William Westley Richards’ chief ally and London agent was William Bishop (1797-1871), a London jeweller, memorably described as a “rough cut gem from Ealing”. He became a renowned Regency sporting character who knew everyone in the haut monde. George Teasdale-Buckell wrote in his 1900 book Experts on Guns and Shooting: “It is unquestionable that Westley Richards’ guns owe much of their success to the personal skill and management of Westley Richards’ famous lieutenant, Wm. Bishop; under whose regime the house in Bond Street became quite an Institution.” The New Bond Street shop, where Mr Bishop was based when he took on the agency around 1815, and which later became a dedicated Westley Richards & Co. shop, was at No. 170. Here the showroom remained (although renumbered No. 178 in 1878) until 1917 when it moved to Conduit Street.1

I am very grateful to Richard Kilby for sharing the photograph of William Bishop which appears at the top of this post. It is the only known photograph of the Bishop and one which evidently the portrait above was painted from