Pistol, flintlock horse pistol

Long-barrelled horse pistols were typically used by cavalrymen. This pistol was made for the Board of Ordnance at the Tower of London. In the Small Gun Office gunmakers were employed as furbishers to repair or assemble firearms from components manufactured in the system of workshops around the Tower. There were two main categories of maker: 'Piecemen' and 'Daymen'. The former were paid for each piece produced, the latter on a daily rate. 'Round Table Men' were elite gunmakers employed on a permanent basis receiving sick pay and pensions.

This pistol is thought to have been used by a member of the notorious Hawkhurst Gang of smugglers. The gang originated in Kent, but its smuggling activities extended as far as Dorset. Two members of the gang, Barnett Woolett and George Kingsmill the brother of the gang's leader Thomas, were 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. This pistol may have been carried by George Kingsmill. Given that the weapon was manufactured for military use, it may have been purchased illegally or stolen from a soldier.

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.