I thought you might be interested to hear what results I received from Boss about the history of the gun. Their records show the gun was built in 1860 for a gentleman named Hon. Rev. J. W. Lascelles. They had no record of the center-fire conversion so I guess the buyer had someone else do that.
Just for curiosity I googled the name. Lascelles (pronounced lassals) is an old Norman French name going back to the Norman Invasion, and the family bearing the name had been prominent in England for centuries. They are in the Burke’s Peerage with a crown beside the name so I guess there is some ‘Royal’ connection after all. I knew of the ‘primogeniture’ custom of the oldest son inheriting the title and land, the second son going to the military and the third son going into the clergy.
It turned out that Preacher Lascelles who commissioned our Boss in 1860 at the age of 30, was the 6th child of the 3rd Earl of Harewood. J.W. was born in 1831 and died in November of 1901. During his time of service to the Church, he was Rector of Goldsborough for 44 years and was also Canon (whatever that is) of Ripon Cathedral. I thought the Ripon reference was pretty interesting; perhaps the original owner of our Boss actually shot it on a peg next to the Earl de Grey at some point during his service to the Cathedral bearing the Ripon name!
I’m having a ball checking out the Boss. This is the 1st Jones under-lever action I’ve seen and also the 1st non-rebounding hammer gun. The measurements shown on the Boss order page still match the measurements on the gun after 151 years. I’m going to take any renovation I do with very deliberate speed; if I can get the barrels sleeved or something so as to be useable, I'll continue to the next step.
Wish me luck, jOe!...Geo
