Irish Registration Act 1843 continued.

The Irish Registration Act 1843.

Wm & Jn Rigby Travelling Pistols ( Magazine Stocks) Registered in  Co: Louth. LH 835.

Another study which consumes a lot of my time is finding and listing Pistols/Guns/Weapons that were "branded" under the 1843 Registration Act. ( Schedule B, 6 & 7 , Vic. Cap 74. Sec 3).
This piece of legislation ran in Ireland (only) for 3 years. 1843-1846 but was almost ignored after 1845 and repealed in November 1846. The first man to throw light on this subject was Oliver Snoddy of the National Museum, Dublin. He wrote a detailed paper which was published in the Arms & Armour Journal.

To date, I have with assistance of many fellow collectors, listed some eleven hundred items that were so marked under this Act.

Above is a copy of the licence that was issued at the Petty Sessions. This licence having been issued in Co: Wexford for a pair or duelling pistols. The property of one Thomas Letts. These pistols being marked WX-4603-4604.   Following the issue of the licence the owner took the licence and said weapons to the police barracks where they were duly marked.

There have been many spin-offs from collating this list of branded arms and one being the above pair of Wm & Jn Rigby Percussion pistols that were at one time separated and through the list and visiting the London Arms Fair we were able to reunite them. Photograph courtesy Leslie Martin

Should you have guns with Irish Registration Numbers we would be pleased to hear from you.

Dave Stroud R.A..