Yo’ll ave somebody’s eye aht wi’ that!
‘Birmingham’ gun factory was actually in West Bromwich
WEBLEY & Scott, were, quite famously, a Birmingham gun maker.
But a little-known fact is that for a good few years they were actually based in the Black Country ... though they did their best to pretend they were still in the Second City.
Webley’s original premises were in Birmingham’s Weaman Street, until they moved to a modern factory in West Bromwich in 1958.
As Birmingham is synonymous with the gun trade they were reluctant to leave their historic home city, so a special gate and entrance was constructed within the city boundary so that Webley could retain a Birmingham postal address.
On our front page this week, is a picture from October 1972, when the Mayor and Mayoress of West Bromwich, Councillor and Mrs W.H.J. Manifold, were given a tour of the factory. They are pictured with John Pugh, who is showing them a shotgun barrel.
Shooting range
At top left on this page is a picture from five years earlier, September 1967. The man portrayed was Webley’s shooting range supervisor, Reuben Edkins of Sparkhill. He had been in the role for 31 years at that point, and the firm were proud to say that every single firearm that left the Webley works had been personally tested by Reuben. He must have been a very busy man during the war.
Below Reuben is Webley’s sales manager John Hill, who looks as though he could handle a rifle as well as a sale. Behind him is an advert for the Webley Hawk, ‘for the men in the family’ – with a proud dad giving his son a guiding hand.
And at the bottom of the page is employee Jill Birch, posing outside the offices with the new Webley Vulcan air rifle in 1979