Hello Anthony, I am writing a book on a specific period of Birmingham's gun industry, and have a little info' for you. William Pinner was a gun,rifle and pistol maker from 1866 to 1868, possibly longer. His business was listed at 8 court, Loveday Street. In 1877 there was also a William M. Pinner at 29, Whittall Street. These are probably the same man. This period that Pinner worked in was one of great change in the gun industry, namely the advent of breech loaders and also the volume of work that was taken from the B'ham makers by foreign imports. In the military branch of the trade much of their work was taken over by the B.S.A. and others. These may be the reasons for his relatively short stint in the trade. For further reading there are numerous books available through your local library covering the industry generally, viz:- The Birmingham Gun Trade by David Williams and another by Douglas Tate that are both very informative. Hope this helps. Regards, Mike Nicholls. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Anthony Hofstee" <ahofstee@sympatico.ca> To: <ENG-WARKS-BIRMINGHAM@rootsweb.com> Sent: Saturday, December 16, 2006 3:46 AM Subject: [B'ham] Rifle tester, gun finisher in 1870's, 1880's (PINNER/PENNER) > Was there a factory producing guns and/or rifles in Birmingham during > the 1870's and 1880's? William Pinner (or Penner) listed as gun > finisher in 1871 census was born about 1839 in Lyons or Paris in > France. He married for the first time about 1854 with an unknown to > me woman. William remarried in 1877 with Caroline Tolley supposedly > born in Corfu, Ionian Islands, Greece. William was also named as > William Merrin Pinner. Any information on William or about gun > finishers would be appreciated. Thanks. > > _____________________________________________ > Tracing Ancestors in Birmingham: > http://www.bham.de/ > > Any problems, please contact the List Admin: ENG-WARKS-BIRMINGHAM-admin@rootsweb.com > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to ENG-WARKS-BIRMINGHAM-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message >