William’s gun collection, which is on display in the museum, tells a particularly interesting story. Prior to the eighteenth century, the manufacture, supply and repair of firearms in East Yorkshire was primarily the province of the resident armourer and his staff at Hull garrison. Things changed however following the turbulence of the Civil War and the Restoration. Aristocrats, landowners and farmers increasingly sought to acquire firearms from local gunmakers, for both self-defence and sporting purposes. Even as late as 1780, one never knew when firearms might be needed (as a companion blog in this series demonstrates: see ‘The Gordon Riots and Hull’). However, as the country became more politically stable, the need for personal protection declined and the ownership of a fine gun cabinet became more a matter of personal prestige and conoisseurship.

William was no exception in this respect, and he set about gathering one of the country’s finest collections of some 34 firearms. Many came from from prestigious workshops in London, but others were made locally by Hull gunmakers such as Benjamin Burgess and George Wallis. The collection survived until 1952, when it was broken up and sent to London for sale. All was not lost, however, as the collector the late W. Keith Neal obtained possession of eighteen of twenty eight of the items dispersed. By such means, with the help of the National Lottery Fund and Leeds Royal Armouries, together with supporting evidence of purchase, repair and maintenance bills, the collection has survived as a single entity.

As far as we know, this fascinating item is the only gun that George Wallis made for William’s collection. Part of the W. Keith Neal collection referred to above, it is currently on display in the Hall’s Cabinet of Curiosities. Its date of manufacture is unknown, but it was supplied To Burton Constable in the late eighteenth century, possibly even after William’s death. A fine example of Wallis’s craftsmanship and knowledge of air weapons, it is the only gun of its kind to have been made in Hull. In 1776, Wallis had previously produced a series of airguns with the same distinctive spherical air reservoir but a different bar-lock mechanism, apparently based on a German design (illustrated on the right).

The Burton Constable airgun is surprisingly powerful and has a long range. To fire it, the metal sphere air is removed and filled with compressed air using a T-shaped handpump. This is done by standing on the side-bars of the ‘T’ whilst pumping downwards from above. The sphere is then loaded into the airgun ready for firing. Spare screws for attaching the sphere to the gun are included in a small chamber in the top of the pump.