Pistol, travelling pistol

This flintlock travelling pistol features a cannon-shaped barrel which could be unscrewed for ease of loading. This type of pistol with its silver mounts, including the grotesque on the butt cap, is characteristic of this period of Georgian pistol making.

The maker, Richard Wilson, was a highly successful London gunsmith, who became Master of the Gunmakers' Company in 1741. Wilson was apprenticed to his uncle Thomas Green and took over the business upon the death of Thomas's widow Agnes in 1730. His workshop was located in the Minories near the Tower of London. Wilson manufactured guns for the Board of Ordnance which supplied the British armed forces. He was also a contractor to the East India, Hudson Bay and Royal African companies.