Alexander Henry (gunsmith)
| Alexander Henry | |
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Photo held by The City of Edinburgh Council Museums & Galleries. Inscription reads: "The First Scottish Volunteer March 1859"
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| Born |
Alexander Henry June 4, 1818 Leith |
| Died | January 27, 1894 (aged 75) Edinburgh |
| Cause of death | Concussion of Brain together with Pneumonia |
| Resting place | Warriston Cemetery, Edinburgh |
| Nationality | Scottish |
| Occupation | Rifle and shotgun maker |
| Known for | Martini–Henry rifle |
Alexander Henry (1818-1894) was a Scottish gun maker, based in Edinburgh, and designer of the Henry rifling and barrel used in the Martini–Henry rifle.
He submitted a rifle to the competition organised by the British government for a replacement to their existing Snider–Enfield service weapon. Ironically, his breech action and barrel were both judged to be the best (and won the prizes) but the War Office did not adopt its action, preferring that of von Martini, but did adopt its seven-grooved barrel rifling scheme. The resulting Martini-Henry rifle is named after von Martini and himself.
Henry is a fascinating character – from a number of personal tragedies in his family, to some disastrous other business ventures, but he also was the "First Volunteer" – the first signatory to the creation of the Queen’s Edinburgh Rifle Volunteers, moderator of the High Constables of Edinburgh, a JP, freemason and Edinburgh town councillor.
In 1872 he was appointed "gun and rifle manufacturer to His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales".
In 1873, one of his double rifles was specially made by Henry for Queen Victoria in 1873 and presented it to her personal servant John Brown for Christmas that year. The “extremely rare” Royal .450 double-barrelled hammer rifle recently made £35000 at auction.
He and his wife Isabella had nine children : Eliza Mackay, Jemima Janet, James Alexander (accidentally shot and killed by his father in 1860, aged 12), William Orchardson (died aged 2), Isabella, a stillborn child, Alexander (Alick), Alice Mills (died aged 1) and John Chave Luxmoore Henry. When Alexander Henry died, he left the business to Alick and John.
His obituary in the Scotsman is a good summary (although he was actually apprenticed at age 12 to Thomas Mortimer):
"DEATH OF MR HENRY, THE GUNMAKER - Mr Alex. Henry, whose name is a familiar one in connection with the improvement of the modern rifle, died at his residence at Bellevue Crescent, Edinburgh, on Saturday night, at the ripe age of seventy-six, after about a fortnight's illness. He was a native of Leith. In his seventeenth year he was apprenticed to Mr Mortimer, gunmaker in Edinburgh, and in due course he started in business on his own account.
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Wikipedia