Lock, Stock and… Two Missing Gun Barrels: Davison, Gunmakers of Alnwick – Part Two

George’s burial is recorded in the register for Alnwick St. Michael: 

George’s will, dated 14 March 1827, which I was able to access on the North East Inheritance Database (ref. DPR/1/1827/D1) gives some interesting details: 

• His household goods, furniture, books, plate, linen, china, clothes and other goods were left to his “dear wife”, her executors, administrators and assigns 
• To William Davison, Chemist and Druggist of Alnwick, and to George’s brothers-in-law, Thomas Anderson, Hardwareman, of Alnwick, and Robert Anderson, Sadler, of Alnwick – all messuage, burgage or tenement with appurtenances in Alnwick in which he lived, to hold in trust, but that his wife and children must be allowed to live there until the public sale or private contract – whichever brought the best price 
• The three gentlemen also to dispose of the business in Newcastle, and to collect all debts owed to the business in both Alnwick and Newcastle, and to then use this money to pay off his debts and pay for his funeral 
• The executors to allow his wife to conduct and carry on the gun makers business in Alnwick under their direction – if she did not wish to do so, or died before the youngest child was 21 years old, the business and stock was to be disposed of and converted into money  
• Left £1 to his eldest son, Thomas Bilton Davison, once he attains 21 years of age, as he had already had a greater share of George’s effects than his brothers 
• His other sons to share everything else not already mentioned – George Davison, John Francis Davison, Edward Anderson Davison, Bilton Davison, Robert Anderson Davison, William Septimus Davison, Charles John Davison, and Anderson Davison, and any other child or children he may have 

After George’s death in 1827, it was said that Mary ran the shop as a gunmaker in her own right, but although the business was in her name, we can see from George’s will that she was under the direction of William Davison, and her brothers, Thomas and Robert Anderson. 

By 1829, George’s premises in Alnwick were to let.  A notice in the Newcastle Courant on Saturday 14 March 1829 reads: 

To be LET, and entered to at Whitsuntide first, 

A HOUSE AND SHOP, most eligibly situated in 

the Market-Place, Alnwick, at present occupied by Mrs 

Davison, Gun-Maker.  The Premises may be seen, and fur- 

ther Particulars known, on Application to Mr. F.C. Rattray. 

Alnwick, March 4th, 1829. 

Although the original shop was no longer available, the business continued.  In the Davison collection again, I found a letterhead dating to 1830, which names the proprietors as Davison and Snowdon.  This is presumably Mary, who has gone into partnership with George Snowdon – the apprentice that ran away from the business in 1820! 

Within Pigot’s Directory (Northern) dated 1834, Mary is listed as one of two ‘Gun Makers’ in Alnwick, alongside George Snowdon, who must have left the partnership to start his own business by that time. 

Ref.  Pigot’s Directory – Northern, 1834 

 Mary was still operating the business herself in 1836, as there is a letterhead, again in the Davison collection, which lists her as the sole proprietor. 

The next mention we have been able to find for Mary is in The Berwick Advertiser on 3 February 1838: 

Alnwick. 

Lately presented to the Museum of Mr. Davison, Apothe 

cary, Alnwick, Northumberland,… by Mrs Davison, gun 

maker, Alnwick, an Arctic Skua (Cataractes Parasiticus), 

and a Grey Phalarope (Phalaropus Lobatus)… 

Several online sources suggested that in 1838, Mary joined her brother-in-law, William Davison, at his gun shop in Newcastle, after filing for bankruptcy, but I was not able to confirm this.  By 1841, no Davison’s are listed as gun makers or smiths within Alnwick, according to Robinson’s Directory for Northumberland.  The only gunmaker listed in the town is George Snowdon, who still had a property in Narrowgate.  By 1887, in Bulmer’s History and Directory of Northumberland, only the Hardy Bros. of Fenkle Street are noted as gun makers. 

The last mention we found of Mary was her death in 1847, reported in the Durham Chronicle on 26 February: 

…in Prudhoe-street, 18th, aged 66, much respected, 

Mary, relict of the late Mr. George Davison, gun- 

maker, of Alnwick and Newcastle… 

Today, examples of guns made by George Davison are preserved within the Royal Armouries at Leeds, as well as within private collections. 

One caveat that I must include is that Mary Davison probably wasn’t what we would recognise as a gun “maker”.  We know that she took on the business after her husband’s death, but it is highly unlikely she would have actually “made” the guns.  This task could have been carried out by Snowdon, and when he left the business, there could have been another apprentice who took on that role.  Or the guns could have been bought in and the Davison name engraved upon them.  Mary’s business would likely have consisted of buying and selling, perhaps with onsite workmen carrying out small scale manufacture or repair – the premises on Market Street may have contained a small workshop area for this practice.  So there is no evidence of Mary making guns herself but, unless we go and visit the premises in a time machine, we will never know for certain.  & I quite like the picture I have in my mind of Mary donning her leather apron and getting down to a bit of metalwork…