Lot Essay
The late owner's hand-written note gives the following provenance:
'This gun belonged to Sir Thomas Frankland, Bt. (1750-1820), of Thirkleby Hall, York.'
Frankland was the author of The Law of Honourable Sporstmen (1800) and Cautions to Young Sportsmen (1800) [the second work recorded by Schwerdt, vol. I, p. 187]. These monographs discuss respectively the unwritten law of riding over land contrary to the wishes of the owner, and the antagonistic reception given by English sportsmen to the double-barrelled shotgun at the time of its introduction from France, owing to the more frequent gun barrel bursts resulting from overloading, which the single-barrelled gun stood better. Cautions to Young Sportsmen also credits William Bailes with the invention of the ramrod-rib on half-stocked guns and the case-hardened tinted surface to his locks
'This gun belonged to Sir Thomas Frankland, Bt. (1750-1820), of Thirkleby Hall, York.'
Frankland was the author of The Law of Honourable Sporstmen (1800) and Cautions to Young Sportsmen (1800) [the second work recorded by Schwerdt, vol. I, p. 187]. These monographs discuss respectively the unwritten law of riding over land contrary to the wishes of the owner, and the antagonistic reception given by English sportsmen to the double-barrelled shotgun at the time of its introduction from France, owing to the more frequent gun barrel bursts resulting from overloading, which the single-barrelled gun stood better. Cautions to Young Sportsmen also credits William Bailes with the invention of the ramrod-rib on half-stocked guns and the case-hardened tinted surface to his locks