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Product Details
J. PURDEY & SONS
A PAIR OF LIGHTWEIGHT 12-BORE SELF-OPENING SIDELOCK EJECTORS, serial no. 24101 / 2,
circa 1930, 30in. Whitworth-steel nitro chopperlump barrels, the ribs engraved 'J. PURDEY & SONS. AUDLEY HOUSE. SOUTH AUDLEY STREET. LONDON. MADE OF SIR JOSEPH WHITWORTH'S FLUID PRESSED STEEL.' and '1' and '2' at the breech ends, 2 1/2in. chambers, bored approx. 1/4 and 3/4 choke, some pitting, toplevers engraved '1' and '2', automatic safeties with gold-inlaid 'SAFE' details, removable striker discs, cocking-indicators, best fine acanthus scroll engraving with floral bouquets, retaining traces of original colour-hardening No.1, some scars and patination No.2, 15 1/8in. stocks, the fore-ends inlet with '1' and '2' in silver, weight 6lb. 4oz., together with their original 'Purdey Guns' instruction manual dated 1929
Provenance: The makers have kindly provided us with the following information:
No. 24,101/2
Completed: March 1931
For: Cpt. C. Meynell
Description: A pair of lightweight hammerless ejector game guns
Weight: 6lb. 3 ¾oz.
Calibre: 12-bore
Barrels: 30in Whitworth steel
Choke: Imp. Cyl. & Mod.
Stock: 15 ¼in.
Notes:
Crest on ovals
Silver 1&2 in fore-parts
19th August 1953: Guns noted as stolen 4th September 1953: Guns noted as recovered
The vendor has kindly supplied us with the following:
This fine pair of Purdey's belonged to my grandfather, Capt. Charles Wilfrid Lindley Meynell R.N.
Grandfather attended Dartmouth Naval College, and served in the navy in both wars, in submarines based at Harwich in the 1st war, and in senior staff positions in the 2nd war when he was rapidly promoted to Captain and was at the epicentre of the hunt for the Bismarck when he was Chief of Staff at Coastal Command.
During his time based at Harwich, he married my grandmother Ida, eldest daughter of the Rt. Hon. Ernest Pretyman, owner of the Orwell Park Estate near Ipswich. Orwell Park was reputed to be one of the finest partridge shoots in the country and George Vth was a regular shooting guest there (see photo attached).
Grandfather had a very fine and meticulously kept game book, which I remember looking at many years ago and recalling a bag of over 600 partridge in one day on Martlesham Heath. Although this game book should be somewhere in the bowels of Berry Hall, unfortunately I can't find it so I cannot say for sure whether this pair of Purdey's took part in shoots with HRH King George Vth, though I think it is very probable they did.
Subsequently, my father, Richard Walter Meynell , who also served in the Navy in the 2nd War used these guns, although I'm not sure when he took them over from grandfather. I do remember accompanying grandfather shooting pigeons in the late 1950s, but I don't think he shot much after that. My father whose game book, which covers the 30 years from 1936 to 1966, is in front of me as I write, used to shoot quite a lot in Norfolk and Suffolk but also, inter alia, at Orwell, Hoar Cross, (home of my great grandfather), Laughton, Welford, Drumlanrig, Hatfield, Weston Park, all estates of the wider family.
Since then, these guns have only been used occasionally by my brother Charles and friends at our small rough shoot at Berry Hall. I'm very sad to have to sell them with all the family history behind them, but I can no longer shoot due to injury and my son Wilfrid has stopped shooting, so I can no longer justify keeping them.
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Estimate £4,000-6,000
S2 - Sold as a Section 2 Firearm under the 1968 Firearms Act