Wow!! I don't know what to say! After several months trying to trace Mr H O Ritchie and coming up with snippets of information that I wasn't sure were related, it wasn't until this Thursday, when I visited Rigby that I finally got an address. You have just tied everything together in one hit Sandra. I Cannot thank you and everyone else enough!
Interestingly the rifle was send back to London at the beginning of the first world war for military conversion ( most likely for early sniper use). The Rigby historians are looking into who sent it and hopefully with this new information I can fill in the gaps. I Apologies for not posting pictures of the relevant documents but my photos are too high a resolution to post.
Very many thanks again!
Yours sincerely
William SG