THORESBY VOLUNTEERS Antique KNUBLEY India Pattern FLINTLOCK Musket BAYONET Late 1700s / NAPOLEONIC WARS Era Musket

Product Description

THORESBY VOLUNTEERS Antique KNUBLEY India Pattern FLINTLOCK Musket BAYONET

Late 1700s / NAPOLEONIC WARS Era Musket

Here we present an antique Thoresby Volunteers Flintlock Musket made by John Knubley in London, England circa the mid-1790s. John Knubley began his career as a gunmaker in the county of Yorkshire in the 1760s before moving his business to London where he is recorded at two addresses on Charing Cross between 1786 and 1794. He became gunmaker to the Prince of Wales, the Duke of Clarence and Prince Edward, and was a contractor to Ordnance between 1790 and 1794. Upon his death in 1795 his business was taken over by Samuel Brunn and continued trading as Knubley & Co. or Knubley & Brunn until 1797.

The Thoresby Volunteers were raised circa 1802-03 and was commanded by Charles Herbert Pierrepont, a man of immense wealth and great influence in the locality, and who was 2nd Earl Manvers of Thoresby Hall in Nottinghamshire. The unit was raised not only to counteract any threat of invasion, but also to protect the Pierrepont estate against aggression and looting resulting from civil disturbances prevailing at the time. They were also a militia unit during the Napoleonic Wars and were deployed in the Nottingham Lace Riots in the early 1800s.

The India Pattern musket, nicknamed the “Brown Bess”, was the standard weapon for ordinary soldiers in the British infantry. It is called the India Pattern because it was originally designed to arm the private army of the Honorable East India Company, which governed India until the Mutiny of 1857. It was very similar in form to an earlier type of musket known as the Short Land Pattern, which was introduced in the early 1740s for cavalry soldiers known as “dragoons”.

This pattern of Brown Bess is the same that fought Napoleon Bonaparte in numerous iconic battles, as well as the United States and their American Indian Allies during the War of 1812. This pattern may also correctly be called the “India Pattern” since the Honorable East India Company was the entity responsible for this update to the gun that had been around since 1722. When war with France loomed on the horizon, the British Board of Ordnance diverted these muskets from the EIC contract to supply the war effort. The success of this model can be gauged by the fact that between 1793 and 1815, nearly 3,000,000 guns were produced. Although the Birmingham gun trade was responsible for the majority of the production, the London gun trade played a part, through gun makers such as Ezekial Baker, William Parker, Thomas Reynolds, and Durs Egg. According to the London proof-house records, they and others in London were responsible for producing 845,477 muskets.

The overall condition is near fine. Original finish. The action is excellent. The bore is smooth and patinated. The stock shows use and remains solid throughout with a small repair around the fore end cap. The lock plate is marked “KNUBLEY” and the thumb plate bears the rampant lion flanked by two wings with a crown overhead which is the crest of the Charles Herbert Pierrepont family. Birmingham proofed and London marked barrel. The tang of the butt plate, the trigger guard, the lock screws on the left and the ramrod are all numbered 33.

Own the original! This is a legitimate antique and not a reproduction.

Barrel is 39 inches.

Caliber: .75 Flintlock

Overall condition as seen in photos.

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$4000
#240135