Frontier Arithmetic: The Afghan Jezail

Jim McDougall · 15th May 2025, 05:23 AM

This is a great example of an original British EIC lock on a very old jezail!
The lock by John Fox Twigg, an English maker who moved to Piccadilly in 1776, the year on this lock, seems original and in accord with other examples of his guns found. This would have been from the Windus pattern musket (of 1771) which were likely in India with the EIC during the Anglo-Maratha war 1775-1782.
from there the original gun may have traveled north to Sindh at some point, with the British finally taking these regions in 1843. If I recall, it seems that components such as barrels etc.used in Afghan regions for jezails came from Sindh among other sources.

John Twigg died in 1790. While the placement and character of the EIC quartered heart with VEIC (United East India Company) with talismanic '4' atop the bale mark; date; and TWIGG in the same bold letter styling and serifs seen on other examples............are correct, it does seem the hardware in the lock has of course been reworked.

This is a perfect example of the kinds of jezails used well into the 20th century in the Khyber Pass and environs, so thank you so much for sharing it here Napo7 !!!

Thread Tools	Search this Thread
Show Printable Version Email this Page	Search this Thread: Advanced Search
Display Modes
Switch to Linear Mode Switch to Hybrid Mode Threaded Mode

15th May 2025, 05:23 AM	#11
Jim McDougall Arms Historian Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Route 66 Posts: 10,278	This is a great example of an original British EIC lock on a very old jezail! The lock by John Fox Twigg, an English maker who moved to Piccadilly in 1776, the year on this lock, seems original and in accord with other examples of his guns found. This would have been from the Windus pattern musket (of 1771) which were likely in India with the EIC during the Anglo-Maratha war 1775-1782. from there the original gun may have traveled north to Sindh at some point, with the British finally taking these regions in 1843. If I recall, it seems that components such as barrels etc.used in Afghan regions for jezails came from Sindh among other sources. John Twigg died in 1790. While the placement and character of the EIC quartered heart with VEIC (United East India Company) with talismanic '4' atop the bale mark; date; and TWIGG in the same bold letter styling and serifs seen on other examples............are correct, it does seem the hardware in the lock has of course been reworked. This is a perfect example of the kinds of jezails used well into the 20th century in the Khyber Pass and environs, so thank you so much for sharing it here Napo7 !!!