Budding's Pepperbox Pistol

Before Edwin Beard Budding patented the lawnmower in 1830 he had been manufacturing pistols.

Gun experts now date the pistols to the 1820s. Very few examples are known to survive.

According to Matthew Schneiderman, an expert on Budding's pistols, the design is:

• The world's oldest percussion pepperbox.
• The world's earliest percussion revolver.
• The world's earliest percussion pistol with in-line (ie horizontal) nipples. This is long before the Colt "Central Fire" model.
• The earliest copper cap pistol with an enclosed action.
• The world's earliest percussion under-hammer (under-striker) firearm.

Very little is known about Budding's gun venture, apart from the tantalizing label found with a few surviving examples which states: "Manufactured by E. Budding, Thrup Mill, near Stroud, Gloucestershire."

In this label the local Stroud printer J.P. Brisley has only used one P in Thrupp. It is unclear whether Budding was working at the Upper or Lower Mill at Thrupp at the time.

Matthew Schneiderman notes that a British Patent No. 4960 of 30 May 1824 by Birmingham gunmaker James Cook describes a very similar device. It is not know whether Budding's design was his own or based on the James Cook Patent of 1824. It is possible that if Budding had his barrels proofed in Birmingham, Cook saw the guns and patented the design himself. Without knowing the precise date of Budding's design it is impossible to know more. 

Interestingly, there is a lane in Bowbridge, the next hamlet down the valley from Thrupp, called "Gun House Lane".