Editing Birmingham Small Arms Company (section)

===Machine-made guns===
BSA began in June 1861 in the [[Gun Quarter]], [[Birmingham]], England. It was formed by a group of fourteen gunsmith members of the Birmingham Small Arms Trade Association specifically to manufacture guns by machinery.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://magazine.cycleworld.com/article/1965/03/01/history-of-the-marque---bsa |title=History of the Marque - BSA |work=Cycle World |access-date=2025-05-11 |last1=Wood |first1=Geoffrey |date=March 1, 1965}}</ref> They were encouraged to do this by the [[War Office]] which gave the BSA gunsmiths free access to technical drawings and to the War Office's [[Board of Ordnance]]'s [[Royal Small Arms Factory]] at [[Enfield Town|Enfield]]. New machinery developed in the USA installed at Enfield had greatly increased its output without needing more skilled craftsmen.<ref>Taylerson, A. W. F. (1983). pages 469–472. in Pollard, Hugh B. C. and Blair, Claude (eds.). ''Pollard's History of Firearms''. Feltham, Middlesex: Country Life Books. {{ISBN|0-600-33154-7}}</ref> This new machinery brought to Birmingham the principle of the [[Interchangeable parts|interchangeability of parts]] and [[mass production]].<ref name=WBSVCH>W.B. Stephens (Editor), ''A History of the County of Warwick: Volume 7: The City of Birmingham''. Victoria County History, 1964</ref>
[[File:Gevär - Livrustkammaren - 96933.tif|thumb|BSA rifle dated between 1860 and 1870]]
BSA bought {{convert|25|acre}} of land at [[Small Heath, Birmingham]], built a factory there and made a road on the site calling it Armoury Road.<ref name="Ward">{{cite book|last1=Ward|first1=Donovan M.|title=The Other Battle, Being a History of the Birmingham Small Arms Co. Ltd. with Special Reference to the War Achievements of B.S.A. Guns Ltd., B.S.A. Cycles Ltd., and the Other Subsidiary Companies Directly Administered from the Head Office of the Parent Company at Small Heath Birmingham|date=1946|page=13|oclc=11840369}}</ref> Their enterprise was rewarded in 1863 with an order for 20,000 Turkish infantry rifles.<ref name="Ward"/>

The system of management of BSA was changed in 1863 when shareholders elected a Board of Directors: Joseph Wilson, Samuel Buckley, Isaac Hollis, Charles Playfair, Charles Pryse, Birmingham mayor Sir John Ratcliffe (c.1798-1864), Edward Gem, and J.F. Swinburn under the chairmanship of [[John Dent Goodman]] (1816–1900).<ref name="Ryerson Barry 1980">Ryerson, Barry (1980). ''The Giants of Small Heath: The History of BSA''. [Sparkford: Haynes]. {{ISBN|0-85429-255-1}}</ref>

====Erratic demand====
The first War Office contract was not agreed until 1868. In 1879, without work, the factory was shut for a year.<ref name="Davenport-Hines, R. P. T. 2002 p. 48">Davenport-Hines, R. P. T. (2002). ''Dudley Docker: The Life and Times of a Trade Warrior''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 48. {{ISBN|0-521-89400-X}}</ref>