Perrins Gunmakers
of
Worcester
The history of Perrins & Son, Worcester
Gunsmiths and gun makers were clearly much-respected craftsmen in Victorian times and back in the 1840s, England was quite a heavily armed society with even the clergy and their servants carrying firearms. There were also many carriage pistols in circulation, taken as protection against highway robbers by passengers aboard stage coaches and carriages.
John Perrins was born in Kidderminster in 1796. On leaving school, he was either an apprentice or junior employee in the gun trade and, by his 20s, was living and working in Faversham, Kent. By 1834 he had moved to Worcester and established a business in College Street. A city trade directory for that year lists John Perrins as a gunsmith.
Perrins would have been skilled in making repairs to all types of firearms such as shotguns, blunderbusses, rifles and pistols, and by 1840 his business had expanded to the extent that he moved into new premises at 4 St Swithins Street, Worcester.
Bentley's Worcester Directory of 1840 lists him as `John Perrins - Gun maker' so by then, he was clearly making his own guns and inscribing his name on the lock plate. He would have produced the specifications and working drawings for firearms, most likely sub-contracting the manufacture of barrels and hammers but hand machining springs and striker mechanisms and perhaps also making his own walnut stocks and butts."
Finally, he would have personally tested each firearm before selling it to a customer. Some guns and pistols would have been made specifically to a customer's order so the length of the butt and stock of a sporting gun matched the shoulder of the user, or a pistol's trigger guard had sufficient clearance for a gloved finger. Other guns would have been made for stock and sold over the counter.
By 1855, the firm's name had changed to "Perrins & Son" so clearly, John Perrins had taken into partnership his son, also named John. Four years later, they moved from St Swithins Street to 6 Mealcheapen Street and, some time later, the following advertisement appeared in a Worcester newspaper:
The quote comes from the Directory of British Gunmakers.
"From 1st August 1883 Mr Perrins has decided to offer a genuine reduction of 20% for cash on all best guns costing over £10. The offer is due to him being overstocked with best guns, both “ the ordinary kind and hammerless.”
Perrins & Son moved yet again - to 59 Broad Street, Worcester - and were still listed among local businesses in 1892, which meant that by then John Perrins had been operating successfully in the city for almost 60 years.
Perrins & Son was taken over by Herbert E Pollard in 1892 moving to 62 Broad Street in 1900 - was this a move or expansion of premises?
It's not known exactly when the firm went out of business though it may have been before the dawn of the 20th Century.
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