Pistol, flintlock coach pistol

Brass-barrelled flintlock pistols of this type were often used by guards protecting coaches from highwaymen. The brass barrels had the advantage that they would not rust in the rain. This one also has a brass butt cap engraved with a decorative shell motif and an ornamental dragon design on one side. The pistol's maker, Joseph Buckmaster, was a supplier to both the Hudson Bay Company and the Board of Ordnance. He was twice elected Master of the London Gunmakers' Company, in 1746 and 1757. After his death in 1764, his wife Mary continued to run their family business until 1790. Although few women entered the gunmaking trade independently it was common for widows to carry on their husbands' businesses in this period.

This particular pistol is thought to have been one of two used by Barnett Woolett, a member of the notorious Hawkhurst Gang of smugglers. The gang originated in Kent, but its smuggling activities extended as far as Dorset. Woolett, along with George Kingsmill, the brother of the gang's leader Thomas, was fatally shot during a pitched battle with the local militia at Goudhurst in 1747. According to an account published in the Maidstone Journal in 1847, Woolett was shot from the church tower whilst attempting to leap the churchyard fence on his horse. After the defeat at Goudhurst, the gang went on to raid the Customs House at Poole where they stole over five hundred pounds' worth of contraband tea which had been seized by customs officials on its way from France.

The Hawkhurst gang was eventually hunted down by the authorities. One of its leaders, Arthur Gray, was hanged at Tyburn in 1748. Thomas Kingsmill and another member William Fairall were tried at the Old Bailey and hanged at Tyburn the following year. Kingsmill's body was hung in chains in a gibbet at Goudhurst.

This pistol along with two others, was kept by Jarvis Lambert, a member of the Goudhurst militia, and later sold at auction by his grandson. The pistols were donated to the London Museum in 1934.