The Irish and Duelling Pistols

The Irish Code Duello of 1777 and all that!

London Illustrated News Cartoon circa 1845. (John Leech?)

In my continuing search for data relating to the Irish guntrade one thing is certain, The Irish took the  duel to their hearts. It is stated many times, in print, that the Dublin gunmakers produced more duelling pistols than any other city of similar size! This, in itself seems Irish blarney but there is no doubt the Irish produced their fair share of the deadly dueller. Not only did Dublin and provincial Irish trade engage in making duelling pistols, they made extremely good, high quality and ingenious forms of this art form.

You may ask, how can we see a killing machine as an art form?.. Well if your life depended on a weapon that would answer its call on a chosen day. Be it wet, Be it hot... or Be it that your opponent is a renowned crack shot. You required a pistol in your hand that would level and shoot with urgency, accuracy and only the top quality gunmaker's met all these critical criteria.

If we were to salute the major Irish manufacturers of the dueller in the 18th and 19th  centuries we would be quoting;  John Rigby, Farrell Mc Dermott,George Turner and Nicholas Clarke to mention a few. The list is large indeed and throughout these blogs we will explore the duellers made in Ireland. It should not be overlooked that the gunmakers of London and the provinces did have a large influence on the Irish gunmakers i.e., Wogdon, H.W. Mortimer and Griffin & Tow. However, the Irish did add a certain panache to their weapons.

For those not au fait with the Code Duello please refer to:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_duello

A cased set of fine half stocked flintlock duelling/target pistols by Mc Dermott. Elegant french cocks, roller frizzens,set triggers and the classic saw-handled grips. Private Collection.

Thank you for all the suppliers of information via the attached link.


Dave Stroud. R.A..