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Flintlock pocket pistol
Wornall, Edward - Enlarge image
Flintlock pocket pistol
- Place of origin:
London, England (made)
- Date:
ca. 1680 (made)
- Artist/Maker:
Wornall, Edward (maker)
- Materials and Techniques:
Zebrawood and steel
- Credit Line:
Given from the collection of the late Col. G. Stovell.
- Museum number:
M.185-1928
- Gallery location:
British Galleries, room 54b, case 2
Object Type
In late 17th- and early 18th-century England such small single-shot pistols with a flintlock mechanism (one of several types of mechanism) were carried for protection. It was designed to be carried in the pocket of a travelling coat. Like other English pistols of this type, it has no trigger guard or steel furniture on the butt (grip).
People
The maker is Edward Wornall or Wornell, who was a member of the London Gunmakers' Company. He is recorded as a gun-barrel maker between 1692 and 1704. He is known to have supplied barrels to a stockmaker named Ralph Wright who may well have made the stock (the wooden support that holds the barrel) for this pistol, since it is of good quality. An advertisement in a London journal The Postman dating from 1698 refers to 'a case of pistols made by Mr Wornell, with his name upon them' left in a Hackney coach. This suggests that he was well-known as a gunmaker in London at the time.
Ownership & Use
The trigger is not protected by a guard so the lock is fitted with a sliding safety catch which prevents the pistol from being fired accidentally. The short barrel contrasts with the comparatively large calibre (the diameter of the bore or hole). In form and use these small pocket pistols anticipate the American Derringer of the 1840s by nearly 200 years.
