& sons limited type private industry weapons manufacturing ammunition manufacturing clothing retailing fate purchased by compagnie financi re richemont sa 1994 founded london 1814 1814 founder james purdey headquarters london england area served worldwide key people james horne chairman products side by side shotguns over and under shotguns double rifles bolt action rifles services repair storage number of employees 59 1 parent compagnie financi re richemont sa website purdey.com james purdey & sons or simply purdey is a famous british gunmaker of london specialising in high end bespoke sporting shotguns and rifles . 2 3 purdey holds three royal warrants of appointment as gun and rifle makers to the british and other european royal families . contents 1 history 2 ownership changes 3 royal clientele 3.1 warrants 4 references 5 external links history edit james purdey & sons ltd. in audley house building located at 57 58 south audley street in london s mayfair england . james purdey founded james purdey & sons limited in london england in 1814 locating his business on princes street . prior to starting out on his own purdey worked as head stocker for joseph manton the foremost gunmaker of his time . in 1826 the company moved from the princes street location to manton s former premises in oxford street . the founder s son james purdey the younger took over the running of the company from his father in 1858 . james the younger saw rapid change in the development and design of guns and rifles during his lifetime essentially moving from muzzle loading flintlocks in the 1820s to breech loading hammerless ejectors by the 1880s . james the younger was always at the forefront of advances in the design and building of his guns and rifles and took out several patents for technical innovations over the years . many of james the younger s patents were adopted by other gunmakers . in 1882 the company moved from oxford street to new premises on the corner of south audley street and mount street where the company remains to this day . james the younger designed this building to accommodate his showroom the factory and later the building provided living quarters for james family . the city of westminster unveiled a memorial plaque on the shop at 57 60 south audley street on 30 april 1992 . 4 purdey guns moved briskly from flintlock to percussion cap to hammer centre fire guns and then to the self opening hammerless gun of 1880 . this hammerless self opening mechanism was designed by frederick beesley a purdey worker of the time and used one limb of a v spring to operate the internal hammers and the other to operate the self opening feature . beesley sold the patent to purdey in 1880 for 55 . this was followed ten years later by the incorporation of ejectors . apart from continual refinement and the optional single trigger mechanism very little change has subsequently been made to the design of the side by side gun . in 1900 athol purdey took over from his father and ran the business through the prosperous edwardian years as well as supervising purdey s manufacturing of gun parts and other items of ordnance for the war department during world war i. athol s sons james and tom both of whom had survived serious injuries whilst fighting in france joined the firm in the 1920s and took over from athol purdey on his retirement circa 1929 . the purdey over & under gun is a development of the woodward patent of 1913 which was incorporated into the company on the purchase of j.woodward & sons by purdey in 1949 . whilst james purdey & sons is best known as a maker of shotguns it also produces rifles both double barreled and bolt action . the guns are custom made largely by hand . they are extremely expensive . a new purdey shotgun starts at around 89 000 . on 11 june 2015 the renovated factory was opened on the same premises in hammersmith london . named felgate house the factory has its own shooting range to test shotguns pattern and regulate rifles . richard purdey the sixth generation of the family from the founder retired as chairman in february 2007 . nigel beaumont took over as chairman until his retirement in 2014 . the current chairman is james horne . ownership changes edit in 1946 after 132 years of purdey family ownership hugh seely 1st baron sherwood purchased james purdey & sons ltd. in 1994 the hon richard beaumont who had been chairman since 1970 upon deciding to retire sold james purdey & sons ltd to compagnie financi re richemont sa . 5 royal clientele edit as early as 1838 queen victoria is recorded as having bought a pair of purdey pistols . during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries the company supplied ornate guns and rifles to various indian princes . warrants edit the company was granted its first royal warrant in 1868 by the prince of wales later king edward vii ; today the company holds warrants from hm the queen hrh the duke of edinburgh and hrh the prince of wales . references edit http www.macraesbluebook.co.uk company company.cfm company 27834 james purdey sonsltd ten of the world s finest shotguns cnn.com 24 january 2008 the world s 20 best shotguns purdey side by side self opening sidelockthe field magazine 6 november 2007 city of westminster green plaques http transact.westminster.gov.uk greenplaques byname.cfm the hon richard beaumont proprietor of purdey & sons . the times . 15 january 2010 . retrieved 28 march 2015 . external links edit official website companies portal v t e selected royal warrant holders of the british royal family by appointment to hm the queen abels moving services ainsworths angostura limited akzonobel autoglym axminster carpets bendicks bentley motors bollinger britvic bt burberry cadbury carphone warehouse castrol charbonnel et walker daks dhl express dorma ede & ravenscroft fortnum & mason frank smythson gieves & hawkes h. p. bulmer henry poole & co j. barbour and sons james purdey and sons jaguar cars john lewis john lobb land rover louis roederer mappin & webb martini & rossi minky molton brown mo t & chandon nestl procter & gamble uk richer sounds roberts radio ryvita schweppes spode steinway & sons tanqueray twinings unilever uk vauxhall motors veuve clicquot ponsardin waitrose weetabix wilkin & sons william drake wolsey worcestershire medal service by appointment to hrh the duke of edinburgh boots opticians daks ede & ravenscroft frank smythson gieves & hawkes hatchards holland & holland j. barbour and sons james purdey and sons john lobb land rover lyle & scott penhaligon s truefitt & hill by appointment to hrh the prince of wales ainsworths aston martin autoglym bentley motors burberry crabtree & evelyn daks ede & ravenscroft frank smythson gieves & hawkes holland & holland j. barbour and sons jaguar cars james purdey and sons john lobb land rover laphroaig linn products minky penhaligon s peter jones ritz hotel roberts radio shepherd neame taylors of harrogate turnbull & asser vauxhall motors waitrose weetabix winsor & newton category commons v t e brands owned by compagnie financi re richemont s.a. full ownership a. lange & s hne azzedine ala a baume & mercier cartier chlo dunhill giampiero bodino iwc schaffhausen jaeger lecoultre lancel manufacture roger dubuis montblanc officine panerai peter millar piaget purdey shanghai tang vacheron constantin van cleef & arpels joint ventures ralph lauren watch & jewelry company sarl 50 % other investments yoox net a porter group retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title james purdey % 26 sons & oldid 744182803 categories richemont brandsbritish royal warrant holdersshotgunsfirearm manufacturers of the united kingdomextant firearms manufacturers in the united kingdommanufacturing companies established in 18141814 establishments in englandhidden categories use dmy dates from march 2012 navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages danskfran ais edit links this page was last modified on 13 october 2016 at 16 48 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; 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