DUELLING PISTOLS
“Wogdon’s duelling pistols were to send many men to their premature deaths”
The name Wogdon or, as it was sometimes recorded, Wogden or Wegden, suggests its origin might have been in some long-forgotten ancient craft or trade, or the name of one of the more than 3,000 lost medieval villages, the names of which have long since disappeared from the map.
Whatever its origin, the name Wogdon certainly has a funereal ring to it, and very appropriate for the gunmaker whose duelling pistols were to send many men to their premature deaths.
Robert Wogdon made many and varied firearms – pocket and livery pistols, double-barrelled pistols, sporting guns and rifles, carbines and blunderbusses – but he was most renowned for his duelling pistols. His total production of duelling pistols over the 39 years that he was a gunmaker is unknown. He left no records and never used serial numbers on his guns. Given the large number of cased pairs of his duelling pistols that have survived to this day, his production was significant.
Certainly during his working life he was referred to as “the celebrated Wogdon” and also, “he [Wogdon] is a famous man for making pistols”.
Look at any Wogdon duelling pistol, be it one from his early production years in the mid-1770s or one made towards the end of his career when in
