William Powell - Manufacturers of fine-quality guns,specialists in shooting equipment, fishing tackle and country clothing.

About Us

There are over two hundred years of gunmaking behind the famous name of William Powell. It is a name synonymous in the shooting industry with tradition and the highest standards of service.

Birmingham was a town of manufacturers as far back as 1350 when Edward III was on the throne. Birmingham’s location in the centre of a region rich in iron ore and coal deposits made natural development of crafts such as nail making, iron ware manufacture and gun making.

There was a flourishing trade in guns in Birmingham well before the close of the 17th century. Birmingham Gunmakers built guns for the Parliamentarian armies in 1643 but it was a local member of Parliament for Warwickshire, Sir Richard Newdegate, who gave Birmingham Gunmakers their initial impetus by organising a group of Gunmakers to lobby Parliament for a contract to supply the Board of Ordnance. This they achieved in 1689 and thus supplied Muskets for King William III who used them with great success in his campaign against King Louis XIV of France.

Birmingham Gunmakers supplied quality Arms for the Government in the recurring wars in which England was involved during the 18th Century. The seven years war 1756 – 63, War of American Independence 1775 – 83 and the French Revolutionary wars 1793 – 1802 are just some examples.

The Powell family had been based in and around the Birmingham area since the mid 17th century and on the back of past Birmingham Gunmaking successes, they felt that a quality Gunmaker making only the very best Muskets would flourish. To do this they needed to find a truly great Gunsmith and this they found in one Joseph Simmons. The Firm was then founded as a partnership between William Powell and Joseph Simmons in the High Street of Birmingham in 1802.

Sadly in 1812 Joseph Simmons died and soon after that the Firm moved to 3 Bartholomew Street adjacent to the newly built Birmingham Proof House. William Powell was one of 12 Gunmakers who lobbied Parliament for an Act to establish a Proof House in Birmingham as London already had its own Proof House. It is remarkable that led by William Powell, the Birmingham Gunmakers succeeded in getting the Act passed and the land acquired. The Birmingham Proof House was built with their own money within 12 months and opened in 1813. A member of the Powell family has been on the Board of Guardians ever since. The Birmingham Proof House is run democratically and all Gunmaker Guardians are voted onto the Board by the Trade for a period of five years and then must be re-elected. To have a Powell member on the board for nigh on 200 years is a wonderful reflection on what the Powells, as a Gunmaking family, have had to offer and in fact still have to offer today.

After the death of Joseph Simmonds, William Powell had to prove to the world that he was not just a businessman, but was also a knowledgeable and skilful Gunmaker in his own right. He proved this over the coming years and proudly obtained a contract to supply the British Army with best quality muskets at 10s 6d each (52 pence in today’s money). We supplied many of the quality muskets for the battle of Waterloo in 1815 and many subsequent campaigns by the British Army.

To give you some idea of how prolific not only William Powell but the Birmingham Gunmakers in general were, here are a few statistics showing production levels;

For guns made in Birmingham between 1804 and 1815;
Completed weapons:
1,682,610 – Muskets
14,695 – Rifles
38,778 – Carbines
54,474 – Pistols

Military Barrels:
2,774,346 – Musket Barrels
32,582 – Rifle Barrels
74,961 – Carbine Barrels
155,755 – Pistol Barrels

These figures were taken from an original penny notebook belonging to William Powell, where all of the figures were written in pencil. They have been authenticated by the Birmingham Library and Museums.

In 1830 William Powell made a miniature flintlock musket which is acknowledged as one of the finest ever made being perfectly to scale. He made this – Lock, Stock and Barrel himself, including the gold and silver inlay and its wooden case made from Walnut.

In the 1840’s, William Powell was joined in the business by his son, William Powell II and in 1851 the Firm of William Powell were prominently displaying at the Great Exhibition at Crystal Palace. The exhibition resulted in the Firm obtaining three patents for shotguns:-

Patent No. 1163 granted May 7th 1864 for invention of our Snap Action.

Patent No. 2287 granted September 6th 1866 for our half cocking lock mechanism.

Patent No. 1055 granted April 7th 1869 for invention to indicate to shooter that the gun was “LOADED”

The Company needed larger premises and in 1855 purchased land in Carrs Lane to build a purpose built gun factory on five floors. This remained our home until 2008 even though everything changed around us!

At some time in the 1830’s, William Powell had a London “shop” in Haymarket, but we have no details of it.

William Powell II was then joined in the business by his son – William Leith Powell in the 1860’s and then by his other two sons, Ernest and George. The latter was Grandfather to Peter Powell who still works as an active consultant to the Firm today.

During the latter part of the 19th and into the 20th Century, William Powell concentrated on building high quality shotguns. Such was their quality that we were called “The Purdey of Birmingham”. The Firm only built a few rifles and very few Over and Unders – unusual on both accounts for such a productive and major Gunmaking Firm.

Output of guns since the start of the 20th Century has been;
1900-1920: 2,507 guns
1920 – 1930: 561 guns
1930 – 1940: 637 guns
1940 – 1950: 585 guns
1950 – 1960: 361 guns
1960 – 2000: 874 guns
2000 – 2009: 127 guns

In 1955 the Firm realised that pure gun making was no longer economic and converted part of the ground floor of their Carrs Lane premises to a retail unit selling guns, cartridges, shooting equipment and the like. We were still loading cartridges in these premises until about 1960 and test firing guns in the roof (in a purpose made “shot tunnel”) until we moved in 2008 – the noise greatly frightened the pigeons!

Whilst our guns may not have greatly changed over a hundred years or so, the prices have. In 1900 a best William Powell gun cost £45. By 1930 this had increased to £95 and by 1950 it was £150. Surprisingly it was only £900 in 1970 but today is alas over £50,000.

Our customer base has always been from right across the country as well as overseas, principally to the “Colonies”. Famous clients included Prime Minister Gladstone, General Baden-Powell and many many from the Armed Services. Indeed in the 1920’s ledger about 25% of all our customers came from the Armed Services. We still work for many families who we built guns for over 100 years ago.

In about 1960 William Powell bought the retail fishing side of Westley Richards and in 1965 we started selling goods by mail order. Almost certainly we were the first mail order shooting business in the UK.

The original William Powell Shooting Ground was the site of the BSA factory, but in the 1950’s we took over a small shooting ground near Redditch. We ran this ground until 1984. We now have a relationship with the West Oxfordshire Shooting Ground which is situated approximately 9 miles from Banbury.

The British gunmaking world changed dramatically after the Second World War. Whilst there was a reasonable demand for new shotguns, this was nothing like on the scale prior to the War and the very large Birmingham gun-making sector (probably at one time the third largest industry in the empire’s capital of manufacturing) declined. Whilst this was accentuated by imports from lower cost gun-making centres such as Spain and later, Italy, it is likely that social and particularly economic factors were the major causes. Very significant taxation burdens on income in the 1960s and 1970s meant that there was relatively little money able to be spent by most of the UK shooting population on having new guns made. Added to this, the considerable effective lifespan of best quality guns meant that few heirs had to order replacements for their fathers or indeed their grandfather’s guns. This situation continued, causing a massive contraction to the UK and in particular to the Birmingham gun trade. Added to this was a lack of investment in new machinery and techniques, which undoubtedly led to the Italian gun trade in particular, becoming dominant. Almost certainly, the Birmingham gun trade could have been in the same position as the gun-manufacturing centre around Gardone now is in Italy, had there been a major change in attitude and significant investment in the Birmingham gun trade back in the 1960s and 1970s. Unfortunately that did not occur and by the end of the 1970s much of the Birmingham gun quarter had been demolished, leaving only a very few Birmingham gun-makers and gun component makers left. Again, this situation was compounded by redevelopment of much of Birmingham’s gun “quarter” and many Firms in the Birmingham trade chose to close and for their workshop or factory to be demolished and built on.

William Powell continued building best quality guns in the 1950’s, 60’s, 70’s and 80’s but the output was a fraction of what it had been before the Second World War. However, unlike most of our competitors including many famous names, which closed. William Powell’s diversification into retail and then into mail order enabled the firm to survive and indeed prosper. There was an increasing demand for shooting related products including accessories and clothing. William Powell’s retail and mail order operations became as well known in the UK and overseas, as their guns had before. The Firm continued to operate from the Carrs Lane premises, albeit with a much reduced labour force. A few best guns were built and a large gun repair business developed.

Earlier on in the 20th Century Conrad and Bernard (sons of Ernest and George respectively) joined the Firm. Conrad had no children but Bernard had four sons, William, David, John and Peter and all but John joined him in the business. Bernard retired in 1973, leaving David and Peter to continue five generations of the William Powell Firm.

None of their children wanted to make a career in the Gun Trade. As a result a decision was made that in order for the Firm to continue, the business was sold to Mark and Christine Osborne in January 2008. The Osbornes had, with Sir Edward Dashwood, started West Wycombe Shooting Ground in 1991 and subsequently acquired and successfully revived the previously dormant E. J. Churchill Firm of Gunmakers.

The Carrs Lane premises in the middle of Birmingham City Centre, were hopelessly unsuitable for modern day trading – particularly in Guns with no adjacent parking. A decision was taken to move the firm to a more suitable site, which would allow people to easily drive there and which would cater for the next phase of the Firm’s expansion.

New premises were acquired in Banbury (renamed Carrs House), which is easily accessible from the M40 motorway and is literally half way between Birmingham and London. The move from Birmingham was completed in August 2008 and the Firm of William Powell is looking forward to another 200 years of trading.