have been
made a “view-shop” at a very little expense. If King William had been alive in
1840, he could not have more effectually “discouraged” the Irish gun-makers,
than by “removing the “viewers” from Ireland,
and insisting that the work should be sent in every stage to be “viewed” in London. Happily, there
was sufficient vitality in the trade to outlive, not only this paltry
discouragement, but the far worse discouragement of native prejudice; for
whilst in most parts of England and Scotland, and even London, the gun-makers
procure their barrels, and even their locks , in Birmingham, every portion of
the gun is now manufactured in Dublin. However, the trade is not anything like
what, if there were proper encouragement afforded , or common justice done, by
the gentry of this country to the work of Irish hands in Ireland, it might be ;
and yet it is a fact, that many parts of those guns which are purchased by
Irish gentlemen in England, at such enormous cost, have been made by Irish
workmen, who, from want of that home encouragement which their skills deserved
, and ought to have ensured, have been compelled to seek employment out of
their own country. I shall be much disappointed, indeed, if the present display
of highly finished and beautiful fire-arms of all kinds, from the pocket
pistol, to the fowling-piece and the newest- invented rifle, whilst must have
arrested the attention of so many of our gentry, has not given native prejudice
a knock-down blow, however stubborn it might have been before. If this
prejudice be removed , which condemns everything Irish , because it is Irish;
if this prejudice ,which is so disheartening to the manufacturer, so ruinous to
the workman, and so detrimental to the country, he put an end to, then the
National Exhibition will have achieved its noblest results.
Cork Examiner 1st July 1853.
Dave Stroud. ramrodantiques.co.uk
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