Golcher Locksmiths

[Bill-52]

Can anyone direct me to a source (or sources) for information on the Golcher locksmiths?  I'm looking for general information -- who, what, when & where.  My meager longrifle library has only a few sentences.

I thought I had a good source here -- the ALR Library & Museum reference index has a Golcher family locksmiths listing.  Unfortunately, when I try to access it I get an error message -- "The topic or board you are looking for appears to be either missing or off limits to you."

Many thanks,
Bill

[Dennis Glazener]

Bill,
Evidently that post was removed by someone, probably the person that placed it. Sorry but I don't have access to it.
Dennis

[JV Puleo]

Take a look at Bailey & Nie's "English Provincial Gunmakers" for an extensive listing of this family. The Golcher/Goulcher family were Black country lockmakers who were known to specialize in the American market. Whether they actually made locks in America or imported them or perhaps brought them in unfinished and finished them here is still a matter of conjecture. They probably said they made them here, but that proves nothing. There were no "truth in advertising" laws in the 19th century. They definitely dominated the lock business after the Ketlands were out of business. I've never seen an undeniably flint Golcher lock, converted or otherwise so I would guess that they appeared on the American market around 1830.

[Bill-52]

Thanks, JV.  Exactly what I was looking for.  Bill

[JV Puleo]

Correction to my previous post. One of our members kindly emailed me a picture of a Golcher flint lock... very late with a double throat cock and rounded tail to the lockplate but a flint lock nevertheless. I still suspect they appear on the scene around 1830 but its clear that they provided both types of lock early on.

JVP

[JV Puleo]

That is great information and I'm glad to have it. Especially the part about the purchase of raw materials... that says more about true manufacturing than all of the period newspaper advertisements which often have to be taken with a grain of salt.

It looks to me as if we have a family that, once a few members had settled in the US, saw and took advantage of the American market. The whole story fits both the known patterns of immigration and the business methods of the time. I have wondered if the Goulchers were the American lock makers that John Dent Goodman refers to in his Parliamentary testimony in 1853. Goodman was in Philadelphia in 1852 and relates a story of meeting an "American" lock maker who turned out to be English... a lock finisher by trade who was importing unfinished locks and finishing them in America. He even adds that the unfinished locks were coming from the same source as the finished locks Goodman was selling. The two pieces of primary documentation are not in absolute agreement... evidence suggesting the Goulchers were making locks and Goodman testifying that no locks were actually being made in America but, as no names are mentioned, there is no guarantee that either knew all that much about the other or that they had met... in a sense both may have been right - that the Goulchers were making locks but that the vast majority of the locks being used were imported.

[Bill-52]

This IS great information & background.  It certainly helps me better understand the Golcher family, their business practices and lock industry at the time.

Thank you both.

Bill

[JV Puleo]

Actually, if James Goulcher's 10 year old daughter was born in England, and his 8 year old son was born in the US... and its the 1850 census, he emigrated sometime around 1840-41, corresponding to his renting the shop mentioned above. This suggests that any Goulcher locks sold here earlier were not sold by him. It rather looks as if actual manufacturing started in the middle to late 1840s, which makes a good deal of sense. By then the Ketlands, who had completely dominated the market, were long gone... the last Ketland firm, W. Ketland & Co., went out of business around 1831. The other firm, T. Ketland & Co., was bankrupt in 1821. This would have opened an opportunity for the Goulchers, who were neighbors of the Ketlands, and may already have had relatives in the US, thus being in an excellent position to step in.

All of this means that lock making for the civilian trade was essentially an English monoply, whether done in the Black Country or in Philadelphia, until the technological advances of the Civil War rocketed American manufacturing forward... but by then the emphasis was on breech loaders and other new designs. I think it unlikely that the British ever lost their dominance of the market as long as muzzleloaders were used.

Also, thus far I don't know that anyone has made a connection, other than the name, between the Revolutionary War era Goulcher and the later lock/gunmakers. It is an unusual name and it is certainly reasonable to suspect there was a family connection. However, the earliest date recorded by Bailey & Nie for a Goulcher provincial lock maker is 1827 so it is quite possible this is pure coincidence and that they are unrelated. The Goulchers/Golchers (both spellings were used) are really prominent in the British trade in the 2nd half of the 19th century, at exactly the same time they appear in America.

There are also Belgian-made locks with American names on them - there are some in the Liege Museum and they are mentioned in Claude Gaier's "Four Centuries of Liege Gunmaking" so there may even be Belgian-made "fake" Goulchers just as there were Belgian-made "fake" Ketland locks and guns. As soon as their name became well known, they became a target for this type of copying. I once had a brand new, unused early percussion lock - unfortunately I can't remember the name on it but I think it may have been Golcher. (Another thing I should have kept!)

[Bill-52]

The few Golcher locks I've seen are marked Joseph or Jos. Golcher, brother of James.  Its not clear in Sellers' American Gunsmiths or Gluckman & Satterlee's American Gun Makers if Joseph was an older or younger brother.  Or if Joseph emigrated to America before, after or with James.

Bill

[JV Puleo]

Do we know that Joseph was James' brother or that he emigrated? There is a Joseph Golcher listed in Bailey & Nie as a gun lock maker in Darlston, Staffordshire (one of the most famous gun lock towns) who shows up in the directories from 1834 to 1879. The best thing about the Bailey & Nie book is that they flatly refused to use anything except primary sources... their dates are not based on looking at the guns or on previously published lists - only the published contemporary directories. This approach has its limitations but it is much more reliable than guessing from the products.

I wouldn't put too much faith in most of the published sources, especially the older ones...they all copied each other to some extent and many of the "facts" associated with the names date back to long before anyone did any real research. It may be (in fact almost certainly was) simply presumed that if a gun was American the lock was American made. Without a primary source that puts him here, I'd suspect he never left the Black Country.

[Curt J]

I'd like to direct your attention to the "GOLCHER & SIMPSON" rifle in the ALR Library. This one was made in St. Paul, Minnesota, and is so marked on both barrel and lock.  Golcher locks are quite common on Midwestern guns, with Joseph being the most common.

[realtorone]

I have a J.Ford with a Flint lock marked JAS Golcher Then a second line WARRENTED.
It has an engraved  Double throat-ed hammer(Same type of engraving as on the plate) The rear of the plate is a small teat and is a step down plate in thickness.I would date the gun in the 1820s or 30s
George Hebling

[Joanne]

There was an Em'l Goulcher listed as a Gun Maker in Chester County, PA, in 1830.  He is in Margaret Berwind Shiffer's Arts and Crafts of Chester County, Pennsylvania book, in a very small section titled "Gunsmiths".  I don't know what Em'l is an abreviation for, but would guess Emanuel.  His ad says "Gun-making and repairing, in all its branches...guns percussioned in the best possible manner....he goes on to say he has "for sale-double and single guns, shot belts, powder flasks, powder horns, game bags, wad cutters, bullet moulds and percussion caps-shot and posder of the best quality". 

[ptk1126]

In the June 1966 Muzzleblasts, Don Leech posted a brief history of the Golchers in which he stated JAMES, brother of JOSEPH (who remained in England and died before 1800), came to America about 1755 and established his shop in Philadelphia prior to the Revolution, and died about 1805.
   "Among his early rifles was one made for George Washington, which is
    now at Valley Forge".

EMANUEL, son of James took over the shop and seemed to engage mostly in boring rifle barrels for other gunsmiths.

JAMES II and WILLIAM, sons of Emanuel, had a shop from 1860 to about 1890. James was killed in 1880 by a bursting gun barrel. William later was a foreman or superintendent of a gun shop at the Navy Yard in Philadelphia and died about 1915.

Leech also notes that "Geo. Goulcher was an infringement on the Golcher name."


All the best
Paul

[Dphariss]

Correction to my previous post. One of our members kindly emailed me a picture of a Golcher flint lock... very late with a double throat cock and rounded tail to the lockplate but a flint lock nevertheless. I still suspect they appear on the scene around 1830 but its clear that they provided both types of lock early on.

JVP

We need to remember that the Flintlock hung on into the 1840s at least. Perhaps into the 1850s in America.
I would not be the slightest bit surprised to learn that more flintlocks were made in American than Percussions in 1830.
I have photos of what I figure is an Leman (Connestoga Rifle Works) Indian trade rifle in flintlock with the lock marked Leman 1840. The 1834 Stoudenour featured here is a good example.
There are some in the gun world  who seem to think that the flintlock was thrown on the trash pile so to speak with the advent of the wonderful percussion system.
This is not the case. The flintlock is actually a very reliable firearm when properly cared for and properly made. So I can't see people having a good flintlock that has served them well converted to a new and then not all that reliable system.  This was changing rapidly by the mid/late 1830s. But in 1820s percussions were probably not considered all that trustworthy.
Poorly designed conversions, drum and nipple, were not all that reliable and there were corrosion issues as well. Chlorate caps were very damaging to iron and steel. Far more aggressive than BP fouling.
But some people have a very difficult time shooting a flintlock so this would be a reason for them to convert and in England where wingshooting was big the percussion system swept the flintlock away quickly but it hung on in rifles even there according to Nigel George. It is possible that the percussion system, until perfected was not as accurate in rifles do to variations on ignition, cap strength etc.


Dan

[JV Puleo]

I completely agree with Dan on this. I am certain that the flintlock remained in use long after the introduction of percussion. This was probably especially the case in rural and western settlements where the supply of percussion caps was problematical. I see no reason th presume that everyone who used a flint gun, and was comfortable with it, instantly changed. In fact, surviving flint guns may just a likely be the result of satisfied users rather than not having been used at all.

RE the 1966 Muzzle Blasts article - I'd like to know what the original sources were. It may be cynical to say this, but a great deal of "gun scholarship" is very weak when it comes to primary documentation and this tends to be more true the older it is. Much of what was written before 1950 is almost worthless and a lot of what has been produced more recently is based on those early works.