Irish Registration Act 1843.

 The Irish Registration Act of 1843

                          Schedule B.,6&7 Vic.,Cap.74,Sec 3.
                                    Licence to Keep Arms.

                                       Engraving courtesy of Illustrated London News.

         Brass Barrelled Blunderbuss by William Westerman, Cork. Registered in East Cork                  (EC-1272).

  

This piece of legislation ran for three years although only effective for two. The law being
repealed in 1846. In the main, due to its ineffectiveness. However, the Government did in
the process achieve a very good idea of the weapons in circulation during this period and
more importantly where they were and who owned them!

The Petty Sessions being required to issue the licence and the Police Barracks having
the duty of "branding" the arms with the appropriate county prefix and licence number.

Although the above machine was issued in order to mark the weapons it was found of no
use on certain hardened and etched barrel surfaces and therefore today we encounter acid
etched, stamped and engraved registration marks.  The machine operated in much the
same manner to a pantograph.  In total forty four of these "presses" were allocated
across the thirty nine defined areas under this act.

The author has, with the assistance of fellow collectors and enthusiasts, traced eleven
hundred samples of branded weapons. In future blogs we shall look at the framework
of this legislation in greater detail and moreover look at some of the interesting facts
and figures with respect to the types of weaponry licensed and the gunmaker's who
produced them.

Should you require any specific information about any weapon marked under this act we
would be pleased to hear from you.


Dave Stroud. ramrodantiques.co.uk