The British Land Pattern Musket, more commonly referred to as the Brown Bess, was a flintlock musket commissioned by King George I of Great Britain for the British Army in 1722 and remained in service until 1838. The Brown Bess became a symbol of the British Empire as it expanded, and would be used in many campaigns, from the Seven Years' War and on past the Napoleonic Wars, where the Brown Bess would be pitted against the French Modèle 1777, considered the most advanced military firearm of its day.