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« on: Wednesday 14 February 18 13:35 GMT (UK) »
Hi,
Can anybody help shed some light on the engraving shown in the attached photo please?
Following the death of my uncle last year we inherited an antique shotgun, which we understand had been owned by my great grandfather, before being left to my grandfather and subsequently to my uncle.
We don’t think that my great grandfather would have been the guns original owner, since the gun was manufactured in 1886 and the dates don’t tally, but we are trying to solve the mystery of who its original owner may have been. We contacted the gun makers Holland and Holland and sent them some photos and they did a history search through their order records but unfortunately they came back to us and said this particular guns order form is one of a handful they don’t have. The most they could tell us over the phone was what was written on the engineers form, which was the name of Mr Robinson, the address of Gravetye Manor and the date of 1886. They also said that typically guns from that era just had scrollwork as standard on the side plates so for the custom engraving to be present meant it would have been quite a special order.
We then looked further into the information we were given and Gravetye Manor is not too far from where my family is from in Sussex. It was owned in 1886 by William Robinson a Victorian gardener, author, and publisher of Irish descent who was acquainted with Charles Darwin and his son Leonard, and was somewhat of an expert in wildflowers, but the engraving looks to us as though it possibly relates to the crest and arms of Pringle which to our knowledge doesn’t seem to correspond to either Mr Robinson nor to our family (g-grandfathers surname was “French”).
We thought perhaps we might find a similar design used as bookplate in one of Mr Robinsons gardening publications but we can’t so far seem to find any record of him using a coat of arms. It also seems unlikely the gun would have been ordered by him as a gift for someone named Pringle since they had to be custom made to the measurements of the owner/shooter, and would have taken up to two years to be produced.
Would sincerely appreciate any help you may be able to provide.
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