Bayonet

Bayonet. The hilt consists of a brass knuckle-bow, hooked into the pommel, an obverse langet and a short straight quillon. The grip is moulded brass, with horizontal grooves and pommel cast in one piece, the tang and appearing at the base. A steel spring fitted at the back of the grip is secured by a screw near the pommel and operated by a button at the front. In the reverse side of the grip, a deep groove is cut to admit a lug on the rifle's muzzle which is secured by a spring catch mentioned above. The langet is stamped '13(?) 25'. The blade is straight and flat-back with a false 127mm long to a double-edged spear point. Of simple wedge-shape section, the blade has neither fuller nor decoration save for a stamp on the back edge near the shoulder. There are no inscriptions on the obverse or the reverse. The scabbard is leather, with two brass lockets with rings and a brass chape. The top locket has a frog stud and all three parts are decorated with groups of horizontal lines. The scabbard is in very poor condition. 'GILL' may be Thomas Gill of 22 Norfolk Street, Strand, who worked at the address from 1799 to 1805 or, alternatively, it may refer to one of his immediate successors elsewhere in London.

The Baker rifle was introduced in 1800 and an improved version appeared the following year. It is to this improved version that this bayonet belongs. The rifle remained in service until the middle 1830s when the Brunswick Rifle replaced it. It is not clear why this bayonet should have so large a langet when that piece was too close to the blade to afford much protection. It is not unlike the upturned counter guard found on a number of swords, especially French and American.

Object Details

ID: WPN1341
Collection: Weapons
Type: Bayonet
Display location: Not on display
Creator: Gill, John
Places: London
Date made: 1801
People: Gill, John
Credit: National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London
Measurements: Blade: 603 x 32 mm
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