In Regency England,
gentlemen could settle any disagreement with pistols, and might well be
acquitted by a jury of any murder charge. Duels, and a lady's muff pistol,
became key in my Regency romance, BarelyProper. The dueling information came from research, but the lady's muff
pistol, complete with safety latch to prevent accidental shots, came courtesy
of my uncle who collects flintlocks.
The notion of a duel of honor first appeared in England in
the early 1600's. The duel between Sir George Wharton and Sir James Stewart was
recorded in 1609. Prior to that time, an Englishman could settle slights and
quarrels by hiring a gang of assassins to avenge any slight. Throughout the
1700's duels tended to be fought with swords. This was due, in part, to
technology.
Hand guns date back to the late 1300's in Italy and appeared
in England around 1375. These used gunpowder, a mixture of potassium nitrate,
saltpeter, sulfur and charcoal. It would take another half century, however,
for a mechanical device to appear to actually fire a hand gun.The standard
flintlock gun came then came about in the early 1600's, and by 1690 flintlocks
has become standard issue for the English army.
The flintlock had been developed in France as a more
reliable improvement upon matchlocks and wheel locks. The principal was
simple--a trigger released a lock that held a flint which would then strike a
spark in the priming pan. This pan held a small amount of gunpowder. When
ignited, it then would ignite the main gunpowder charge in the barrel, firing a
lead ball.
In contrast, the match lock had used a
"matchcord," a braided cord of hemp or flax soaked in a saltpeter and
dried. The slow-burning matchcord would then be lit. Pulling the trigger caused
the lit matchcord to be pressed onto the flashpan causing ignition.
The wheel lock improved on the matchlock with a system that
worked rather like a cigarette lighter. Pulling the trigger caused a
rough-edged steel wheel to strike a piece of pyrite held in a metal arm called
a dog head.
Misfires with matchlock and wheel locks had been common. And
the effort to reload consumed time. While flintlocks still loaded the main
gunpowder charge and ball from the front, the only addition work was to then
pour a little gunpowder into the flash pan.
Around the 1750's, the practice of carrying a small sword or
dress sword also died out, and with the advances in gun making, pistols became
the standard for duels. Dueling pistols developed into matched weapons with a nine
or ten inch barrel. Most were smooth bore flintlocks.
However, pistols could be as individual as the maker, or the
owner. Jean-Baptiste Gribeauval made a pistol for Napoleon Bonaparte around
1806 that had a twelve inch long barrel. And a set of dueling pistols made
around 1815 by W. A Jones and given to Duke of Wellington by the East India
Company boasted saw-handled butts, which made it easier to steady the pistols,
as well as "figured half stocks, checkered grips, engraved silver and blued
steel furnishings."
By the mid-1700's London was well-known for its excellent
gunsmiths. George Washington patronized a London gunsmith named Hawkins. As
with many of the pistols from this era it offers silver decoration.
In the late 1700's, and during the Regency, Joseph Manton
became one of the best and most fashionable gunmakers. Manton's shooting
gallery on Davis Street was where a gentleman went to practice before he might
use one of Manton's pistols in a duel. And an apprentice of Manton's left in
1814 to strike out on his own with a business in Oxford Street. James Purdey's
company is still renown for its shotguns.
Part of Manton's success came from his first patent, taken
out in 1777. Manton went on to open his shop in 1793 and was soon known for
shotguns and pistols. His fame came from guns that "were light, trim, well
balanced, fast handling, and impeccably fit and finished. Stocks were slender
and of fine English walnut with a hand rubbed oil finish."
In the early 1800's, a new development came along when a
Scotsman named Forsyth patented the percussion lock. This did away with the
flashpan and flint. Instead, an explosive cap was used, so that when the cap
was struck by the pistol's hammer, the flames from the exploding fulminate of mercury
in the cap move into the gun barrel and ignite the main charge of powder.
With the advent of the percussion cap, guns with revolving
chambers became reliable weapons. The revolving principle for a gun had been
around for as long as the invention itself. "...There were repeating
matchlocks as early as 1550, some capable of firing as many as eight shots with
multiple barrels, each fired by a separate flash pan and operated by a sliding
trigger mechanism....Both French and Italian gun makers as early as 1650 had
developed magazine-fed muskets."
The "pepperbox pistol" had between two to six
barrels that revolved upon a central axis. Examples of such pistols that still
exist include a double-barreled turn-over flintlock pistol, a six-shot
flintlock had been made in France in the late 1700's, a three-shot Venetian
pepperbox dates back to the mid 1500's, and Twigg of London had even made a
7-barrel flintlock pepperbox in 1790. A three- barrel design made by Lorenzo
some time in the 1680's exists that carries the Medici Arms upon it.
However, the pepperbox pistol was notorious for the
mechanism jamming. Or worse, all the charges in the barrels might be ignited at
once time by a flint strike, resulting in the entire pistol discharging at
once--or blowing up in your hand. The first accurate chambered weapons date
from the latter part of the Regency, around 1810 to 1820.
Multiple shot pistols, however, were not allowed in any
duel.
The elegant matched sets of pistols manufactured for a
gentleman might boast silver filigree or gold inlay. Their balance was
paramount, for a pistol that could not be easily held up at arm's length might
mean an inaccurate aim and shot. Also, the "hair trigger" or a
trigger that responded to the slightest touch could mean the difference in
being the first to get off a shot.
In the 1800's duels might be fought for honor, as in the
case of a duel fought in Hyde Park in March 1803 between two officers, and
reported to have been held to avenge a sister's dishonor. Or it might be an
absurd affair, as in the duel fought in London on April 6 that same year. This
second affair involved Lieutenant-Colonel Montgomery of the 9th
Regiment of Foot and Captain Macnamara of the Royal Navy, and was reported to
have started when the two men, both riding in the park and each followed by a
Newfoundland dog, had their dogs start to fight. This led Montgomery to
exclaim, "Whose dog is that? I will knock him down." That set off an
argument that resulted in a meeting at seven that evening near Primrose Hill.
Even the Duke of Wellington fought a duel. During the
Peninsular War, Wellington had been known to frown on dueling among his
officers. However, in 1829, Wellington's support of the Catholic Relief Bill
angered the Earl of Winchilsea, who then made public a letter that disparaged
the duke accusing him of having, "...insidious designs for the
infringement of our liberties, and the introduction of Popery into every
department of the state." Wellington pushed for reparations, and would be
satisfied with nothing less than a meeting over pistols at Battersea Fields.
"At the word 'fire,' the Duke raised his pistol, but
hesitated a moment, as he saw that Lord Winchilsea had kept his pistol pointed
to the ground." Wellington then fired at random, as did the earl. The
press did not approve and reported, "...all this wickedness was to be
perpetrated -- merely because a noble lord, in a fit of anger, wrote a pettish
letter....Truly it is no wonder that the multitude should break the law when we
thus see the law-makers themselves, the great, the powerful, and the renowned,
setting them at open defiance."
Illegal as they were, duels were numerous, and were often
not prosecuted unless proven fatal.
In the duel between Macnamara and Montgomery fought over
their dogs, both were wounded, Montgomery fatally so. Macnamara recovered and
was tried for murder, and his arguments for his motives being that of
"proper feelings of a gentleman" carried enough weight that the jury
returned a not-guilty verdict, even though the judge asked them to find
Macnamara guilty of manslaughter.
Times and sentiment changed, however and in 1838 when a Mr. Eliot shot and
killed a Mr. Mirfin in a duel, the jury returned a verdict of willful murder. The
trial smacked of class prejudice, for in 1841 when Lord Cardigan was tried in
the by his peers in the House of Lords for dueling, he was found not guilty.
By 1843, an Anti-Dueling Association had been formed and by
1844, Queen Victoria was discussing with Sir Robert Peel how to restrict duels
in the army by "repealing an article of the Mutiny Act, which cashiered
officers for not redeeming their honor by duel."
The Regency by then had long passed, and so had the era of
pistols for two at dawn to settle affairs of honor, and so had the art of the
elegant and deadly dueling pistol.
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