Product Details
J. PURDEY & SONS
A 12-BORE SELF-OPENING ROUNDED BAR SIDELOCK EJECTOR, serial no. 19058,
No.3, 30in. nitro reproved Whitworth-steel chopperlump barrels, rib engraved 'J. PURDEY & SONS. AUDLEY HOUSE. SOUTH AUDLEY STREET. LONDON. MADE OF SIR JOSEPH WHITWORTH'S FLUID PRESSED STEEL.', and '3', 2 1/2in. chambers, bored approx. 1/4 and full choke, left tube with dents, removable striker discs, toplever with a roundel engraved '3', automatic safety with gold-inlaid 'SAFE' detail, arrow cocking-indicators, rounded action bar, best bouquet and scroll engraving, brushed bright finish overall, 15 3/8in. well-figured stock with Prince of Wales semi-pistolgrip and including 1in. ventilated rubber recoil pad, weight 7lb., in a leather leg of mutton case
Provenance: The makers have kindly confirmed that this gun was completed in April 1908 for Major Courtenay Morgan, as number 3 of a trio.
Further research would indicate Major Courtenay Morgan to be Courtenay Charles Evan Morgan, 3rd Baron Tredegar O.B.E, V.D. (1867 - 1934) was the eldest son of the Honourable Frederick Courtenay Morgan, of Ruperra Castle, third son of Charles Morgan, 1st Baron Tredegar. His mother was Charlotte Anne, daughter of Charles Alexander Wilkinson, of Lawers, Perthshire. He succeeded his uncle Godfrey Morgan, 1st Viscount Tredegar, as third Baron Tredegar in 1913.
On succession, one of his first acts was to purchase the steam yacht Liberty (originally built for Joseph Pulitzer in 1908, and one of the largest private yachts of the time), which was almost immediately requisitioned by the Royal Navy for use as a hospital ship during the Great War with Major Morgan taking command of his yacht for the first part of the war. After the end of hostilities, he embarked on a world cruise, eventually going around the world twice during which he visited every colony in the British Empire and every state in the Commonwealth.
In 1926 he was created Viscount Tredegar, of Tredegar in the County of Monmouth. In 1934 he was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Monmouthshire, a post he held until his death the following year, aged 67, at the Ritz Hotel in London.
Courtenay had a serious side to him, but also knew how to enjoy himself and had a very extravagant lifestyle. He spent a small fortune on servants at the various properties he owned and ran; there were yachts, parties, affairs and two children who knew how to spend just as well as their parents. Courtenay's wife, Lady Katharine, had no desire to live in Wales and had properties in London and Surrey.
When Courtenay died in 1934 it was not just the extravagances that had taken their toll on the family fortune, but death duties were contributing to the problems of a rapidly dwindling estate. The heir to it all was not to help matters at all. Evan Morgan took his responsibilities very lightly indeed. An accomplished occultist, Evan was hailed by Aleister Crowley as "Adept of Adepts". Morgan came from what the Duke of Bedford described as "the oddest family I have ever met"; his mother was rumoured to have built bird nests big enough to sit in. He kept at his seat of Tredegar House in Newport a menagerie of animals including a boxing kangaroo, honey bear, baboon and macaw. His weekend house parties, which attracted such figures as Aldous Huxley, H. G. Wells, Augustus John and Aleister Crowley, gained local notoriety, as did the host's extravagant lifestyle.
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Estimate £4,000-6,000
S2