1730 Musket Belonging to the Edinburgh Town Guard

Category

Museums & Galleries Item

Item no

41055

Title

1730 musket belonging to the Edinburgh Town Guard with carved initials

Description

A view of the near end of a 1730 Long Land type of musket used by the Edinburgh Town Guard from the 1740s to its dissolution in 1817, showing the firing mechanism (the "lock"), trigger, the near end of the barrel and the wooden part which would have been propped against the shoulder to steady the musket during firing (the "stock"). The lock is complete with all its components, and shows the engraved symbols indicating it is an official military weapon made by the British Army (or the King's Ordnance, based at the Tower of London). On the stock is crudely engraved the initials IF.

Date

1745

Size

157 x 13 cm

Type

Metal; Wood

Location

Museum of Edinburgh

Accession number

HH50/01/1901

This musket is one of a set of 39 muskets which the Town Guard of Edinburgh acquired in 1744-1745. They were assembled at the Tower of London, the headquarters of the Board of Ordnance which provided all the artillery for the British Army. Documentary evidence strongly supports the theory that the muskets were sent to Edinburgh as part of a shipment of 5000 small arms to various cities in Scotland in 1744-1745 to help defend them from the anticipated Jacobite rebellion led by Charles Edward Stuart (known as Bonnie Prince Charlie).

It is believed that the muskets were either sent to Edinburgh Castle where they remained until after the Rebellion had been suppressed following the Battle of Culloden, or that they had been supplied to the Town Guard before the occupation of Edinburgh by the rebel army. By 1747, the Town Guard were in possession of these 39 muskets to replace a set of older firelock muskets. The guns remained in the Guard's care until November 1817 when the Guard was disbanded and their equipment, arms and uniforms deposited at the City Chambers.

Most muskets of this type were lost in battle, where they were fired once or twice before being abandoned on the battlefield. Because the Town Guard muskets did not see much (or any) action in battle, they are astonishingly well preserved, and may be the largest collection of early standard issue firearms in the world.

While none of the locks show any evidence of regular firing, the brass strip protecting the butt (the part which rested against the shoulder, or on the floor when carried) is often worn down to the wood. This is evidence of many hours of drill and parading on Edinburgh's hard cobbles. Indeed in the 1780s the Guard was complemented on their organised marching formations, but also their target practice which they carried out on Calton Hill.

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