‘Poplar & Blackwall Volunteer’, ‘Prime & Load (last motion)’, 1798 (aquatint)

‘Poplar & Blackwall Volunteer’, ‘Prime & Load (last motion)’, 1798. Aquatint by and after Thomas Rowlandson, 21 September 1798. No 45 from a volume of 86 aquatints entitled, ‘Loyal Volunteers of London and Environs’, published by R Ackermann, 101 Strand, London. A Poplar and Blackwall Volunteer priming and loading his musket, 1798. Volunteer units like the Poplar and Blackwall Volunteers were formed to meet the potential threat from France during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic period. The drill for priming and loading a musket is recorded as follows, ‘When the cartridge is rammed down the ramrod is quickly return'd, the left hand raises the firelock 2 Inches from the ground, & the muzzle is brought close to the shoulder by the right hand, holding the ramrod between the forefinger & thumb. At the motion the right hand quits after slightly striking the top of the muzzle, the left flings the piece upwards & catches it firmly by the heel’.