A RARE "JOE MANTON" 



Happy is the man who can boast a genume " Joe 

 Manton " gun amongst his collection of antique fire-arms ; 

 thrice happy is he whose sporting trophies include such 

 a rare and beautifully finished specimen of the immortal 

 Joe's art as that lying before us as we wTite this paper. 



From the following extract culled from an affidavit 

 recently sworn by Messrs. James and Thomas Samuel 

 Manton, descendants of the " King of Gunmakers," it 

 will be seen that the weapon in question was built for 

 the " brave old Duke of York," who, according to the 

 barrack-room ballad, " marched ten thousand men to the 

 top of a hill and marched 'em back again." As to whether 

 this was the usual tactic pursued by the royal general in 

 the field, history does not say. But we do know that 

 H.R.H. the Duke of York was Commander-in-Chief of 

 the English Army during the Napoleonic era. 



Here follows the extract in question : 



" We, James Manton and Thomas Samuel Manton, 

 grandsons of Thomas Manton, of Grantham, and Long 

 Acre, London, gunmaker, cousin to Joe Manton, of 25 

 Davies-street, Berkeley-square, gunmaker to His Majesty 

 George HI, and to their Royal Highnesses the Dukes of 

 York, Cambridge, and Gloucester, and Prince Leopold, 

 do solemnl}^ and sincerely declare that we have examined 

 the gun now in the possession of . . . and from the 

 Manton family records we identify it and know it to be a 

 188 



