Flintlock musket

This musket is said to have been used in the defence of the Lower Hutt Stockade in 1846. It is a standard issue British Army flintlock musket made in about 1800. The lockplate is stamped ‘TOWER’, indicating that the musket was produced by Tower Armouries, and features the mark of King George III and a broad arrow.

This type of musket was known as the ‘Brown Bess’ and was standard issue for British infantry soldiers from the early eighteenth century to the early nineteenth. As percussion rifle-muskets became more common in the mid-nineteenth century, Brown Bess was seen as ‘the obsolete old war horse’ (Ferguson) and was considered out of date by the time of the conflict in the Hutt Valley.

Writing many years later, one of the early settlers recalled the difficulties militiamen had carrying their cumbersome muskets through the dense Hutt Valley forest:

[A]ll the settlers were enrolled in the militia; they were armed with what we called in those days the ‘Brown Bess’ flintlock musket, weighing 14 lb, and each man was obliged to carry sixty rounds of ammunition, and the bullets for these muskets were big enough for small cannon. When ordered out to scour the bush after the natives, the men had to carry as well a big blanket, a big coat, and a haversack with two days provisions, getting through the bush the best way they could thus encumbered. (Brown 1915, 3) 

The initials ‘TM’ are carved into the stock of the musket, and it is believed to have belonged to Thomas Mills (1828–1896). Mills had immigrated with his family to New Zealand when he was 10 years old, and at the age of 17 he joined No. 1 Company of the Wellington Militia when it was formed in May 1845. 

References:

• Brown, J. 1915. ‘Wellington 1840–1915, Reminiscences by an old identity.’ New Zealand Times, 28 January 1915.
• Cowan, James. 1955. The New Zealand Wars: A History of the Maori Campaigns and the Pioneering Period: Volume 1. Wellington: R.E. Owen.
• Ferguson, Jonathan. n.d. 'History of the term 'Brown Bess.' Royal Armouries Stories. History of the term 'Brown Bess' | Royal Armouries
• Rogers, Colonel H.C.B. 1960. Weapons of the British Soldier. London: Seeley Service & Co. Limited.
• ---, 1897. The Cyclopedia of New Zealand, Volume 1 [Wellington Provincial District. Wellington: Cyclopedia Co. Ltd.