Image and Narrative contributed by Rizvi Amir Abbas Syed.
This picture was taken in the 1960s at “Friends Studio” in sector 5 market, Rourkela.
My father (left) worked for Hindustan Steel Limited which later became SAIL, Steel Authority of India Limited. My grand Father (right) was an Officer in Excise department when Bihar, Bengal & Orissa were in one state called Old Bengal.
My grand father always carried a gun (C.G BONEHILL 12 BORE BRITISH SXS HAMMER GUN). And like some others, he too had a license to carry it anywhere in India, even though licenses were and are given for a particular city/district. He had a stupendous collection of guns, all inherited from his father.
All our guns, however were later taken away by the Jharkhand Police, as licensed guns are by law to be observed under police custody. Having said that, one can always find people roaming around freely with illegal weapons in Palamau District.
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Amir Rizvi
3 Sep 2010Hi Matthew,
Great to see someone from Bonehill family.
My father and grandfather are no more alive. At one point of time our ancestral house (more than 500yrs old) was an armory of that region (Japla, Palamau, Jharkhand, in India).
We had hundreds of weapon and old firearms. There were many muzzle loaded guns too. Unfortunately we could not take care of those treasure and most of it has been stolen by local thieves.
Everyone in my family loves guns, I use to enjoy cleaning the barrels of guns & rifles. Now the government has seized our licensed guns, that region has become very violent and one has to deposit the guns with the local police.
My grandfather was in the excise department during british period and after the independence of india.
I love the feel of the C.G. Bonehill craftsmanship, my grand father’s gun was a masterpiece.
matthew hewitt
26 Aug 2010hello there i have just google’d my grate grate grandfather C.G bonehill and came across the brilliant picture and caption i was wondering wheather you would be able to tell me more about your father and his connections with the bonehill guns
thanks matthew