What would you pack for a Victorian adventure? A tent, a medicine chest, a water filter — and, naturally, your own portable bath.
Host: Hazel Baker
Hazel is an active Londoner, a keen theatre-goer and qualified CIGA London tour guide.
She has won awards for tour guiding and is proud to be involved with some great organisations. She is a freeman of the Worshipful Company of Marketors and am an honorary member of The Leaders Council.
Channel 4: The Orient Express: A Golden Era of Travel (Episode 1). Channel 5’s Walking Wartime Britain(Episode 3) and Yesterday Channel’s The Architecture the Railways Built (Series 3, Episode 7). Het Rampjaar 1672, Afl. 2: Vijand Engeland and Arte.fr Invitation au Voyage, À Chelsea, une femme qui trompe énormément. Yesterday Channel / UKTV Play: The Architecture the Railways Built (Series 3, Episode 7). Yesterday Channel / UKTV Play: Secrets of the London Underground (Series 3, Episode 2) and Secrets of the London Underground (Series 4, Episode 10). NPO (Netherlands): Het Rampjaar 1672 – Afl. 2: Vijand Engeland. Arte France: Invitation au Voyage – À Chelsea, une femme qui trompe énormément
Lucas Micallef is a Malta-based firearm collector who is researching and reviving the historic Edward London gunmaking name. Raised in a family of collectors, he combines a lifelong interest in firearms with a passion for craftsmanship and heritage. Through archival research, surviving examples and owners’ family stories, he is piecing together the history of the London Wall business and the people connected to it.
Introduction
Join Hazel Baker for a journey into the shops that equipped Victorian travellers before they ever reached the docks. At S. W. Silver & Co.’s Explorer’s Room on Cornhill, officers, missionaries, emigrants and explorers could find the clothing, equipment and practical comforts they needed for life overseas.
A few streets away, gunmaker Edward London supplied another part of the traveller’s kit. An October 1869 advert uncovered through Hazel’s research connects the two businesses: Edward London’s guns were displayed in the Explorer’s Room at 66–67 Cornhill.
Hazel shares this discovery with guest Lucas Micallef, who is reviving the Edward London name. Together, they discuss the original business at 51 London Wall, the craftsmanship of surviving firearms and the family stories that bring these objects to life.
Along the way, we meet a Hackney minister who took Edward London pistols to Egypt and Palestine, hear about an unusual cane air gun, and explore why an advert for “perfection in central fire breech loaders” promised exciting new technology.
But this is more than a story of ingenious equipment and adventurous journeys. We also consider how Victorian travel, collecting and commerce were bound up with empire — and why the Explorer’s Room sold the equipment of power as well as adventure.
In this episode
S. W. Silver & Co., Cornhill and the outfitting of Victorian travellers.
What Victorian packing lists reveal about comfort, class and life at sea.
Edward London’s gunmaking business on London Wall.
Hazel’s discovery of an 1869 advert linking Edward London with the Explorer’s Room.
Surviving firearms, museum collections and the importance of provenance.
Lucas Micallef’s work to revive a historic London name.
The people behind the objects: travellers, collectors, gamekeepers and their families.
Craftsmanship, changing technology and the wider context of empire.
About our guest
Lucas Micallef is based in Malta and grew up in a family of firearm collectors. He is researching and reviving the Edward London name, bringing together surviving examples, archival records and owners’ stories. He has also been admitted as a freeman of the Worshipful Company of Gunmakers.
Help uncover the next chapter
Do you have an Edward London firearm, case, label, receipt or family story? Hazel and Lucas would love to hear from you. A photograph, a forgotten document or a remembered name could help connect another part of the story.
Explore London with us
Discover the streets where London’s merchants, makers and outfitters traded. Browse our public London guided walks and private tours.
