Eley Cartridges
Certain names such as Rolls Royce, Cadbury's, Holland & Holland can be regarded as iconic in that their users regard them as companies of long standing who produce related goods at the top end of the quality scale. That list includes the name of Eley.
In today's age the Eley name is linked to.22" rim-fire sporting rifle and target ammunition produced by Eley Ltd. whilst Eley Hawk is the name used by a separate company who produce sporting and target shotgun ammunition.
If however you were to ask an English person some two hundred years ago if the name Eley meant anything to them you would have received a totally different response. They would have told you that Eley were famous London silver manufacturers. So unlike many other current iconic names, the name Eley stretches back much further than the vast majority of those found on today's list of famous names.
If you hold an interest in former silver and ammunition manufacturers you may have noticed that the name Eley occurs in both these trades. In fact the originating family moved from silverware production after the peak demand for it terminated as the vast majority of upper and middle class families had acquired their needed silver houseware items, resulting in the Eley family turning their manufacturing abilities to ammunition production. Like most of these famous names the original family are no longer involved in either business but famous trade names play a very important role in marketing and the name Eley is no exception and has lived on long after all family ties were broken. More...
