Stock always on hand of Breech- Loading Double Guns and Double Rifles for Central Fire or Pin Cartridges; Muzzle- Loading Single and Double guns, at all prices from the lowest; Military Rifles of all kinds, Long and Short Enfield, Cavalry and Artillery; Pistols &c.; Breech- Loading Military and Sporting Rifles on 'Snider's,' 'Chassepot's,' "Major Fosbery's,' 'Green's,' and other Patented Systems; Gun Cases and Implements, Portable Leather Cases, Holsters &c. Manufactory 5 to 11 Weaman Row, Birmingham, established 1814.

You can tell a good deal about a business from court records of the time and what activities landed them before a judge. Samuel and Saul Isaac of the commission house of SIC & Co were in court quite often. The assassination attempt on Emperor Napoleon in January 1858 by two Italian revolutionaries (Pierri & Orsini) involved bomb components made in England. The two would be assassins were armed with Adams revolvers made by Hollis & Sheath. France began threatening overtures to invade “Perfidious Albion” in retribution, which directly led to the 2nd formation of the British Volunteers to address the so-called “Crisis of 1858.” Fortunately for militarily disaster-prone French, cooler heads prevailed. At the April 1858 trial of the conspirators, gun maker Isaac Hollis was called to give testimony, which took an amusing turn under cross examination, as follows:

Examined by the Attorney- General—State your name and occupation.

Isaac Hollis —I am a manufacturer of guns and pistols at Birmingham. On the 29th of October last (1857) two persons came to me and purchased two revolvers. I have since seen both those persons in prison at Paris. The Director of the prison, or the Governor, I do not know his name, pointed out two persons to me; they were Pierri and Orsini. They purchased two revolvers, each with five chambers. This is one of them (looking at one produced by Estien), the numbers are 5,609 and 5,561. This is the other (looking at it). Each of them had a case or box with implements complete. Those are the cases (those produced by Estien); the price was 95 (this should probably be shillings) each, including the boxes, all complete. Orsini paid, and we sent them to the hotel in Worcester Street in our town, to Mr. Pierri. Orsini then wore a beard that had disappeared when I saw him in Paris in prison.

(Cross-examined by James)

James – Revolvers lately have come a good deal into use, have they not?

James – Are they used more than other pistols, should you say?

Hollis – I should say so, now much more than ever.

James – They were used, as we know, a good deal in the Russian War; almost every officer in the army is now provided with them. Hollis – I believe they are.

James – How many may you make in the course of a year?

Hollis - I could not tell you, some hundreds.

James – It [the revolver] is an American invention, is it not?

James – I thought they took the credit of it.

Hollis – Not at all, these are Adam's patent.

Isaac Hollis & Sons became volume producers of military guns and inexpensive trade guns, but they also made quality sporting guns for the South African as well as the Asian/Indian markets, the Australian and New Zealand markets, and the domestic English civilian market. In 1861 Isaac Hollis, by now at least 66 years old, patented a trigger guard (No. 1082) and he patented another in 1868 (No. 4922) when he was over 73. Other patents for the firm include Patent No. 386 of 21 Feb.1855, and 3,036 of 22 Dec. 1856, for F. Prince's Percussion Breech-loading arms. This license was taken over by the London Armoury Co. Ltd. in 1861, probably at the time Hollis and Sheath were reorganized into Isaac Hollis and Sons. Isaac Brentnall Sheath was granted British Patent No 996 in April 1853 for a percussion revolver. Isaac Hollis was granted British Patent No. 1083, 1 May 1861 for a Trigger Guard Construction; he also registered Design No. 4922 on May 18, 1868, for a Trigger Guard design; presumably while Isaac Sheath was no longer a named partner after 1861, although he was still affiliated with the firm as late as 1868.

A later court case which caused a lot of comment in the Gun Trade concerned a rival firm charged with conspiracy to defraud J. Hollis & Greener by stamping the firm’s names on sporting guns they sold as genuine articles. Both Greener and Hollis sued and recovered damages.

Craig L. Barry was born in Charlottesville, Va. He holds his BA and Masters degrees from the University of North Carolina The (Charlotte). Craig served Watchdog Civil War Quarterly as Associate Editor and Editor from 2003–2017. The Watchdog published books and columns on 19th-century material and donated all funds from publications to battlefield preservation. He is the author of several books including The Civil War Musket: A Handbook for Historical Accuracy The Unfinished (2006, 2011), Fight: Essays on Confederate Material Culture Vol. I and II (2012, 2013) and three books (soon to be four) in the Suppliers to the Confederacy series on English Arms & Accoutrements, Quartermaster stores and other European imports.