'Pimlico Volunteer', 'Unfix Bayonet 1st Motion', 1798 (c)

Aquatint by and after Thomas Rowlandson, from a volume of 86 aquatints entitled, 'Loyal Volunteers of London & Environs', published by R Ackermann, 101 Strand, London, 10 July 1798.

Plate 'No. 21' of the Infantry section. A member of the Loyal Pimlico Volunteers demonstrates the unfix bayonet 1st motion.

Inscribed drill instruction, 'At the word Unfix the right thumb is slip'd behind the Barrel, the same as No. 6'.

Like their counterparts in the Militia and Yeomanry, the Volunteers (raised in 1794), were formed to defend Britain from invasion during the wars with Revolutionary and Napoleonic France. However, their main role was to maintain internal order during an era of political and social unrest.