BATTLE BOWLER

Hollands [Side-by-side-byside, June issue]. The skill and craftsmanship were a joy to behold, even if the end result gave me an uneasy feeling.

Reflecting on it, I bemoaned Mr Perrett’s lack of ambition.

Why stop at three? Henry

Nock showed what could be done in the Napoleonic Wars, manufacturing and selling to the Navy 500 flintlocks with seven barrels. These fearsome beasts were intended to allow a sailor hiding up the rigging to provide serious discomfort to the enemy quarterdeck, but although they saw action in the Battle of Gibraltar they did not perform well in service and were retired before Trafalgar.

Tom Adam Tudeley, Kent

I enjoyed the article on the ancient businesses [Keeping it in the family, May issue]. Readers may be interested in this 18th-century senior Royal Navy Officer’s tricorn hat [below]. It’s made of pressed felt and hard, just like the later bowler hat, and clearly marked ‘Charles Davis St James London; Furbiseur and Hatter’ and features the Royal cypher ‘G II R’. James Lock was taken on as an apprentice to Charles in 1747 and married his daughter, Mary, inheriting the business when Charles died in 1759. Thus with the Royal cypher we can date this to the 1750s or earlier. The owner’s name was

Sir W Taylor Bart. Lock may well have worked on this hat even as an apprentice. Would any of your readers have a clue to the original owner or this ‘battle bowler’?

Andrew Harding

Haywards Heath, West Sussex