Product Details
JOHN DICKSON & SON
A FINE 12-BORE ROTARY-UNDERLEVER HAMMERGUN, serial no. 2699,
30in. nitro reproved damascus barrels, the rib engraved 'JOHN DICKSON & SON. 63 PRINCES STREET. EDINBURGH.', 2 1/2in. chambers, bored approx. true cyl. in both, permanently attached fore-end, Jones patent rotary underlever shaped in the form of stylised foliole motifs at the pivot, the action flats marked 'CHARLES W. LANCASTER'S PATENT 311', slender carved serpentine fences, non-rebounding locks with carved hammers of hare's ear form, best fine border and acanthus scroll engraving, brushed bright finish, 14 1/4in. figured stock with steel buttplate, weight 6lb. 11oz.
Provenance: The makers have kindly informed us that this shotgun was completed with 30in. barrels in August 1866 for Dr. Maclagan.
The Scottish Maclagans were of fairly humble stock but over the course of several generations produced famous physicians and surgeons (two of them presidents of Royal Colleges), ministers of religion (including one archbishop and several missionaries), a director of the Victoria and Albert Museum, a famous anthropologist, many army officers, a leading Oxford historian, several town mayors and a politician.
Their lasting legacies include many books, papers and reports, new university departments and degrees, a new and much-needed focus on public health and hygiene, the care of the mentally ill and the development of military medicine, as well as a heightened reputation for the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh and the Victoria and Albert Museum, all apparently achieved without thought for personal aggrandisement. People who were acquainted with the Maclagans characterised them by their energy, vision, graciousness, humour and their Christian faith.
Dr. Sir Andrew Douglas Maclagan was born in 1812. He followed his father into a career in medicine and between 1869 and 1896 was Professor of Medical Jurisprudence & Public Health at Edinburgh at Edinburgh University. His specialist evidence in many major trials proved decisive and he taught his students that, "A dead body tells no tales except those it whispers to the quick ear of the scientific expert, by him to be reported to the proper quarter". Douglas went on, like his father, to become President of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh (R.C.P.E.), being re-elected for a second term.
Estimate £2,000-2,500
S2