C Ingram and John Rigby & Co.: a superb .451 percussion match rifle with provenance to the

C Ingram and John Rigby & Co.: a superb .451 percussion match rifle with provenance to the Captain Arthur Blennerhassett Leech, heavy round barrel 34 in. (an 1878 replacement numbered 14886), top inscribed 'J. RIGBY & Co. DUBLIN & LONDON', fore-sight block with dovetail, hooked breech with platinum blow-out plug, bolted lock with line engraved border and inscribed 'C. INGRAM', chequered walnut pistol grip stock with horn nose and grip caps, mounting points for the back sight above the wrist and at the back of the comb, removable sights in a small fitted case including two screw-adjustable fore-sights (one with a platinum line and the other of globe type) and a vernier adjustable aperture back sight; in a fitted oak case with accessories including: bullet mould with base plug, protective 'false muzzle' numbered to the barrel, powder flask, powder measure, main-spring clamp, powder funnel and other items.

Section 58(2) - no licence required if possessed as a curiosity or ornament.

(127.9cm OAL)

The George Geear Collection

Major Arthur Blennerhassett Leech (c. 1815-1894) Rifle Volunteer officer and pioneering competitive shooter.

Born in Ireland into an old County Kerry family, Leech trained as a solicitor, before leaving for India, where he worked for a period of ten years. Upon his return to the British Isles he became an officer in the London Irish Volunteer Corps, partaking with enthusiasm in the the culture of rifle marksmanship that characterised the volunteer movement. In 1866 he founded the Dublin University Rifle Club at Trinity College Dublin, and the following year he founded the Irish Rifle Association. In October 1873 he wrote a challenge to the marksmen of America which was published in the New York Herald the following month and which resulted in the inauguration of a series of international matches shot in America and in the genesis of American long-range rifle shooting competitions.

Leech was Captain of the Irish team that shot in the first Irish-American match at Creedmore in 1874, and he there presented a silver cup, the Leech Cup, which remained in use into the 21st century - the oldest such prize in American competitive shooting. He afterwards presented the rifle that he had used there to Colonel George Armstrong Custer. Leech again captained the Irish team for the return match - the famous Dublin Internation Match of 1875. It is supposed that it was with the rifle offered here, subsequently re-barreled by Rigby in 1878, that he shot on that occasion.