Years ago, while researching my book the British Boxlock Gun & Rifle, I was able, thanks to Paul Roberts, the previous British owner of Rigby, to examine some copied records of Rigby’s production in the early 20th century.
I recall that, when checking the source of some of Rigby’s boxlocks, noting the initials B&P in the relevant column, interspersed with the name Webley. Paul was not sure who B&P may have been and I suggested Bentley & Playfair, which seems likely, as they did, at the time provide boxlocks to the trade, as evidenced by the wood-cut illustrations in their catalogues
I mention this recollection now because that reference in my mind from a decade ago had been niggling me. As Rigby archivist, I have been undertaking a project of restoration on the record books, with the serial number books being perhaps the most important. They give us a lot of detail on the men who performed each task and the outworkers used, as well as dimensions, the date of manufacture and the name of the original buyer.
The extant books, of which there are seven (plus one dedicated to Rigby Mausers) ended with serial number 17765, after which there was nothing except for some patchy indications of sales, written into the last notebook, from the early 1980s onwards.
There was a gap in the records from 1912 to 1982.
Nowhere I looked in these books could I find any notes pertaining to B&P and it occurred to me that the original book that Paul Roberts must have copied, had been lost between the sale to Texan businessman, Neil Gibson in 1997 and the repatriation of the records in 2013.
Then, in late October 2024, I was collecting some of the books still wrapped in brown paper (these are often the oldest and in the worst condition) from the back of a shelf in Pensbury Place, in order to take them for restoration. They had not been opened for over a decade.
One, labelled ‘Barrels & Actions’, when unwrapped, solved the mystery that had been bugging me these past months.
The book I found inside that wrapping was not, in fact, a barrel book, it was the missing serial number book; beginning in 1914 and extending to the early 1980s.
Within, I found those entries, including the B&P notes in the actioning section I recalled but could not find, indicating the names of makers Rigby used to supply boxlocks and other trade supplies and services.
This discovery will be extremely helpful in enabling us to furnish owners of vintage Rigbys with details of the origins of their guns and rifles. It will also provide further valuable information about the manufacturing process the company employed in the early and mid-years of the 20th century.
The book (which I will refer to as book eight) is now with Ludlow Bookbinders, undergoing restoration. Its broken spine and detached cardboard cover will soon give way to a smart new Rigby blue goatskin cover and hand-stitched spine. With that work done, the priceless data within will be safe for another century of investigation.
