English Pattern Trade Rifles

[Mtn Meek]

To avoid hijacking jdm's thread on the "John Drepperd trade gun", I'm responding to Rambling Historian's question about English Pattern trade rifles in a new post.

I've never successfully figured out what the "English rifles" that appear on some American Fur Co. ledgers from the Midwest refer to with any certainty. Any idea what those looked like? Edit: I've always assumed this meant the style in Hanson's book that if I recall correctly was made by Wheeler.

Rambling,

English trade rifles started out as near exact copies of early Pennsylvania longrifles.  They evolved over the decades and developed into their own distinct pattern which in turn was copied by John Joseph Henry who made another evolutionary step in the line.

Collectors had been aware for some time of a few Kentucky rifles that bore marks indicating that they had been made in England, but it was George Shumway that studied these English-made Kentucky rifles and determined that they were trade rifles.  He developed a classification of six types he called Type A through Type F (Type G and F being JJ Henry's versions) and first published a description of them in a series of articles beginning with the Frebruary 1982 issue of Buckskin Report.  Shumway updated his study in a paper presented at the 1984 Trade Gun Conference and published in their Proceedings.

Shumway could not find much detail about these rifles in the old records that he had access to, but De Witt Bailey was able to find some important info on them while researching British Government records for his book, British Military Flintlock Rifles 1740-1840.

The first copies appear to have been made before the AWI but little or no documentation has been found that describes these early rifles in any detail.  De Witt Bailey did find records of the British Government ordering rifles from several English gunmakers during the AWI for Indian allies in America and Canada.  These were described as Best Rifle Guns wood boxes moulds & cases and Best Rifle Guns with brass boxes moulds & cases.  It is interesting to note that by the early 1780's, English trade rifles were being made with both wood patch boxes and brass patch boxes.

Shumway identified the Type A English Pattern Trade Rifle as a classic early Lancaster longrifle with a wood patch box that was a little beefier through the wrist and some other areas than the typical Lancaster rifle. The Type B was essentially the same as the Type A except that it had a classic Lancaster brass patch with a daisy finial.  The Type C is again very similar in architecture to Types A and B, but has a sturdy two-piece brass patch box similar to that on the British Baker rifle.  All three types have relief carving of similar style.

Bailey also found records of the British Board of Ordnance purchasing Indian rifles during the War of 1812.  In the 1813 Contract for Indian Rifles, the firearms for Britain's Indian allies in America were standardized for trade guns, chief's guns, rifles, and pistols. "The patterns selected for these arms varied only in slight details from those being manufactured for the private trade in the 1790's and early 1800's..."  Because of this contract, Bailey calls Shumway's Type D rifle the 1813 Contract Rifle.  That's a little misleading because the pattern was being made for private traders earlier than 1813.

James A. Hanson in Firearms of the Fur Trade summarizes Shumway's and Bailey's findings and created a new sub-type he calls the Type D2.  The Type D2 differs from the Type D in some of its markings and architecturally in a more pronounced comb and slightly different trigger guard shape.

In response to an inquiry made by J. Joseph Henry in 1825, William B. Astor wrote that, "We continue to import a part of those [rifles] annually required for our trade, but we usually get 100 or 200 manufactured in the United States..."  The imported rifles most likely came from England and were likely of Type D or D2.

At the end of 1826, the AFC began ordering English Pattern rifles from J. Joseph Henry.  These were a copy of the trade rifles that had been made in England, and based on the few surviving samples of Henry's English Pattern rifle, he appears to have copied the British Type D2.

Since the early AFC records were destroyed in a fire, the "English rifles" that appear on some American Fur Co. ledgers (post-1826) were JJ Henry's English Pattern rifle.  Prior to 1826, they would have been the English Type D or D2.

Henry submitted a variant of the English Pattern rifle to the AFC in 1834 and orders were placed in 1835.  It was referred to as the "New English Pattern" or the "Scroll Guard" rifle because it had a scroll on the end to the trigger guard similar to English sporting guns and Hawken rifles.  This is Shumway's Type E.




My Henry English Pattern Trade Rifle made by Larry Walker of J.J. Henry Artificers.

[Eric Kettenburg]

I wish I could remember where I read about this (below) and what documentation existed, but:

I seem to remember reading about a small group of rifles built for a ranging troop during the F/I ca. late 1750s or early 1760s.  They were supplied out of the stores in Albany, and were to be used upstate in the area, but at the end of the war none were returned.  I'm not sure if these were English-made or German contracted.  What I do know is that I have an old friend in upstate NY who believes he owns one.  It appears to have seen little use and it looks almost identical to a German martial rifle of the 1750-1770 period save that it makes use of a very high quality Brit lock w/ waterproof pan, and the short rifled barrel displays English proof markings of the proper period.

[Seth Isaacson]

Thank you very much for this info!