The Hodges family in the early 19th century were living and working as leather dressers in Bermondsey, Surrey.

After Ebenezer Hodges first decided to go into gunmaking around 1839, nine further Hodges boys followed his example, (marked with blue boxes below) but after 125 years the family tradition passed into history with the retirement of the last Arthur (there had been two others) in December 1964, and because of the widespread belief that the once dominant British gunmaking industry was dying.

Although EC Hodges, Lionel and Arthur could and did produce complete guns and ran their own successful companies, they achieved this success after many years of producing high quality actioning, stocking and finishing work for the best London gunmakers as outworkers.

No Hodges apprenticeship records, personal diaries or gunmaking ledgers seem to have survived so the information here has been gleaned from genealogical and family records, with the generous help of leading gun authors, other gunmaking company records and vintage gun enthusiasts.

The Hodges gunmakers were some of the many thousands of outworkers whose work was normally uncredited by the famous companies who outsourced to them. The family achieved higher recognition than most outworkers because of their pioneering vision, the high quality of their work, their six patents, and their success in three instances in becoming leading figures in the London gun trade. This site is dedicated to their skill and industry and to all the uncredited gunmakers of Britain who were not so lucky.

 
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