Inside view of a lock of a musket from the Town Guard

Category

Museums & Galleries Item

Item no

41058

Title

Inside view of a lock of a 1730 musket belonging to the Edinburgh Town Guard

Description

The inside view of a lock removed from a 1730 Long Land type of musket belonging to the Edinburgh Town Guard. The main components of the inside of the lock are the two springs on either end (one activated by the trigger to fire the cock forward, and the other spring, almost the entire length of the inside of the lock to keep it held in place inside the wooden stock). To the right is firing mechanism consisting of a metal "tumbler" catch set behind a banana shaped flat plate. Inside the lock plate are three stamps; the initials "EI" inside a rectangular (Edward Jordan, the Birmingham-based lock maker who made the lock), a letter S with a crown, and a double stamped crowned "21". Protruding from behind the lock, on the outside, are the moving cock with jaws used to hold a flint in place, and the slilghtly curved striking platform (the "frizzen") against which the flint strikes to create a spark. Between the cock and frizzen is the hollowed out pan where the priming shot powder is placed. Once ignited by the spark, the priming powder then ignites the powder inside the barrel and fires the gun.

Date

1745

Size

157 x 13 cm

Type

Metal; Wood

Location

Museum of Edinburgh

Accession number

HH50/01/1901

This lock is from 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 King's 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).

The various components of muskets were made by different specialists, and assembled by either the gunsmiths who made the lock, or from components sent separately to the Tower for assembly. This musket has the name Elias Cole and the date 1730 on the outside of the lock, but the initials of the successful gunsmith Edward Jordan on the inside, suggesting that the lock was made by Jordan but the musket assembled by Cole. The King's Ordnance marks on the outside of the lock (a GR monogram surmounted by a crown and a crowned arrow) and on the barrel indicate the musket was approved for official military use by the Army.

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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