doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com 1856 SxS Reilly Rifle - Help with Heraldry

JB sent notice of this Reilly percussion .58 cal SxS rifle which has just sold:
https://www.icollector.com/6-10-REILLY-LONDON-MODEL-DOUBLE-RIFLE-CALIBER-60-CAL-APPROX_i48393107


SN 10118 dates to 1856 by my chart: It is a classic Reilly percussion rifle from that time period - name, address, engraving, scroll guard hand grip, barrel length, etc., everything is time appropriate.

But there is an escutcheon plate on it with it with a crest:
"Vigilandum" = Imperative masculine singular of Vigilantus - Watch! or Be Watchful! or Vigilant! or Be Vigilant!
"Battle Axe" = common heraldic symbol for Military Service
"Hand" = "Faith"
"Hercules" = on coat of arms of the Royal Family of Greece, Prince Phillip (Greek), Lord Mountbatten and King Charles III (from Prince Phillip), but I can't find a family in UK in 1856 that might have included Hercules in its heraldry,

Anybody into heraldry? Can this crest be identified?

Could 'Hercules' possibly represent (a modest) Cerne Abbas Giant of Dorset
It has been suggested that the giant was created by Anthony Ashley-Cooper, the future third Earl of Shaftesbury
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/science...-NOT-prehistoric-cut-just-years-ago.html

The Shaftesbury Coat of Arms is quite different however
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Shaftesbury_Coat_of_Arms.jpg

Most of the Coat of Arms with Hercules show him holding the club down
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Hercules_in_heraldry

I thought about that. A family in Dorset could "be on watch" or "be vigilant" guarding the coasts. Have some doubts though.

I know this is Quixotic. But somehow these 19th century guns take on more than wood and iron. There is a social history about them as well and delving into it takes you back to the way society was organized, the economy and the politics of that era. I can spend a lot of time reading 1800's Brit newspapers. (I happened upon the first account of the battle of the Monitor and Virginia, the ironclads, in looking at Reilly guns....and that and the follow-on almost immediate conclusions that the navies of Europe were suddenly outmoded was a inescapable lure for a Southerner.

Hi Gene. I've not posted in a while, so I'll have a go.

The gun appears to have belonged to the Hon. Montague William Tyrwhitt-Drake. He was born in King's Walden, Herefordshire, in 1830. He went into law, and became a solicitor in 1851. He moved to Canada in 1859, and joined the bar in British Columbia in 1873. He eventually became a judge of the BC Supreme Court, in 1889. This explains why the gun turned up in a Canadian auction.

The Drake family is from Shardeloes, Amersham, Buckinghamshire. A full account of the family can be found at:

The Drake Family

Montague William Tyrwhitt-Drake's crest is recorded as being two crests, with the motto "Vigilandum". The two crests of the Tyrwhitt-Drake family are: "a naked dexter arm erect holding in the hand a battle-axe argent (for Drake); a savage proper, wreathed vert, holding in both hands over his dexter shoulder a club (for Tyrwhitt)".

References:
A List of Canadian Bookplates (1919); Winward Prescott, Ed. Society of Bookplate Bibliophiles, Boston and Toronto.
Fairbairn's Book of Crests of the Families of Great Britain and Ireland (1905), 4th Edition.

Next time, Gene, make it tougher. I like these challenges.

Impressive.

+1

Wow! Thanks. This board is great. He bought the gun shortly before heading out to Canada. Explanation for "Savage""

SAVAGE: Indifferently termed, the Wild-man, or Woodman, the Savage is a large man wreathed about the head and loins with leaves, and generally carrying a club. The Savage, in heraldry, represented the forest and the wild, remote from human residence and improvements; the Savage, although uncultivated, was nonetheless feared and as such, was often used to denote protection. He is the icon of the untamed and the unpolished but he is fierce, ferocious and of savage spirit. The emblem is also a reminder that Christianity can tame the savage. The Savage represented one uncorrupted by the vices of civilized men and signified truth, fidelity and gratitude to their friends. The bearer was attempting to allude that even the feared Savage was at his disposal and would fight to defend his honour. The Savage was usually depicted as a very large almost Herculean man and the club was his defence. It is also important to note that the bearer also may have used the Savage as an emblem to allude to his family name.

British Columbia in 1859 was the far Wild West - 30 years before the trans-Canadian railway. Interesting that there was a vary popular book published in 1858 - "Ho for the West - The Travelers' Emigrants' Handbook to Canada" in which Reilly had a large advertisement.

It was probably designed to be able to use .577 Enfield rifle-musket paper cartridges

Stephen, you never fail to amaze me.

oops, double post.