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Pre-Land Pattern Bayonet

Dateca. 1715-1725

MediumIron and steel

DimensionsOverall: 22 13/16"; Socket: 3 3/4"; Shank: 2"; Blade: 17 5/16" x 7/8"; Bore: 15/16"

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number2024-176

DescriptionPre-standard form of the "Brown Bess" bayonet, with an open socket cut for a three-step mortice, which meets a very long shank with a rounded "shield." Narrow, hollow triangular blade meets the opposite end of the shank with a prominent semi-circular guard.
Label TextAfter the War of the Spanish Succession (1702-1713), Britian began moving towards the standardization of the arms the British soldier went into battle with. While flintlock muskets had recently replaced the obsolete matchlock, socket bayonets were still a novelty.

By about 1720, a triangular bayonet with a nominally 17" blade and 4" socket won out as the best design. These early versions of the "Brown Bess" bayonet led to the first standard issue socket bayonet of the British Army, the "Pattern 1727."

This very rare weapon perfectly spans the gap between those used during the tail end of Queen Anne's reign and the Board of Ordnance's adoption of the Pattern 1727. Its idiosyncratically early features include a socket made without a reinforcing ring at its rear, a broad "shield" where the shank joins the front edge of the socket, and a high guard at the base of the concave-sided triangular blade. The forge weld on the shank is either a feature of its original manufacture or a contemporary repair.
InscribedSocket engraved "1 C" and "18." Two ticks are filed into the back edge of the socket, and another is filed into the left side of the shank.
Provenance[Antony Cribb, Ltd, Summer Virtual Fine Antique Arms & Armour Auction, July 2, 2024, Lot 593]; 2024-present, The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation (Williamsburg, VA)