As someone with an interest in J. R. Gaunt & Son and their history it is great to see the advert pages from The J. R. Gaunt & Son (Canada Co.) Limited catalogue of 1917, so many thanks to Bill for sharing this, and thanks also to Simon for the extracted details from the 1912-13 Montreal Trade Directory, which, again, is really good to see. However I’m afraid that I have to agree with Dave, and neither the pages from the catalogue nor the entries in the trade directory prove that Gaunt actually manufactured items at their Beaver Hall Hill address.
Back in 2009 I posted up some J. R. Gaunt & Son advertisements
here, which were taken from the
Army and Navy Gazette for 1918. These clearly give addresses at Conduit Street in London, but as far as I am aware this was just the Firm’s outlet in the Capital. Similarly, when it comes to trade directories you can find ones that give just a London address for Gaunt, even though this was only their retail premises and the factory was in Birmingham. For example here are the entries for ‘Military & Naval Ornament Manufacturers’ from the ‘London Section’ of
Stubbs’ Directory: Manufacturers, Merchant Shippers, and Professional. British and Foreign for 1919:
More important still, in respect of both the London and Montreal addresses, is a reference I made in another posting back in 2009
here, where I noted a letter that a John Dunnigan had put up on his buttons website (apparently now no longer available), and which he had received from J. R. Gaunt & Son Ltd (by then part of The Birmingham Mint plc) in 1985. The letter set out details of the Company’s history, and crucially had this to say about both their premises in London and Montreal:
I think this would seem pretty conclusive that J. R. Gaunt & Son didn’t manufacture anything in Canada, given it comes almost from the horse’s mouth, as it were.
Best regards
Martin