One of a pair

I noted Chris Skinner’s letter (SG, December ’21) and the photo of his Woodward Automatic 12-bore, which brought back memories of my youth. In the early 1980s, my uncle used to take me beating on a shoot at Clippesby in Norfolk and one of the members, Dick Corfield, owned a similar Woodward underlever 12-bore. It was one of a pair (marked in gold on the top-strap) and Dick told me he had purchased it from a gunsmith for £40 around 1940 while on leave from the RAF. The pair of Woodwards were available for £70 and I asked Dick if he regretted not buying both. He told me that although he had the funds, he decided to buy the No 1 gun only so he still had sufficient money to enjoy leave before rejoining his unit. He explained that he didn’t know if he would return home again during wartime but that he would have a nice gun to enjoy afterwards. To my knowledge, he had more than four decades of good use from the Woodward, so he certainly chose wisely.

M Lorne, via email