A rare 164-year-old rifle uncovered in Oxfordshire has sold for thousands of pounds at auction.
The musket, invented by Sir Joseph Whitworth, a mechanic who rose to become a renowned inventor in the 1800s, was one of several antique guns to excel in Hanson Holloway’s Ross April sale in Banbury, Oxfordshire.
The percussion volunteer musket, dated 1858, engraved ‘Joseph Whitworth Patent’ and considered one of the earliest examples of a sniper rifle, sold for £3,600.
Other top lots included lot 215, a Colt 1851 model Naval percussion six-shot revolver No 175, £4,700; lot 216, a Colt 1851 model Naval percussions six-shot revolver No 36800, £4,700; lot 217, an Adams percussion five-shot revolver No 8525R, £1,700, and lot 342, a Tranter patent model percussion five-shot revolver No 3378, £1,600.
Jasper Marsh, valuer at Hanson Holloway’s Ross, said: “These five antique guns collectively achieved hammer prices of £16,300. The collectors’ market is strong for these investment pieces which demonstrate early mechanical engineering.
“Whitworth rifles have particular historical significance. They were invented in 1854 and became known as ‘sharpshooters’ due to their accuracy. They were used by Confederates in the American Civil War and claimed the lives of Union generals including John Sedgwick, one of the highest-ranking officers.
“Interestingly, in 1860 Queen Victoria, who made Joseph Whitworth a Baronet in 1869, fired a shot from a Whitworth rifle and struck the bullseye. On October 2017, a surviving example of a Confederate Whitworth rifle sold at auction for $161,000 (£122,900).”
Sir Joseph Whitworth (1803-1887) was an engineer, entrepreneur, inventor and philanthropist born in Stockport, Cheshire. The son of Charles Whitworth, a teacher and Congregational minister, he developed an early interest in machinery.
After leaving school he became an apprentice to his uncle Joseph Hulse, a cotton spinner at Amber Mill, Oakerthorpe, in Derbyshire. Whitworth was fascinated by the mill’s machinery but swiftly noticed its poor standards of accuracy.
Inspired to make machinery with much greater precision, he went on to work as a mechanic at a Manchester factory, then moved to London to work for Henry Maudslay, inventor of the screw-cutting lathe. Whitworth enhanced his skills, made precision machine tools and returned to Manchester in 1833 to start his own business manufacturing lathes and machine tools.
Whitworth, who moved to Stancliffe Hall, Darley Dale, Derbyshire, in 1872, received many awards for design excellence. He became President of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, was conferred with Honorary Membership of the Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders in Scotland in 1859 and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1857.
He bequeathed much of his fortune to the people of Manchester, with the Whitworth Art Gallery and Christie Hospital partly funded by Whitworth’s money. Whitworth Street and Whitworth Hall in Manchester are named in his honour and Derbyshire’s Whitworth Institute was funded by his estate.
Hanson Holloway’s Ross invites entries for its monthly sales. Free valuations are available at Hanson Holloway’s Ross, 49 Parsons Street, Banbury, OX16 5NB. To book an appointment, call 01295 817777 or email [email protected]
