Hotchkiss manufacture

[woodsy]

Gentlemen

I am researching info for an article on the .303 Hotchkiss and was always under the impression that the 35,381 guns supplied during WW1 were made at RSAF Enfield. I asked Ian Skennerton if he had any production info and he stated that, as far as he was aware, they were not made by Enfield but by a contractor. It is known that Britain aquired the manufacturing rights and adopted the gun in 1916. My gun has no specific Enfield mark but does have all of the usual inspectors stamps. The question is, who was the contractor? Any assistance would be appreciated.

[AlanD]

Ian is quite correct instating that the guns were not made by Enfield. The guns were in fact made in Coventry by the French company Societe Hotchkiss.Workers were recruited from the French Army and they along with the machinery were shipped over from France. The Coventry factory made guns for Britain as well as France.
At the end of the war the factory produced a brochure outlining their work in the war with a photo of the factory on the cover.
The building located in Gosford Street Coventry, still exists today and is part of Coventry University. Attached are a couple of photos I took on a visit to the UK a few years ago.The photo on the cover of the brochure is to poor to reproduce well, but matches the building in my photos. I believe the University won a heritage award for a sympathetic conversion of the building - hence the saving of the sign writing.
Note the sign about the correct disposal of tea leaves - no wonder we won the war!

Regards
AlanD
Sydney

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[AlanD]

Second photo.

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[AlanD]

Last photo.

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