WHEN I was growing up in the 1940s, the words ‘Made in England’ carried a lot of weight – starting with motor cars. Names like Rolls Royce, Bentley, MG, Land Rover, Austin Healy and many others were the classics of that time. However, my family drove a Morris Cowley or some such vehicle more befitting the family pocketbook.
As I grew older, I became aware of British made firearms and my interest went into overdrive. I began to register names like Woodward, Boss, Purdey, Churchill, Holland & Holland, Rigby, Farquharson – the list goes on. As I grew older still, and coveted rifles and guns bearing such names, I realised that, as with the family Morris car, excellent guns and rifles bearing names like Parker Hale, Birmingham Small Arms (BSA), William Evans, WJ Jeffery, Cogswell & Harrison, Joseph Manton, Joseph Bourne and the ubiquitous Lee Enfield, came with price tags more in line with my pocketbook.
Actually, ‘Made in England’ can be somewhat misleading when
