Images(8)

Pattern 1756 Land Service Musket

Date1756

Maker Board of Ordnance

OriginEngland, Birmingham and London

MediumWalnut, iron, steel and brass

DimensionsOL: 62" Barrel: 46 3/16" x .76 caliber

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1954-94,A&B

DescriptionPattern 1756 Long Land Pattern musket of standard form, with walnut stock, round barrel, rounded brass mounts and straight-bottomed Pattern 1755 double-bridled lock. Other Pattern 1756 features include a cast-brass nosecap, a steel rammer and a long trumpet-mouthed top rammer pipe.
Label TextAlthough "Brown Besses" of many earlier patterns saw service in the Revolutionary War, it is the Pattern 1756 that was the primary firearm of the British Army during the early years of the conflict. Consider that there were some 8000 British soldiers serving in North America between Florida and the Canadian Maritimes during the spring of 1775, about 3500 of which were stationed around Boston. It can therefore be assumed that a similar number of muskets were on hand, the vast majority of which would have been Pattern 1756s. Many of these received regimental markings, like this example issued to the famed 23rd Regiment, Royal Welsh Fusiliers. Others, marked to units like the 4th “King’s Own,” 10th, 15th, 21st “Royal North British Fusiliers,” 31st and 43rd Regiments, saw extensive service here during the Revolution, and for years afterwards in the hands of later American owners.
MarkingsLock engraved with "Crown GR" ahead of cock and "GRICE / 1756" in two lines behind, and a "Crowned Broad Arrow" is struck under the pan. Barrel is struck with the usual Ordnance View & Proof marks, in addition to the maker's mark "FG." Barrel is also engraved with the Prince of Wales' coronet and three feathers over a ribbon inscribed "ICH DIEN," all over "R-23." The wristplate is engraved "5 / 73."
ProvenanceFrom the Adair family of Flixton Hall, Suffolk, via W. Keith Neal.

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