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Adkin and Sons - Gunsmiths
11 and then 57 High Street

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57 High Street, Bedford 1821:Henry Adkin was born on the 29^th May in Bungay, Suffolk, his father was a gunsmith. As a youth he went to work for Mr. Piper who was a gunsmith in Cambridge.

1844: Henry moved to Bedford and took over the business of Mr Rosier a gunsmith whose shop was at 1 Offa Street, now Tavistock Street, opposite The Flower Pot public house.

1850: Henry married Ellen Carter whose father Charles Carter was a prominent local politician. While living in Offa Street their first child Ellen was born. They had one servant William Bowel who like Henry was also born in Bungay. Shortly afterwards he moved to premises in St. Marys and there he built a rifle range at the back of his shop. According to The Bedfordshire Times, it became the resort of many of the gentry of the neighbourhood. Among those who went there to practise was Colonel Burnaby, cavalry officer, traveller and balloonist who was killed at Abu Klea in 1885 while serving with the relief expedition to save General Gordon at Khartoum.

1861c: By 1861 he had moved his shop to 11 High Street and at this address his staff consisted of one workman and two apprentices while also employing two servants. While living here his sons Henry, William, Alfred and daughters Catherine, Gertrude and Alice were born. By 1871 his workforce had increased to two men and three apprentices.

1872: He moved his shop to 57 High Street, which had been a butchers shop owned by George Jones. He pulled the building down and built his new shop with a workshop at the rear. The architect was John Usher and the design was in the Venetian Gothic style with two guns dogs and HA initials carved in stone on the facia of the building. Exeter sculptor Harry Hems modelled the gun dogs.

1876-1880c: For a short period Henry Adkin had a shop at 3 Wentworth Street, Peterborough.

1890: His two sons Henry Charles and William Frederick joined the firm and the shop was renamed Adkin and Sons. Shortly afterwards a workshop was established in Castle Road which closed in the early 1900s. The manufacture of guns and pistols ceased 1900c but sporting guns were made until 1939.

1893: Mrs Ellen Adkin died aged 68.

1914: Henry Adkin, the founder of the firm died aged 93.

1915: William Henry Adkin, Williams son joined the firm on leaving school.

1923: Henry Charles Adkin, son of the founder Henry Adkin died aged 68.

1932: Mrs Annie Elizabeth Adkin wife of William Frederick Adkin died in November at their home at 179 Hurst Grove, Bedford. The couple had two sons William Henry and Robert Checkley and two daughters Doris Caroline and Vera Gertrude. Annie was the only child of Mr. and Mrs William Fisher Checkley and was born at Moulton, Northamptonshire.

1935: William Frederick Adkin, son of the founder Henry Adkin died on the 4^th June at his home, 179 Hurst Grove aged 78. He was born in 1857 and educated at Bedford Modern School. He married Annie Elizabeth Checkley of Moulton, Northamptonshire and their two sons William Henry and Robert Checkley joined him in the family business. When a young man he was an accomplished skater and rower.

1939: Robert Checkley died on the 20th December aged 37 years at his home, 34 Putnoe Lane, Bedford leaving his widow Vera and a son, Mark, three years old. A keen sportsman he played rugby for the East Midlands and Bedford Athletic. He was also a member of Bedford Rowing Club and rowed for the club at Henley Regatta for many years and took part in the Thames Head of the River Race on three occasions.

1952: William Henry Adkin, grandson of the founder and sole surviving business member of the family died on 27^th December at 179 Hurst Grove, Bedford aged 53. William, a bachelor, had served during the First World War with the Royal Artillery in France and Germany. A keen sportsman he captained the Bedford Thursday Hockey Club during the 1920s and he was a member of the Riverside Lawn Tennis Club.

1953: The premises at 57 High Street were sold at auction for 18,000. The business continued under the same name in the new premises at 61 Midland Road. The shop at 57 High Street became Dunn & Co.

1967c: The business moved to new premises at 25 Greyfriars, Bedford.

1993: The two gun dogs, which appeared above the shop at 57 High Street, had been stolen some years ago only to be recently found in Castle Lane Car Park. Bedford Borough Council restored them at a cost of 8,000 and the two stone dogs were put back in their original place above the shop at 57 High Street on the restored gable.

2000c: The firm finally closed.

Information from Barry Stephenson 2011