Lot Essay
Formerly the property of H.R.H. Prince Albert, the Prince Consort, subsequently presented to John Brown by Queen Victoria.
The friendship between Queen Victoria and her 'excellent Highland servant' John Brown has passed into legend, possessing as it does a quality far above that held by a normal relationship between a monarch and her servant. It has its roots in the first Royal visit to Balmoral in 1848. John Brown was then twenty three and already possessed those qualities that would would later endear him to the Queen: strength, a sturdy and handsome appearance, a devotion to his charge and, above all, a forthright and outspoken manner, quite devoid of social graces. By 1851 he had been appointed ghillie to Prince Albert and in time he was also given charge of the sporting education of the young Princes. He was also in constant attendance upon the Queen, and in 1854 Queen Victoria wrote to her Uncle, King Leopold of the Belgians, 'We have had a most beautiful week, going out every day and taking luncheon in a basket on the back of a Highlander, and served by an invaluable servant I have who is my factotum here and takes the most wonderful care of me, combining the office of groom, footman, page and maid, I might almost say as he is so handy about cloaks and shawls etc... He always leads my pony and it is quite a sorrow to leave him behind'.
It is in this passage that we see a glimpse of the true foundation of their friendship, a foundation that was to prove invaluable to the Queen when, on 14 December 1861, Prince Albert died suddenly at Windsor. In the gloomy months that followed, John Brown reminded her always of life with her beloved Albert and provided a true link with happier times. He became the Royal confidante and in 1865, Queen Victoria wrote: 'Have now appointed that excellent Highland servant of mine to attend me always... so unlike an ordinary servant and so cheerful and attentive'.
Despite widespread criticism of the Queen's reliance upon Brown's counsel, he was to go on to achieve the status of a national hero. He had already, in 1863, rescued the Queen from a carriage accident and in February 1872 he foiled an attempted assassination of Queen Victoria outside Buckingham Palace. It is curious how destiny interleaves the lives of people - without John Brown, so much of later Victorian history could have been so different.
The presentation of this gun to John Brown was of considerable significance. The gun was formerly the property of Prince Albert and was converted to the new breech-loading centre-fire system in time for the ceremony of presentation. The gun is No. 2 of a pair and would therefore have been presented with its fellow and their case. The circumstances of the presentation are hinted at in D.B. Tubb's article 'Prince Albert Queen Victoria and John Brown' Black Powder 1988, in which Tubbs points out that John Brown's rôle as Court favourite had led to considerable antagonism with the Court in general and the Prince of Wales in particular 'Matters came to a head when the Prince of Wales who had gone especially to Windsor, was brusquely fobbed off by the Royal henchman: 'Ye'll nae be seeing yer Mither till five o'clock. Ye'll need tae gang awa' an amuse yerself for twa hours.' And Brown settled down in front of the Queen's door with a newspaper. 'During the Royal visit of Balmoral in the autumn of 1868', relates Mr Tubbs, 'much comment was aroused in the neighbourhood by the absence for a whole week of Brown from the retinue. It was given out that he was suffering from a chill, but soon it was being whispered that the Prince of Wales and one or two of his friends had hired a brawny boxer from Aberdeen to pick a quarrel with Brown in order to give him a thrashing.' Mr Tubbs maintains that the gun was presented by the Queen as a means of making amends to the 'ruffled Brown.'
Manton gun No. 11829 is a conversion from percussion muzzle-loading and retains, of the original, the barrels, part of the furniture, the stock and the lockplates. Wilkinson/Henry patent No. 1793 of July 7 1866 provides for a breech action with drop-down barrels and incorporates a method of attaching the striker to the hammer in such a way as to clear the striker from the face of the breech on the cocking of the hammers
The friendship between Queen Victoria and her 'excellent Highland servant' John Brown has passed into legend, possessing as it does a quality far above that held by a normal relationship between a monarch and her servant. It has its roots in the first Royal visit to Balmoral in 1848. John Brown was then twenty three and already possessed those qualities that would would later endear him to the Queen: strength, a sturdy and handsome appearance, a devotion to his charge and, above all, a forthright and outspoken manner, quite devoid of social graces. By 1851 he had been appointed ghillie to Prince Albert and in time he was also given charge of the sporting education of the young Princes. He was also in constant attendance upon the Queen, and in 1854 Queen Victoria wrote to her Uncle, King Leopold of the Belgians, 'We have had a most beautiful week, going out every day and taking luncheon in a basket on the back of a Highlander, and served by an invaluable servant I have who is my factotum here and takes the most wonderful care of me, combining the office of groom, footman, page and maid, I might almost say as he is so handy about cloaks and shawls etc... He always leads my pony and it is quite a sorrow to leave him behind'.
It is in this passage that we see a glimpse of the true foundation of their friendship, a foundation that was to prove invaluable to the Queen when, on 14 December 1861, Prince Albert died suddenly at Windsor. In the gloomy months that followed, John Brown reminded her always of life with her beloved Albert and provided a true link with happier times. He became the Royal confidante and in 1865, Queen Victoria wrote: 'Have now appointed that excellent Highland servant of mine to attend me always... so unlike an ordinary servant and so cheerful and attentive'.
Despite widespread criticism of the Queen's reliance upon Brown's counsel, he was to go on to achieve the status of a national hero. He had already, in 1863, rescued the Queen from a carriage accident and in February 1872 he foiled an attempted assassination of Queen Victoria outside Buckingham Palace. It is curious how destiny interleaves the lives of people - without John Brown, so much of later Victorian history could have been so different.
The presentation of this gun to John Brown was of considerable significance. The gun was formerly the property of Prince Albert and was converted to the new breech-loading centre-fire system in time for the ceremony of presentation. The gun is No. 2 of a pair and would therefore have been presented with its fellow and their case. The circumstances of the presentation are hinted at in D.B. Tubb's article 'Prince Albert Queen Victoria and John Brown' Black Powder 1988, in which Tubbs points out that John Brown's rôle as Court favourite had led to considerable antagonism with the Court in general and the Prince of Wales in particular 'Matters came to a head when the Prince of Wales who had gone especially to Windsor, was brusquely fobbed off by the Royal henchman: 'Ye'll nae be seeing yer Mither till five o'clock. Ye'll need tae gang awa' an amuse yerself for twa hours.' And Brown settled down in front of the Queen's door with a newspaper. 'During the Royal visit of Balmoral in the autumn of 1868', relates Mr Tubbs, 'much comment was aroused in the neighbourhood by the absence for a whole week of Brown from the retinue. It was given out that he was suffering from a chill, but soon it was being whispered that the Prince of Wales and one or two of his friends had hired a brawny boxer from Aberdeen to pick a quarrel with Brown in order to give him a thrashing.' Mr Tubbs maintains that the gun was presented by the Queen as a means of making amends to the 'ruffled Brown.'
Manton gun No. 11829 is a conversion from percussion muzzle-loading and retains, of the original, the barrels, part of the furniture, the stock and the lockplates. Wilkinson/Henry patent No. 1793 of July 7 1866 provides for a breech action with drop-down barrels and incorporates a method of attaching the striker to the hammer in such a way as to clear the striker from the face of the breech on the cocking of the hammers