The breech end with a lone bird, 2 1/2in. chambers, bored approx. 1/4 and 1/2 choke, scroll-back treble-grip action with side shoulders, arcaded fences, toplever engraved and gold-inlaid with a crown, automatic side-safety with gold-inlaid 'SAFE' detail, the housing finely engraved with a lone pigeon, the action profusely engraved with fine acanthus scrollwork and with oak leaf and acorn bordering, interspersed with finely engraved vignettes of hound flushing a covey of partridge and a spaniel flushing a brace of duck, the underside with two hares, the triggerguard with two setters on point, the triggerguard tang engraved 'GRADE G ROYAL', retaining slight traces of original colour-hardening and finish, 14 1/2in. well-figured stock with ornate chequering borders, horn spearpoint drop points and horn buttplate, the fore-end with Anson push rod and further ornate chequering borders, the fore-end iron with 'PATENT EJECTOR. GRADE G ROYAL' and '1', weight 6lb. 11oz., in its leather double case with gold-tooled trade label, the lid outer marked 'W. R. INNES HOPKINS. GRIMSTON MANOR. GILLING EAST. YORK.'

 

Provenance:

 

The makers have kindly confirmed that the gun was built as No.1 of a pair of 12-bore Royal Monarch models with 30in. wrought steel barrels. The engraving was by Stokes and the rest by Perry. The gun was started on 2nd January 1900 and completed on the 29th May the same year and was sold through the London shop.

 

With regard to the assumed owner, the following is believed to refer to his son, killed in action, in France, on 25th May 1915 :

 

http://www.hambo.org/kingscanterbury/view_man.php?id=182

 

and both men are recorded at

 

http://www.thepeerage.com/p6221.htm

 

William Greener was the first member of the Greener family to make guns.  After serving his apprenticeship with John Gardner in Newcastle Upon Tyne he worked for Joe Manton, probably the best English gun maker in the early 1800’s. Returning to Newcastle in 1829 he set up on his own to make percussion muzzle loading sporting  shotguns and rifles, military rifles, and harpoon guns for the Dundee whalers. However, in Newcastle it was difficult to obtain the best materials so he moved to Birmingham in 1844 where Greener gun making has remained ever since.

William was an inventor and during his lifetime he invented; the expansive bullet (1835), an electric light (1846 - long before the modern 'Ediswan' lamp was patented in 1879), a device to open the four gates of a railway level crossing simultaneously, a self-righting lifeboat (1851) and modifications to the Miner’s Safety Lamp. But first and foremost he was a gun maker and the quality of his guns soon attracted the rich and famous, among these Prince Albert, consort to Queen Victoria. At The Great Exhibition of 1851 he won two gold medals and a diploma. He went on to win medals at the New York Exhibition of 1853 and Paris Exposition of 1855. William wrote three books, The Gun in 1834, The Science of Gunnery in 1842 and Gunnery in 1858. He also wrote a pamphlet - The Proof House – The bane of the trade - which was instrumental in reforming the Gun Barrel Proof House by the Act of 1855.

After William's death in 1869 his second son, William Wellington Greener, continued the family tradition of making high quality sporting and military guns, and his inventions helped to develop the breech-loader and make it the modern sporting gun we know today. Probably W W Greener’s greatest contributions were, perfecting the system of choke boring, and, inventing the famous cross-bolt. The former allowed clients to win all The Field Trials from 1875 to 1879.  This led most most wing shots to use Greener guns to win prizes and competitions all over the world. The cross-bolt which he invented in 1867 to strengthen the action of breech loaders resulted in the strongest action, weight for weight, of any gun made. By the turn of the century in 1900 he had the world's largest sporting gun factory employing over four hundred and fifty skilled craftsmen. Like his father he wrote several books the most famous of which The Gun and its Development was published in 1881. This book, and The Breechloader and how to use it published in 1892, both ran to nine editions.

W W Greener’s two sons Harry and Charles took over the business from their father in 1910 and ten years later the firm was incorporated into a Limited Company. Production was switched to military requirements during two world wars and during the intervening period demand for very high quality sporting guns diminished. The company under the two brothers, and later Leyton Greener, Harry's son, concentrated on well made, but less expensive 'Empire' models and single barrel GP shotguns  (developed from a riot control gun for the Egyptian Ghaffir police force).

But the building of the inner ring road in Birmingham meant the factory complex fronting St Mary's Square had to go. So, in 1965 the company was sold, the old factory with its imposing Victorian edifice was pulled down and production for the company as a family run business ceased. Webley, which acquired the gun making part of the business continued to make the single barrel GP for a few years but it was not until 1985 that the company was bought by its present owners; Graham Greener (W W Greener's great grandson) David Dryhurst and Richard Tandy (two of the country's finest gun makers).

Greeners developed a reputation for specialising in boxlocks (though the firm still hates the term and refers to ‘body action’ guns to differentiate their various models from the A&D) and W.W Greener championed their merits over sidelocks in The Gun and its Development, which ran to nine editions. The pinnacle of his production was the ‘G-Grade’, based on the ‘Unique’ ejector gun. Greener had a dedicated team of his best men working on these guns and they are of the very best quality possible