Charles Hellis: A Hunger for Success

    "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times” is the famous first line of Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities. His second historical novel packed a lot of resonance for his mid-19th Century audience. Although ostensibly about an earlier era, it clearly described the disparities of Victorian London. At the Empire’s gritty heart, a hard-working laborer might eat an onion and a loaf of bread for his evening meal, but a clever young fellow could make his fortune by turning out multiple iterations of some popular mechanical innovation.
    If you’re a regular reader of Shooting Sportsman, chances are you have more than a passing interest in gun actions. If someone says, “A&D,” the rectangular shape of the boxlock probably drops into view. If they mention “Purdey,” the Beesley self-opener likely springs to mind. Think “Holland & Holland Royal,” and chances are you envision hand-detachable locks. All are 100 years old or older, and all are still in use today. The patentees understood that they could become rich if enough of their gun actions were built. The truth is that most of the London gun trade is still feeding on the warmed-over dishes of the Victorian Age. An exception is the recently reanimated Charles Hellis & Sons with its new self-opening over/under.
    Charles Edward Hellis was born in 1854 in Holborn, an area of London that had not changed much since Charles Dickens rented rooms there two decades earlier. After trying his hand as a butcher and antiques dealer, Hellis appears to have settled on a career as a gunmaker around 1884. He sold guns and supplied live pigeons to West London shooting grounds from a shop in Shrewsbury Road, Westbourne Park. One former Hellis employee, a Mr. Marchant, recalled being told that during the Shrewsbury Road period the Hellis family could afford to sit down to only one meat meal a week, on Sunday.
    In 1897 Hellis shifted his business to 119 Edgware Road, an altogether more commercial location just north of Speakers Corner. The location garnered more walk-in business, and Hellis soon sold sufficient cartridges to justify loading them himself. In 1935 the firm found larger, double-fronted premises featuring a modish art deco façade a couple of doors up at 121-123 Edgware Road.
    Early in the 20th Century Charles Hellis was succeeded by his sons, Charles Robert and Clifford John, and then, according to a 1954 catalog, a “Third Generation came into the business, and in their turn served ‘at the bench’ and in the loading rooms . . . .”
    For many shooters today, if Charles Hellis registers at all, it is because of the Featherweight—a sidelock or sideplated boxlock engraved with crossed feathers, frequently featuring unfashionably short 26- or 28-inch barrels. Like E.J. Churchill, the house of Hellis was an advocate of short barrels, with catalogs claiming, “We have continually recommended the use of the shorter barrels, and for many years past over 95 percent of the guns built by us have had 26-inch barrels.”
    I own a Charles Hellis two-inch gun with 26-inch barrels that I use for short-range work such as quail over pointers. For more information about it, I asked Terry Utterson, who researched Hellis’s history for the company’s Website. “Your gun, No. 4132, is described as a 12-bore A&D non-ejector with two triggers, 26-inch barrels and two-inch chambers,” Utterson wrote. “It was built and placed into stock on 21st March 1938 and sold in July of that year to Sumner Moore for £17.10.00. The gun came back into possession of Hellis some years later (possibly as a part exchange) and resold in July 1946 to ‘Dick’ for £37.10.00. The only extra information in the sales ledger is that the gun is described as a ‘Reliable’ two-inch non-ejector! The Reliable model was quite basic and, I would imagine, built to a price by any of the Birmingham makers to the trade specializing in two-inch lightweight guns at that time, e.g. Skimin & Wood, G.S. Holloway and very possibly S. Wright & Sons.”
    In the Christmas 1928 issue of Shooting Times Hellis took out a half-page advertisement equally divided between promoting Guaranteed Accuracy cartridges and Hellis guns that said: “Our Illustrated book will give you some useful information about guns and their care. May we send you one?”
    While I was researching this article, David Ingles, current CEO of Charles Hellis, sent me several old Hellis catalogs. In them I learned about other older Hellis models, such as the Premier, a “best quality” London-pattern sidelock ejector stocked to the fences that was said to be “The Perfect Specimen of the Gunmaker’s Craft.” The Mark Over was a moderately priced flat-backed-action sidelock “built on best lines.” The Featherweight was a sideplated boxlock that later became the Windsor. The Utility was a “high grade Anson & Deeley action gun . . . designed and engraved on very attractive lines” that had a rib extension; it became the Universal when the rib extension and engraving were removed. The Plain Quality was a boxlock without engraving that was re-branded the Standard, described as “A Gun produced of first-class material by skilled workmen, for economy and ruggedness and intended for heavy usage.”
    Like many London gunmakers before and since, Hellis sourced its boxlocks and perhaps many of its sidelocks from Birmingham. I recently was given a 1938 order form from Charles Hellis to William Howell, the Whittall Street gunmaker, for 20 Plain Quality 12-bore non-ejector guns with 26-inch barrels. Also, according to Nigel Brown in his book British Gunmakers, Volume Two, Hellis owned its own factory on Price Street in Birmingham from 1949 to 1955.
    Looking back, Charles Hellis’s working life as a gunmaker and his views on business were in large part shaped by the prevailing contemporary sporting culture. In the days before death duty (a British inheritance tax designed to make it difficult for children of wealthy aristocrats to inherit land), huge estates devoured copious amounts of cartridges, and Hellis announced that he would send “500 cartridges and upwards . . . dispatched Carriage Paid by Goods Train to any Station in England, Scotland and Wales.” It may be that by this method as much as by gunmaking Hellis earned his corn.
    The firm stamped its shells “cartridge experts,” and Bill Harriman, Director of Firearms for The British Association of Shooting and Conservation, has written: “Hellis’s enjoyed a reputation for loading excellent cartridges. This business was reckoned to be the biggest in the London trade and numbered the Earl of Carnarvon among its clients.” Fine words, but fine words butter no parsnips, and Hellis closed in 1956—although not before an ill-fated venture with C.S. Rosson of Norwich to load cartridges using modern machinery.
    In March 1956 Stuart Hellis, son of Clifford John, wrote to clients informing them of the closure and announcing the “Goodwill of the Company has been transferred to Messrs. Henry Atkin Ltd. 27, St. James’s Street, London, S.W.1. whom we trust you will favour with your future orders.”
    Hellis remained a part of Atkin, Grant & Lang until 1976, when the entire stable was acquired by the Harris & Sheldon Group. The Hellis name was then sold to Fred Buller in 1984. A decade later, in December 1994, Hellis was sold to shooting enthusiast David Ingles, who was resolved to make best-quality guns by traditional methods. Since then the Hellis name has been associated with a small number of bespoke guns made entirely by hand (without the help of CNC or spark-eroding machines) for discriminating connoisseurs. Employing a coterie of gun-trade superstars making signature actions from the finest available materials, Hellis has reestablished itself but on an entirely upscale footing.
    The remade Charles Hellis & Sons now offers best guns only, and a section titled “Spring Opening Shotguns” on the company’s Website states: “No other manufacturer currently offers an entirely hand-made spring-opening shotgun in an over & under configuration. Available in Boss, Purdey/Atkin, Holland and Holland, or Baker styles.” It’s a long way from Birmingham boxlocks to this glittering assemblage of haute hotshot gun designs, so I asked David Ingles how it all came about.
    He said that initially he set out to produce affordable guns by sourcing some of the component parts abroad and assembling, engraving and finishing the guns in the UK. Unfortunately, he was displeased by the quality of the results. It was then that he decided to change directions.
    “I decided that I wanted Hellis to make nothing but handmade guns using the finest craftsmen and certainly no foreign parts,” Ingles said. “Bob Ladbrook and Carl Langton of Ladbrook & Langton Gunsmiths directed me to David Perkins, a highly regarded London gunmaker now residing in a tiny village in Somerset. For many years David had been the technical guru at Rigby’s, and he became my mentor until his sad death two years ago. ‘The best apprentice I ever had was Paul Willis,’ David said. ‘Go and see him. I’m sure he will help.’
    “Paul, too, had worked for more than 26 years at Rigby’s, where he not only made new guns and rifles but repaired and maintained guns from virtually every maker. We discussed my ideas for Hellis and how we could best go about making a range of guns that other makers were not or could not make . . . . We decided upon the Atkin action largely because it was considered one of the best actions ever made and because it was technically difficult to make, thus we could demonstrate our skill. The difference between the Atkin action and the Purdey spring-opener is largely in the simplified ejector system, and all engineers will tell you the simpler the system the more reliable it will be . . . . No other maker was making the action, although I was aware that the firm of Atkin Grant and Lang had recently changed hands and there were still a few craftsmen other than Paul who could make this type of gun.
    “The only other stipulation at the time was that our guns were to be used. I did not want to make museum pieces with over-extravagant engraving. I was still enjoying my own shooting and personally favored over/under guns. Fortunately O/Us were becoming increasingly popular, and more than half of all the new Purdey’s and Holland’s being sold were O/Us. Boss had, of course, always made a best O/U . . . .
    “According to Burrard, the spring-opening mechanism was reserved for only best London guns, and since no other maker was offering an O/U spring-opener, this, after discussions with Paul, would be our unique selling point. Since we were making our side-by-sides on the Atkin action, we decided our prototype O/U spring-opener would be on the same system . . . . With very little cash available, the prototype would have to be made with whatever parts we had available. The result was a 20-bore built on a heavy 12-bore action and locks. However, the prototype worked well—if anything, better than we could have hoped. Our limited advertising then had a tag line of ‘either way it’s a spring-opener.’
    “I was aware of an earlier patent for a spring-opening over/under in 1909 by Baker. I discussed this with Paul and although he too was aware of the patent he had never in all of his years at Rigby seen a Baker spring-opening O/U, nor did he know any other craftsman that had. So that became our next project, followed by a spring-opening Boss-style O/U. If the big makers were to introduce a spring-opening O/U, I wanted Hellis to have done it first. The only style we have not made to date is a Holland, and unless a customer specifically requests one, we have no immediate plans to do so . . . .
    “Paul is a particularly fine riflemaker, and it was only a matter of time before we decided to make a Hellis double rifle on the Atkin action. So far as we are aware, Atkin didn’t ever make one, and we know of no others.
    “All Hellis spring-openers—side-by-sides and O/Us—are made from forgings . . . . Paul is one of the few craftsmen left who can take a raw forging and turn it into whatever style of action is required. We can make our own locks if necessary but prefer to use the old specialist firm of York & Wallin, which at one time made most of the locks for the big London makers. Sadly, very few firms still use York & Wallin, preferring to use the machine-made parts readily available. Mark Wallin has inherited probably the finest collection of old spring steel still to be found in the UK, and he continues to personally hand make the finest springs.
    “Having developed a ‘unique selling proposition’ of spring-opening O/Us, we are of course pleased to make whatever guns our customers require. Some want spring-openers, some don’t. One customer wanted a Boss-style O/U for game shooting with a second set of barrels for clays. Two interchangeable forends were provided, enabling the gun to be a spring-opener or non-spring-opener for both game and clays. We devote about 80 percent of our workshop time to satisfying orders and try to keep about 20 percent for making guns for stock and developing new ideas. We still have one or two exciting new projects on the go, including a spring-opening hammergun. We do not have any retail premises and do not sell cartridges or any accessories, nor do we deal in used guns. We simply make new guns by hand.”
    Regarding Hellis’s other employees, Ingles said, “Our barrelmaker is Scott Wood. Scott served his apprenticeship and worked in the Purdey factory for more than 21 years before setting up his own small workshop at his home. Many of the best London gunmakers are artisans working from small outbuildings at their homes. Scott is experienced with shotgun or double-rifle barrelwork, side-by-side or over/under. He is extremely particular about his work, and it seems that for every question I answer he asks another three! We don’t mind this, because it means we get exactly the barrels we want with no nasty surprises. He is very supportive of Hellis and likes something that is a little bit different. For example, he may recommend a particular concave top rib never before used on O/U barrels if he thinks it will look good. Rather than just follow instructions, he will bring things to my attention if I have overlooked them. Scott is an extremely passionate shooter—wingshooting and stalking. Not all gunmakers are, as you know. This, too, gives us just a little edge. His workshop is conveniently only 10 miles or so from ours and, just as important, only one mile from Johnson’s Barrel Browners, who do all of our blacking.
    “Arnold Boonen is our stocker, and he conveniently shares the workshop with Paul. Arnold graduated from the School of Gunmaking in Liége and gained valuable experience with Holland & Holland and Rigby. His stocking work is truly outstanding, and somehow he manages to get an indefinable quality and soul to his work. Quite often Paul and I have compared a gun that he has stocked with other best London guns and, although all the critical dimensions are identical, there is just something about Arnold’s work that feels and handles better. As you would expect, wood-to-metal fit, dimensions, balance, etc. are perfect. Arnold is also extremely knowledgeable about oil finishes, in particular many of the old recipes such as Purdey’s famous slackum. In fact, he is a bit of an alchemist on the side. Although Arnold does not apply the oil to our guns, he quite often mixes it and supplies it to the finisher. Only for our guns, though.
    “So far as finishing is concerned, we have in the past used David Sinnerton and Colin Orchard; however, we currently try to do as much in-house as possible, particularly with our spring-opening over/unders. Carl Langton is outstanding with his checkering and oil finishes, and Paul and Arnold work closely with him on all of our guns. David Tallett does most of our engraving, St. Ledger & Sons the color hardening, and Johnson’s the blacking.
    “They are a remarkable team of gunmakers, producing work to the highest level the old-fashioned way.”
    All models of Hellis over/unders (Boss, Purdey/Atkin, Holland & Holland, and Baker) can be ordered as spring-openers starting at £39,950. Spring-opening side-by-sides begin at £32,500. Delivery time is a relatively modest 12 months.
Today the guns being delivered are far, far better than ever before and the gunmaker’s future is brighter than it has ever been. After 125 years in business, Charles Hellis may finally have cooked up a recipe for success.

Author’s Note: I am indebted to Terry C. Utterson for much of the historical information featured in this article. For more on Charles Hellis & Sons, visit www .hellis.com.

Douglas Tate is an Editor at Large for Shooting Sportsman.