Looking for information on Whithead Bros.

[Roger Payne]

Thanks for the tip - I've just added Grace's guide to my list of bookmarked sites!

[Peter Laidler]

I like that phone number....... STANNINGLY 107! Like my mums from the 60's. Bourton 609! Now it'd be an 11 figure marathon!

[Roger Payne]

Interestingly, the advert for the company shows the address is near Leeds. AFAIK (not a lot admittedly), the Whitehead company that was heavily involved in torpedo design was based in the south of the UK, IIRC in Dorset, on the coast near Portland. I s'pose a coastal location is not rocket science to deduce either, for the location of a torpedo designer......!

But which company, if either, designed the mounts for the rifle? Or, were they two subdivisions of a single larger concern?

I have no idea, but hats off to whoever can shed more light on the subject.

[Mecharius]

One of the best sources on the history of British industrial and engineering companies is Grace's Guide. However, all it lists is one Whitehead Brothers with a date of establishment of the company of 1840 and this:

Attachment 83489

File:Im1917Yorks-WhiteheadBros2.jpg - Graces Guide

HTH

Tom

More information than I already had. Thank you for sharing. It may be a good starting point for my search.

[TomH]

Interestingly, the advert for the company shows the address is near Leeds. AFAIK (not a lot admittedly), the Whitehead company that was heavily involved in torpedo design was based in the south of the UK, IIRC in Dorset, on the coast near Portland. I s'pose a coastal location is not rocket science to deduce either, for the location of a torpedo designer......!

But which company, if either, designed the mounts for the rifle? Or, were they two subdivisions of a single larger concern?

I have no idea, but hats off to whoever can shed more light on the subject.

Torpedo's was Whitehead and Co:

Whitehead and Co - Graces Guide

[Roger Payne]

Looks more like the Leeds Company then..........unless there were any other concerns of the same name.

[TomH]

Roger, would the original mounts have started out as a casting or forging prior to machining? If so it would lend further credibility to being the Leeds Whitehead Brothers.

[Roger Payne]

Tom, I suspect they were forged rather than cast. There is a forum member who may be able to say more definitively as he has one of only a couple of totally genuine SMLE/Whitehead/WA5 set ups that I am aware of. Perhaps he may chime in........

[Peter Laidler]

Leeds, York were the centre for the optical industry - or certainly the optical lens grinding industry with lots of small independent suppliers to the principal makers such as Kershaws, Taylors and Taylor Hobson etc etc. So I'd say Leeds and not Weymouth.

[Promo]

They were welded (front) and bent (rear) from forged parts, at least this is what they appear to be.