Was Manton a manufacturer or an importer of double rifles? I see references that point to both? Especially for the Indian market.

A thumbnail sketch would be appreciated.

Thanks.

Manton was one of the five major retailers in India. The others were Walter Locke, Lyon and Lyon, P. Orr, and R.B. Rodda. Manton had offices in London and Birmingham and had extensive repair facilities in the UK and India. I don't believe Manton made firearms. Other firms made them for Manton and also manton bought assembled guns and riles "in the white" and he finished them and added his name and serial number.
I currently ahve two Mantons, a .577 bpe and a 10-bore, both doubles, and both are cased with a full compliment of accessories for cleaning and reloading. Both were made by different manufacturers but there are no markings to say whom.
I have some old Manton catalogs. He retailed arms and everything else under the sun, including rifles from American makers, furniture, camping and fishing equipment, etc. Firearms of his name and the major English makers.
Cal

So Manton was kind of like Army and Navy? In that you would determine the builder by individual specs, designs?

Sounds like a British/Indian Abercrombie & Fitch.

Mantons were known to deal in good quality English guns & rifles.

They were the best known among the old Indian firms with English links.

P Orr and sons in Madras were a watch & clock business with an arms division and had very few guns with their name on it. I spent many hours looking at their 2 row gun cabinet when in school in the late 60s and early 70s.

Lyon & Lyon were also a well known dealer in Calcutta. My dad used to get his ammo for his 10.75X68 as well as Ball & LG for his shotgun from them in the mid 60s.

quote:

Originally posted by BaxterB: Was Manton a manufacturer or an importer of double rifles? I see references that point to both? Especially for the Indian market.
A thumbnail sketch would be appreciated.
Thanks.

If you are inquiring of Joseph Manton & Sons-

They built as well as bought/ labeled /distributed, for English, Belgian, Austrian and German makers.

Originally, Joseph began gunsmithing for his older brother John making pistols and shotguns.
Manton Flint duelers are highly regarded.
Manton Flint SxS shotguns are considered by many to be the finest examples of the craft.

Later Joseph improved on Forsyth's fulminate dispenser, a precursor to the percussion cap.

He then worked on artillery shells and cannon design, disagreements with respect to this project
led to over 10 years of lawsuits with the Board of Ordnance.

During this time (Encouraged by Col Peter Hawker)-
he formed the sporting arms firm -
Joseph Manton and Sons ,
which built double rifles and shotguns.
Many consider this firm the cradle of British Sporting Arms Manufacture
and Joseph Manton the Father of London Gunmaking-
Notable employees of the firm were-
Thomas Boss
William Greener
Charles Lancaster
Joseph Lang
William Moore
James Purdey

In the mid 1820s Manton's son Fredrick was sent to India to open an office. (1824-25)
About the same time (1826) Manton went bankrupt due to cost of lawsuits, both with The Board of Ordnance
and his older brother John

The direct beneficiary at auction of his guns and equipment was- Joseph Lang.

During the rebuilding period of 1826 through his death in 1835, Manton & Sons made some guns but distributed far more.

BANG on CLAN_COLLA!!

I have a beautiful old J. Manton built 470 NE that has been nicely restored...and shoots well to this day....elephant and buff!!

I have also recently seen a Howdah pistol that was marked Charles Boswell on the Barrels, and the water tables marked J. Manton, Calcutta...apparently required stamping as an importer/retailer...

Cheers,

Manton's are great.
My two are a .577x 3" bpe and a heavy 14 pound+ 10-bore. Both are doubles, cased, each with lots of original accessories. A bonus is the history of the original owner of the .577 in the Cameron Highlanders.
Cal

My "Manton" is actually a takedown Savage 99 in .22 Savage High Power. It is cased, and was retailed by 'Manton of Calcutta' in about 1932. Its first owner was a British Army officer serving with the Indian Army medical corps.

Their Centenary catalogue was printed in 1925 and reprinted recently some years back. It is a fascinating read; well worth tracking down. 146 big pages of fascinating facts!

HB

HB- What a great piece you have!! That is a keeper for sure.

Where did you find the Manton catalog reprint?? I don't have that one and I certainly would like to...bet Cal would like one too??

I recently missed a beautiful Manton 10 bore that was on Guns International, cased with all of the proper accessorier....POOP!! Snooze you lose!!

CHEERS

This is the rifle that made me curious:

http://www.hallowellco.com/man...20double%20rifle.htm

Was just browsing and thought it was a decent looking rifle. Know nothing past that.

Baxter,
That's a nice original Manton. I believe it has been nicely restocked as they didn't embrace that nice of wood back ait turn of century....nor cheek pieces. If the bores are good, I would jump on it... Morrison H knows his guns and is honest. Too bad it is not cased, a rarity!!

I bought a nice collection of Woodleigh 470 bullets up at Cal's Double Shoot...Glad to share, more than a lifetime supply...

I found my MANTON catalog reprint while sipping a martini with steaks on the BBQ...100 years, 146 pages...1925...

Cheers

It looks good and the vintage makes it very cool, but I don’t know anything compared to these guys.

However, I’m surprised they didn’t take care of what looks like rust on the barrel flats. It just looks like surface that can be easily remedied, but still baffling. If I’m off base, I’m sure someone will chime in to say so. No, I don’t mean that as a smartass comment.

BaxterB- I will bet if you go back to the HOLLOWELL site today and look at that MANTON, that little boogger will be GONE!!....

I am told that this is probably a W&C Scott double that was marketed by Manton.

According to Boothroyd's Directory- John Manton born in 1752 began in the gun trade at age 14, apprenticed with John Dixon and opened his own shop in 1781, his son GEORGE HENRY joined him in 1815, later several other partners W. Hudson and Charles Coe, then nephew Gildon Manton joined as partner. John Manton died in 1834.So there was a Manton and Son as well as & Coe.
Joseph Manton left employ of John to start his own company in 1789 where he built guns for private people, also was gunmaker to East India Co and to George IV...one of his stockmakers was John Purdey. Through various ups and downs, Joseph's son Augustus joined in 1834 and Joseph Manton & Son was born. Joseph died in 1835...
Manton and Co was founded in 1825 by Frederick Manton, and then taken on by John Augustus Manton in 1828...family interest ended in 1846.
The company was acquired by WR Wallis who retired in 1878 and his son John continued into the 1900's>>>

BaxterB...nice piece...BUY IT!!

Cheers,

Yes Manton is a very old company. If you read the book "Scotsman in Buckskin" about Sir William Drummond Stewart's trip to North America during the fur trade era he carried a Manton.

Looks like a very nice gun. I would check if out if it's what your want and in your price range.

Dave

Thanks for the info and encouragement ;-). I’m truly just browsing and have heard the name a but but didn’t know much about them. This just looked like a nice double for the $$.