Product Details
WILKINSON & SON, LONDON
A GOOD 50-BORE PERCUSSION DOUBLE PARK or 'PEA' RIFLE, serial no. 5096,
circa 1850, with browned fine damascus 30in. multi-grooved rifled barrels, the flat raised top-rib signed 'WILKINSON & SONS, GUN MAKER TO HER MAJESTY, PALL MALL LONDON', dove-tailed fore-sight, rear-sight of four flush-folding graduated leaves each with platinum line, scroll engraving to rib-end at breech, moulded blocks with platinum vented plugs, fully scroll engraved top-tang, border and scroll engraved locks signed on the bars 'WILKINSON & SONS', engraved hammers with bolted safes behind, figured walnut half-stock chequered at the wrist, (repaired crack below left lock), large iron rectangular patch-box to right side of butt with fully scroll engraved hinge and border engraved gamescene of a lion and lioness to the lid, border engraved iron heel-plate, the top-spur with scroll engraving and featuring a standing stag, engraved trigger guard and spurred lower tang, plain triggers, engraved and moulded ramrod throat, turned and moulded pipes and brass mounted ebony ramrod, fitted with eyelets for sling, an escutcheon behind the top-tang engraved with a gartered crest
Provenance: The crest on this rifle is almost certainly that of Richard Seymour-Conway, 4th Marquess of Hertford (22 February 1800 - 25 August 1870).
Lord Hertford was the son of Francis Seymour-Conway, 3rd Marquess of Hertford, and Maria Seymour-Conway, Marchioness of Hertford.
Brought up in Paris by his Italian mother, who had separated from his father, Lord Hertford was a bright but wayward boy, who received little formal education. The 4th Marquess' intention had been to take his son to England to attend public school, but his wife's doubts about his health persuaded him to place Hertford with a tutor. He did not flourish, however, being incorrigibly idle and irked by English society; he wrote to his mother in 1816, asking her to pity him, 'for I do bore myself cruelly'. That year he was duped by two army officers into losing an enormous sum of money at cards, a scandal that dogged him and his father for several years.
When he was 18, Lord Hertford was an attaché at the British embassy in Paris, and began a liaison with a woman 11 years his senior, Agnes Jackson, whose origins are obscure, although she was ostensibly the daughter of the self-styled baronet, Sir Thomas Wallace of Craigie Castle. The resulting illegitimate son was christened Richard Jackson and was subsequently brought up by Lord Hertford's mother in France. Richard Jackson was later baptised as Richard Wallace (possibly his mother's maiden name).
In 1820 Lord Hertford purchased an ensigncy in the 1st West India regiment and the following month transferred to the Prince of Wales's Own light dragoons. Late the following year he bought a Lieutenancy and joined the half-pay list, hoping to be able to visit his mother in France. His father however commanded him to offer himself on the parliamentary vacancy for county Antrim (a position formerly held by his father), to preserve the family interest, and engineered his return to a full-pay posting. Much against his wishes he set out for Ireland, and from Dublin reported that 'dirt, etc., is all that is to be found ... How I hate being here nobody knows and shall be delighted to find myself once more in Paris'. In January 1822 he was duly returned for Antrim, where his grandfather, the 2nd marquess of Hertford, had his principal Irish estates.
By the 1830's, Lord Hertford had retired from parliamentary life and lived reclusively in Paris, spending much of his time purchasing a vast collection of art, adding to his fathers already impressive collection. In 1842 he succeeded to the titles and estates of his father, and in 1846 was awarded the Order of the Garter.
An epicurean figure at the decadent court of Napoleon III and one of the last of the absentee English 'milords', Hertford died in Paris in August 1870. He left his Irish and other estates, including Hertford House, to his son Richard Wallace. On the death of Richard's widow in 1897, the family's sizeable and extensive collection of 18th Century art and objects was bequeathed to the nation and became the foundation of the Wallace Collection
Please click HERE to view Terms & Conditions. Please note all Lots are listed in accordance with UK Law, for overseas buyers, please ensure you are familiar with your relevant local firearms and customs regulations before bidding.
Estimate £2,000-3,000