What was a "gun polisher"?

Question

In researching the family tree I came across someone whose profession was a "gun polisher" working in London in the early/mid nineteenth century having moved down from Birmingham.

What was a gun polisher ?

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls - I don't think it's as straightforward as you might think. Why, for example, would someone be employed to polish a gun (if that is what the job was) - were they that obsessed with cleanliness and tidiness in the nineteenth century ?

I think it's something to do with the manufacturing process - a gun smith suggested it might be to do with carving the barrel and stocks. However, does anybody know ?

London and Birmingham were centres of gun manufacture at the time again suggesting this isn't just about making the landed gentry's shotguns shiny.

Answer 1

London and Birmingham were rightly proud of their gun making heritage and took a great deal of pride in their work. Furthermore the making of arms was a very skilled job carried out by several different trades. When the raw metal for gun barrels came from the foundry it was a very rough casting and had to be fettled or polished. All the foundry marks had to be taken out without weakening the barrel. This was a highly skilled job. Often after the barrel was polished, it was then engraved with very intricate designs. Other parts of the gun, such as the trigger mechanism were also polished and continually checked with lamp black to get a perfect fit. All of this added to the quality and subsequently the price of that particular gun. The wooden parts of the gun were similarly treated.
How do I know all this? My Grandad worked at the Birmingham Proof House.

Answer 2

An interesting question so I did a bit of looking around.

I found quite a few references to people employed as gun polishes mostly in London and Birmingham, these may well be connected to your ancestors.

It seems a gun polisher was indeed a person employed to polish guns but it seems strange that the people were Birmingham and London based. I could understand it if it was in Scotland or the North of England where the landed gentry held large estates and employed people with very specific jobs such as polishing the brass, cleaning shoes, buffing swords etc. There were many rich people in London but not much in the way of shooting estates. So it seems to be the correct occupation but in the wrong place. One possibility is that they were tinkers or gypsies (the traditional type) who travelled bringing their trade to where it was needed often looking for seasonal work such as sharpening the farm implements and harvesting; although I don't think they would have described their profession as 'gun polisher'.

I did also come across reference to a gun polisher as being a more skilled occupation, someone who worked alongside the gunsmith and 'prepared' guns, whatever that means. If there were gun makers in London and Birmingham this could be what your ancestor was employed as.

Maybe of some of this ties in with other details you have it might make more sense. Sorry I couldn't give you a more precise answer.

Answer 3

What it says I fear (!!!). Guns after all do need to be polished to be kept in tip-top condition. It is probably a step down from a proper gunsmith, and he'd have worked as a junior or apprentice to him rather than being in business for himself, in which case I suspect 'jack of all trades' would probably be more apt, but 'gun polisher' was just put on the census form as it sounded more grand than 'gunmakers assistant'. That's my theory anyway!

Answer 4

I'll take a stab in the dark and say they polished guns!

Answer 5

One who polished guns. I also suspect that along with polishing them, his responsibilities may have included keeping them well oiled for optimum performance.

Answer 6

erm, no. i will resist stating the obvious but i bet a few will.