The following article is from the book "Arming the Rifleman". It is reproduced here with the kind permission of the Royal Green Jacket Museum, Winchester.
By 1800 it had been recognised the neither of the existing British-made rifled muskets were suitable nor could German sources be relied upon. The exact series of events that led the Board of Ordnance to commission the White Chapel gun maker Ezekiel Baker to produce his rifle is unclear, although the fact Baker was a close friend of the Prince of Wales could not have hurt. It appears the Board invited various leading gun makers to a trial of their various rifles at Woolwich on 4 February 1800. Whilst there is no record of this competitive test (only Bakers own uncorroborated account published two years later in his Remarks on Rifle Guns), in March 1800 the Board gave Baker an order for a number of pattern rifles and barrels so they could assess various designs and calibres. From Bakers subsequent comments, Manningham was closely involved in the rapid decision-making process that made the final selection.
Baker's initial presentation of rifles followed the same dimensions as a standard infantry musket and were immediately rejected by Manningham as being far too heavy due to the thick barrel. Rather, Manningham provided Baker with a German Jager rifle and essentially directed him to copy it. Having thus focused on the familiar Jager style of rifle with a barrel length of 30 inches, the next issue was calibre. Baker had manufactured some that were of the standard .75 for a musket, with eight deep cut grooves and others down to .625 with seven grooves. As with the process leading to the first order, there is a lack of hard evidence as to the testing process and discussions that must have occurred. The rifle with the standard .75 calibre of the Brown Bess musket, intended to enable the Riflemen to use the same ammunition as the line infantry, was immediately rejected. Instead, the smaller .625 calibre `carbine-bore` version found favour, with the seven square grooves making one complete turn in ten feet (a quarter of a turn in a 30inch barrel) Thus the first batch of 800 were ordered before the end of March from various gunmakers in London and Birmingham specifically for the 95th.
The first model of the Baker rifle had the established Jager 30-inch barrel with a simple folding backsight. It had the standard large lock mechanism (some six and a half inches in length) with a swan neck cock as fitted to the Brown Bess Musket. Like German Jager rifles it had a scrolled brass trigger guard to help ensure a firm grip and, on the left of the butt was a raised cheek-rest for additional support when aiming. Like most rifles it had a `butt-trap` or patchbox of around six inches in length where greased linen patches and tools were stored. The lid of the patchbox was made of brass and was hinged at the rear to allow it to be flipped up to gain access. The rifle's overall length was 45 and three-quarter inches and had a total weight of just under 9lbs.
Again following the German style, Bakers rifle was designed to take a long 24 inch bladed sword bayonet that could be clipped on to a metal bar attached just behind the muzzle. Although the long and heavy sword bayonet made the weapon very awkward to manage, two facts must be borne in mind. Firstly, given that the rifle was 13 to 20inches shorter than the standard infantry muskets, if the Rifleman was ever to engage in a bayonet fight, this additional length was vital. Secondly, it was a weapon that was only to be used as a last resort - Riflemen by definition were sharpshooters.
It must be stressed that Bakers rifle was not designed as a hunting weapon, but rather a mass-produced military weapon that was `soldier proof`. It took an already established military calibre ball, had a reasonable rate of fire and was to prove generally accurate on a battlefield at ranges up to 150 yards. It was also sufficiently robust to take a bayonet and withstand the rigours of hand-to-hand combat during a lengthy period of service.
This compared to the graceful custom-built American Long Rifle, that, while lighter, more accurate and more economic in its consumption of powder and ball, was more difficult to load and maintain, easily broken and could not take a bayonet.
As with any new weapon, particularly one that became fashionable, there were soon modifications and effectively new models. A lighter `carbine` version for the cavalry was almost immediately approved, being otherwise identical. Various of the fashionable Volunteer Associations ordered their own, those made for the Duke of Cumberland's Corps of Sharp Shooters in August 1803 having a barrel of 33 inches in length.
As the war progressed there were also changes to the standard Baker. What might loosely be termed a `second` pattern was fitted with a `Newland` lock that had a flat-faced ring neck cock. In 1806 a `third` pattern was introduced that included a pistol grip trigger guard and smaller four and a half-inch patchbox with a plain rounded front. The lock plate was flat, five inches in length with a steeped down tail, raised semi-waterproof pan, a flat ring neck cock and was fitted with a sliding safety-bolt. With the arrival of the New Land Pattern of Brown Bess musket around 1810, with its flat lock and ring necked cock, the Bakers lock followed suit with what was effectively a `fourth` pattern. It also had a `slit stock,`a slot in the underpart of the stock about five sixteenth of an inch wide. This modification was made by Ezekiel Baker after receiving reports of the jamming of rifle ramrods in the rifle stock due to the accumulation of dirt in the base of the ramrod channel or the swelling of the wood when wet.
Not all rifles manufactured for the British Army were Bakers. The original carbine version proved too long for convenience for mounted troops and so, during the summers of 1803 and 1805, there was a further set of trials of various shorter models. This time Baker faced serious competition from other well-known gunmakers such as Henry Nock, Arnold, Thomas Gill and Durs Egg, particularly as Baker choose to move away from the tried and tested quarter-turn rifling over the length of the barrel to an increased half turn. Consequently the Board of Ordnance choose Egg's rifled carbine with a quarter turn the length of it's 20-inch barrel for the cavalry.
The demand for the Baker rifle continued to grow well beyond the initial 800 ordered for the single battalion of the 95th. Soon the 5th battalion 60th was re-equipped, and by 1810 sufficient Baker rifles had to be procured for an additional two battalions each of the 60th and 95th, as well as various components of the Kings German Legion, other German units such as Brunswick Oels and the Portuguese Cacadores. Those required by the regular army were in addition to numerous volunteer formations that choose to constitute themselves as rifle corps, and the East India Company ordered its first consignment in 1802. On average over 2000 rifles a year of the various types were being completed in Birmingham and London workshops between 1804-15. The figures for Birmingham alone show that between those dates a total of 14,695 were completed, along with 32,582 barrels and 37,338 rifle locks. Ultimately there were too many and there were serious storage problems at the Tower. One consequence of this was that in 1810 the Shropshire Militia were issued with Baker's, followed by the Pembroke and Caernavon Militia in 1811 and 1812 respectively, just to help ease the storage problems.
Footnote
Sir John Moorewas amongst the most gifted Generals in the British Army and his training and leadership of the regiments at Shornecliffe ensured that Wellington had in the Peninsula the finest body of light infantry and Riflemen in the world at his disposal.
My thanks to Ken of the Royal Green Jackets Association for arranging this article.
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Last update 26/5/01
Article reproduce by kind permission of the RGJ Association