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Description: | Old label marked c171 on stock CULT Unknown 1847 This is a muzzle loading smooth bore percussion cap musket with attached sling and ramrod (in place). The Hammer (cocking arm) is in the rest position. This style of musket superseded earlier Flintlock muskets and was itself eventually replaced with breech loading models. The brass retaining bands and lock arm area all display the manufacture markings of bow and arrow, Czarist eagle and date of 1847, with an additional eagle on the butt plate. Front and rear sights aided accuracy and for close combat this musket can have a bayonet fitted. Etched into the barrel is 'Sebastopol Wm Simpson 1855'. Sebastopol at this time was the scene of siege and much fighting during the Crimea War (1854-1856).
William Simpson (1823-1899) was born in Glasgow and showing promise as an artist served his apprenticeship with a firm of lithographers. During his time in Glasgow he produced wonderful watercolours of the city, the people and buildings, including 'The Trongate 1849' and 'Fiddlers Close in the High Street' circa 1846. Simpson moved to London and worked for lithographers Day and Son and with the Crimea War raging and the fall of Sebastopol imminent was despatched to capture the event. His subsequent work entitled 'The seat of the war in the East' become so well known he was given the sobriquet of Crimea Simpson. The work included 'The charge of the Light Brigade', which he created having interviewed the survivors. Simpson's productions together with news reports of journalists and tales of Florence Nightingale brought home the horror of the war to the Victorian public. Simpson remained a travelling correspondent and covered other notable events of the era such as the openings of the Suez Canal 1869, Forth Bridge 1890, Coronation of Czar Nicholas III 1881, and accompanied the British forces during the Afghan expedition of 1878. Simpson also visited Heinrich Schliemann's excavations at Troy 1877 and debated the amazing claim this was the Troy of Homer. Simpson retired to London where he died and is buried in Highgate cemetery. | License: | http://www.hmag.gla.ac.uk/spirit/rights/ | Publisher: | Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery, University of Glasgow | Rights holder: | Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery, University of Glasgow | Subjects: | SHEP : HISTPER : HIST_WEAPON : GUN : CRIMEA : HISTORICAL COLLECTION : | Source: | Hunterian Museum | Creator: | Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery, University of Glasgow | Identifier: | http://www.huntsearch.gla.ac.uk/cgi-bin/... | Language: | en-GB | Go to resource |
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