Classic Arms Militaria
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August/September 2016 • UK £3.95
NEW SERIES
The men behind the guns The life and times of James Paris Lee and the rifles he created THE FAGNUS REVOLVER Made in Belgium
BRAZILIAN UNIFORMS
Of the Triple Alliance
GIRANDONI’S AIR RIFLE Military failure
LATEST AUCTION NEWS
Rare Venditti pistol amongst star items sold this month
RAPIER FENCING Its evolution as it spread eastwards
TALES OF A MIGHTY AMERICAN DEALER
The story of Francis Bannerman’s legendary New York emporium
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Contents
19
8 6 CORRESPONDENCE
33 WEBLEY-FOSBERY SELF LOADING REVOLVER How service in India shaped Lieutenant Colonel George Fosbery’s vision for an automatic revolver
Readers express their views on a variety of subjects covered in the magazine 8 THE FAGNUS REVOLVER The distinctive guns of the Belgian gun maker, Alexandre Fagnus
36 BAYONET BYTES The story of Francis Bannerman, arms dealer extraordinaire, 1851-1918
14 UNIFORMS OF BRAZIL, PART 2
42 GIRANDONI’S AIR RIFLE How a repeating weapon using compressed air saw service in the Austrian army into the 19th century
Part three of our series on the armies of the Triple Alliance in the Paraguayan War 19 JAMES PARIS LEE (COVER STORY) Part one of our new ‘Men Behind the Guns’ series begins with the father of, amongst others, the Lee-Enfield
46 SALEROOM Details of auctions past and future across the UK, Europe and the USA
24 RAPIER FENCING IN GERMANY
51 BOOK REVIEWS The latest literary releases on a variety of subjects reviewed by Bill Harriman
How Spanish Rapier fencing changed as it made its way eastwards into Germany 30 PRINCE’S RIFLE
54 AUCTIONS & EVENTS Detailed listing of upcoming events for your diary over the coming months
The story behind Frederick Prince’s mid-19th century breech loading rifle
Classic Arms Militaria
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All material published remains the copyright of Warners Group Publications Plc, no part of this magazine may be published without the prior permission of the publisher. Views expressed by contributors are not necessarily the views of the editor or publisher and the greatest care has been taken to ensure accuracy, but the publishers cannot accept responsibility for omissions or errors. While we take every care, we cannot accept liability for loss or damage to contributed copy/material and the large volume of enquiries means not all correspondence can be replied to personally. Competition winners’ details are available from the editorial address; please enclose SAE with your enquiry. While every care is taken when accepting advertisements, we cannot accept responsibility for unsatisfactory transactions. We will however investigate any complaints. Data Protection - Warners Group Publications Plc may lend reputable companies the names & addresses of readers who have responded to offers, services and competitions organised by Classic Arms & Militaria magazine. If you do not wish to receive such mailings, please write to us at the above address or phone us.
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LETTERS
CORRESPONDENCE Classic Arms & Militaria welcome letters from its readers. Please write to us at: Classic Arms & Miltaria, Warners Group Publications, West Street, Bourne, Lincs, PE10 9PH. Or via email at caam@warnersgroup.co.uk. The views expressed on this page are not necessarily those of Classic Arms & Militaria, or its parent company Warners Group Publications. We reserve the right to alter letters for grammar, brevity or legal reasons. MAIN LETTER
Nile pistol The latest addition to my collection is a cased Samuel Joseph flintlock pistol with folding side-mounted bayonet. It has a one-inch bore at muzzle. The 7 1/2 inch brass octagonal to round barrel has a cannon shaped muzzle. It is struck with London proofs. On the left hand side of the barrel it seems to be inscribed with a scooped chisel rather than a V shaped engraving tool. The engraved writing appears to be in two styles. It says, “CARRIED AT THE NILE BY CAP HENRY DARBY AUGT 1ST 1798. It has a border lined engraved brass frame marked S. Joseph. The pistol is fitted with a reenforced cock and sliding top safety. The bulbous butt has a silver grotesque mask. The
Roden Snider I was delighted to read the letter from Tony Panes in the last issue – just the response I was seeking from the ‘Men behind the Guns’ article. Four Roden ‘Improved Sniders’ appeared in the British Army trials that led ultimately to the adoption of the Martini-Henry. Three of them, No. 2, No. 3 and No. 4, were discarded immediately; gun No. 1 was given a more thorough examination, but was
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Bill Harriman replies: I have grave doubts about the authenticity of this piece, especially as there appears to be no documentary provenance with it. The pistol appears to have been made about 20 years before the battle of the Nile so it is of the right era. As a blunderbuss pistol, it is just the sort of thing that a Naval Officer would have
carried whilst boarding or during a boat action. However, the very crude engraving makes me very suspicious. As it stands, the engraving is amateurish in the extreme and looks like it has been carried out by a drunk using an old nail. I am also suspicious about the reddy brown substance that has been rubbed into the lettering, presumably to make it look old. It does not have the look of the grime of ages to me. If Captain Darby wanted to commemorate his part in the battle in this way, then he would have waited until he was on shore and could get to a professional engraver. I have seen a lot of shipboard work, but never a valuable firearm treated in this manner. At the Nile, Bellerephon was
not engaged in any boarding or hand to hand fighting, so if this pistol did belong to Captain Darby, it probably stayed below in his cabin throughout the battle. He is much more likely to have his sword so engraved, as that hung by his side when he walked his quarter-deck. I think what we have here is a spot of ¨reverse engineering¨ ie an object being spuriously linked, ex post facto to a person who was at an historical event. In my opinion, this engraving is a bare-faced forgery; and a dammed unconvincing one at that. The old Latin maxim of “Caveat Emptor”(Let the Buyer Beware) holds good here. If a thing looks too good to be true, it most likely is.
then rejected. The breech was judged liable to be blown open by defective cartridges, and there were extraction problems. Ian Skennerton’s Snider book suggests that they were chambered differently—two .577, one .50 and one .450 – but gives no details other than they had rebounding locks. Ironically, a quick search of the Internet revealed that a .577 ‘Roden Improved Snider’ had been offered for sale at auction in the USA at the end of last year. Photographs on the icommerce
website show that it had an external P/53-type lock, but also that extensive changes had been made to the breechblock. Thanks to bookseller Maurice Stroh (who has an original patent for sale, email patent@ stroh.demon.co.uk for details), we now know that the gun marked RODEN’S IMPROVED SNIDER PATENT on the body accords with British Patent 3075/67 granted to Richard Brown Roden on 1 November 1867 to protect ‘Improvements in Breech-Loading Firearms’.
When struck by the hammer, a short intermediate bolt with a tapered nose simultaneously pushes the striker forward to hit the primer and slides a locking bolt backward into the standing breech. However, the icommerce rifle clearly does not fit Mr Panes’ recollections – and so there are probably two types of previously unknown Roden-Sniders, ‘original sidelock’ and ‘improved centre hammer’. We know that one survives, but who’s got the others? John Walter
case appears to be mahogany and it has a silver escutcheon on top engraved with the ship’s nickname: BILLY RUFFIAN (HMS BELLEROPHON) The case is lined with partitioned green baize. In the case there is a three-way flask and a vent brush. Question: Is this a forgery or could it be Captain Darby’s pistol? Tony Malinconico Yeppoon, Australia
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A SELECTION OF ORIGINAL ANTIQUE WEAPONS
A good large size Austrian Military Flintlock pistol probably manufactured around 1820 - 1830. Ref 7637
A scarce American 6 shot. 32 Rimfire Revolver made by J.P. LOWER Circa 1861-1865. Wooden grips. Action in good working order Ref 9245
An AETNA 3 .38 rimfire 5 shot revolver, a good example of an early spur trigger revolver with fancy bakelite grips. Circa 1880. Ref 8395
A nice example of a mid 19th century percussion pocket pistol, with decoration on the frame. Circa 1840-1845. Ref 8907
£790.00
£790.00
£690.00
£460.00
A fine pair of 18th century French silver Mounted flintlock Pistols by Pierre Peyret of Paris. Very good condition. Ref 9279
A good British military long sea service Tower Flintlock Pistol with belt hook. Very good condition. Circa 1800-1815. Ref 9406
German Military Percussion Officers Pistol made in SUHL and Dated 1868. Very Good Condition. Ref 7247
A British flintlock travelling pistol with captive ramrod. Made by Clark London. Circa 1790 - 1820. Good condition. Ref 9300
£6850.00
£2450.00
£890.00
£750.00
A Fine Pair of Silver metal Mounted Turkish Flintlock Pistols, circa 1800. Silver wire inlaid stocks. Good condition. Ref 6492
A good quality English round bodied Flintlock pocket pistol with folding trigger, circa 1780-1820. Ref 7790
A French Pinfire 10.5mm 6 shot revolver with folding trigger. Engraved LE DENT PARIS. Well used condition. Ref 8631
A good quality English Flintlock officers pistol made by the world famous Durrs EGG of London. Good condition. Ref 9107
£3650.00
£680.00
£470.00
£2890.00
A pair of unusually small English single barrelled Percussion pocket pistol with screw off barrels, circa 1840. Good condition. Ref 9364
A Superb and rare good quality swept-Hilt Rapier. Very long slender blade. Probably Italian circa 1600. Ref 9162
A Highly decorative sword. Possibly for presentation to an eastern dignitary. 19th Century. Ref 6104
A very scarce 17th/18th century plug bayonet with an unusual flamboyant blade. Complete with its original leather scabbard. Ref 9288
£680.00
£3650.00
£850.00
£850.00
ANTIQUE WEAPONS ALWAYS WANTED Every item for sale is guaranteed to be completely original and to be of the period stated. No Licence is required to purchase genuine Antique guns in the United Kingdom. p007.indd 5
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PISTOLS
THE FAGNUS REVOLVER By Bill Harriman
Fig.1
T
he perfection of the revolving pistol in the 1830s by Sam Colt confirmed its pre-eminence as the dominant type of handgun until the beginning of the 20th Century when self-loading designs began to proliferate. By the 1870s, the centre-fire cartridge revolver reigned supreme and the following three decades saw a myriad number of designs vying with each other. The 1870s, 80s and 90s were the Golden Age of the cartridge revolver and they provide a fertile field for the collector. The Belgian trade – based around the city of Liege - was famed as a gun making centre so it was
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Fig.1. Close up of loading gate with a cartridge being inserted into the chamber.
natural that it should generate a wide variety of revolvers ranging at one end of the spectrum from inexpensive specimens of execrable quality to cleverly engineered and finely finished guns that would rival anything produced in Europe or the US, at the other end. One gunmaker who produced very distinctive revolvers was Alexandre Fagnus. (I am not proficient in speaking French, but I understand that this name is pronounced ¨Fan-Yu¨). Fagnus was clearly an ingenious man as he was granted seven Belgian Patents relating to revolvers during the time that his firm was active. The firm was founded in 1863 and was initially based at 9, Rue
des Celestins. It stayed in business until 1893, albeit with various styles. In 1867 Fagnus was granted a Belgian patent for a pinfire revolver. There was nothing technologically advanced about this as it simply referred to a quick detachable cylinder attached to the barrel by a length of ball-link chain so that it could not be lost. The cylinder arbor has a large bar attached to the front running down the front of the frame which enabled it to be quickly detached for loading as there was no gate on the recoil shield. The empties were poked out with the arbor. These revolvers are not uncommon on the Continent; a long-barelled, 12mm centre-fire version is also known with a screw-
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Fig.4
Fig.3
Fig.2. Fagnus revolver from left hand side with two French 11mm Mle 1873 service revolver cartridges. Fig.3. Fagnus revolver with the hinged sideplate open showing lock components. Fig.4. Original advert for the Fagnus revolver, c.1880.
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on skeleton shoulder stock, making it into a pistol-carbine. Fagnus was granted another patent in 1871, for the extraction system on a centre-fire revolver. Here the trigger guard rotated to unlock the frame which in turn allowed the barrel to hinge on the top of the strap, to rotate upwards. This in turn activated a star-shaped extractor plate which removed the empty cases. It was not dissimilar to the British Hill revolver as made by Francotte and Braendlin. Fagnus´ firm moved to various other addresses in Liege during its existence. It was at 19 Rue Mahin and also 20b Rue Chéri in 1880. In 1886 it was at Rue Jolivet and finally ended its existence at 24, Rue des Armuriers thereafter. In 1879 Fagnus joined Charles Clément to become Fagnus and Clément. This partnership lasted until 1883. Between 1887 – 1890, Fagnus went into business with Servais Nossent to form Fagnus and Nossent. Fagnus continued on his own until 1893 when nothing further is heard about him. Fagnus is best remembered for his centre-fire solid frame revolver with an ingenious side plate that could be hinged to expose the lock components for maintenance. This was protected by four Belgian patents granted between 1873 – 76. The pistol had an L shaped catch which rotated through 180 degrees to unlock the side plate on the left of the pistol. This in turn could be hinged open, revealing the inner workings of the mechanism. At this time there were several revolvers with quick detachable or hinged side plates giving easy access to the lock parts for cleaning and maintenance. Baron de Muncie (probably the agent for a revolver maker) had one as did the Austrian Rasr-Gasser M1898 army revolver. The French Chamelot-Delvigne service revolvers of 1873/74 had this feature. Once the side plate had been hinged open the left grip block can be lifted off. This exposes the lock components which may be removed without recourse to tools. If the mainspring is pushed to the right this disengages its peg which is guided away from the grip-plate, running down a tapered groove
▼
Fig.2
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PISTOLS until it detaches itself completely. The hammer and trigger can be lifted off their pegs. The transfer bar which tensions the trigger via the mainspring is hooked to a screwpeg at its lower end. It can be readily detached once the mainspring has been removed. Build quality is superb with all internal components having a ¨jewelled¨ finish. Like most good designs, the Fagnus was simply scaled up or down to accommodate a variety of cartridges. In its biggest version it was chambered for a 12mm or .450 and its smallest took the .22 rimfire. In between were the 9mm (.380) and the 8mm (.320). The smaller models had the folding trigger characteristic of Belgian pocket revolvers. The Fagnus was also chambered for the 11mm French service cartridge, presumably in an attempt to promote sales amongst French Army Officers; of this more later. The Danes adopted it in 9mm as the Omredjningspistol M1880, for Army Officers. The lock is a modified SchmidtGaland type. It is capable of double action fire only. The hammer lacks the notch that would allow it to be cocked for single action fire. There is a loading gate to the right recoil shield and a simple rod extractor on the right side of the barrel. There is a lanyard ring to the butt. The pistol had a very high degree of finish and was made from the best materials. The left side of the barrel is marked ¨Acier Fondu¨ in cursive script. This indicated that it was made from cast crucible steel. (As an interesting aside, I have seen the words ¨Acier Fondu¨ routinely used in one of the fields in the UK’s National Firearms Licensing Management system by the police who think this is a gunmaker’s name). For an extra two francs a chequered ebony grip could be had. The revolver was available in a deep polish blue or nickel plate finishes. The firm of Fagnus in Paris was represented by the Depot of Paris, managed by one Amadee Maquaire, a Parisian businessman. Maquaire made his money in sewing machines and bicycles. He then decided to expand into the field of civilian firearms. Le Depot was a five story emporium at 5, Rue de Strasbourg. It had 1500 square
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Fig.5
Fig.6
metres of firearms, mainly from French and Belgian makers. As the hall area was 15m long it had been converted into a shooting range so that prospective purchasers could try out the goods. Maquaire was desperate to have the Fagnus revolver adopted as the French service pistol, supplanting the 11m Mle 1873/74 Chamelot Delvigne. Around 1885, he began to really promote it to the French military authorities even though he was not the inventor and despite the fact that it was about 10 years old. All of the contemporary advertising refers to it as ¨The Perfected Officer’s Model of 1874¨. The revolver was trialled by Ecole Normale de Tir at the Camp of Chalons in April 1887. However,
Fig.5. Close up of lock components. Fig.6. Close up of mark indicating manufacture from cast crucible steel.
things did not go as Maquaire planned and the pistol was rejected on the grounds that it was more complex and less reliable than the Chamelot Delvigne that it was intended to replace. The board President did not think much of it and remarked on 23rd April that “this weapon is not characterised by any interesting feature, and there is no follow-up to the proposal of Mr. Maquaire”. Despite its rejection by the military, the Fagnus was still a success in the civilian arms field. Despite the arrival of 8mm Mle 1892 Lebel it still continued to be offered up to the beginning of World War One. (Initially people were suspicious of revolvers smaller than .44 or.45 for military service).
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Fig.7
Fig.7. Loading gate and cartridge being inserted in a chamber. Fig.8. Close up of ejector rod showing protruding into a chamber Fig.8
It still featured in the catalogues of the Manufacture d’Armes and Cycles of Saint-Etienne from 1890 to 1904. It was offered in various calibres, ranging from 5 mm to 12 mm, with prices between 43-55 francs. Maquaire went back to promoting sewing machines and bicylces. It is not possible to say with any great accuracy how many Fagnus revolvers were made. However the serial numbers give an indication. Mine is 12758 and I am aware of one in the 19,000 range. It seems certain the the numbering sequence started at 1, so a figure of 20,000 would be about right. The Fagnus´ classification in UK law is complicated. The .22 version is a prohibited weapon that cannot be owned unless it is part of a collection and stored in a secure Home Office site, under Section 7(3) of the Firearms Act 1997. The same goes for the 9mm or .380. The 8mm or .320 can be freely owned as an antique firearm under Section 58(2) as can the version chambered for the 11mm French service cartridge. The 12mm or .450 is still a prohibited weapon but may be owned at home on the authority of a Firearm Certificate under Section 7(1) or at an approved site as part of a collection under 7(3). Consequently great care must be taken in establishing the cartridge, especially when it comes to 11mmm or .450. The only way to be certain is to try it with an inert specimen as the two rounds are not interchangeable. The Fagnus is a typical Continental European revolver of its time. It is both technically interesting from the perspective of its lock needing no tools to dismantle it. It is also historically important as it was a major competitor to the Chamelot Delvigne as well as being made for the civilian market in large numbers. ■ SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
•T he Revolver 1865 - 1888 A W F Taylerson, London, 1966 • The Revolver 1888 – 1914 A W F Taylerson, London, 1970 • Neue Stoekel, Eugen Heer, Schwabisch Hall, 1978 • Die Europaischen MMilitarrevolver, Rolf H. Muller, Schwabisch Hall, 1978 • www.littlegun.be I cannot commend this website enough for anyone interested in Belgian gunmaking. It is encyclopedic.
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UNIFORMS
Armies of the War of the Triple Alliance
BRAZIL, PART II
In this second article dealing with the Brazilian armed forces of the Paraguayan War, Gabriele Esposito discusses the organisation and uniforms of the Brazilian National Guard and Volunteers. In addition, he will analyse the weaponry used by the Brazilian military forces during the War of the Triple Alliance.
The 1st CVP at the combat of São Borja, on 10 June 1865. Note the officer defending the flag of the unit.
T
he Brazilian National Guard had been completely reorganised in 1852, in order to increase the quality of its troops. It provided the reserve to the regular army and was made up of volunteers from a multitude of units across the whole country, which were to be recruited, organised and administered by the individual provinces. The Imperial Court also raised its own National Guard units from the country at large, as if it was a province in its own right. These units, known as ‘of the Court’, were better trained and equipped than ordinary provincial units and served as a model for the ‘Guardia Nacional’ corps as a whole. The units ‘of the Court’ had a certain number of well-to-do gentlemen in their ranks, while most national guardsmen
from the provinces were simply patriotic but ordinary men. The National Guard comprised units from all the branches of service (infantry, cavalry and artillery) but no separate light infantry ones, because each infantry battalion was to have two companies of ‘Caçadores’. In 1865, Decree No. 3,383 mobilised 14,796 ‘Guardias Nacionales’ for war service: some were sent to join the regular army on the field, others to perform ‘police’ functions behind the lines or to relieve regular troops in provincial garrisons. The National Guard continued to recruit throughout the war, as the demand of new units for all sorts of duties continued to grow. Unfortunately, there are no available figures for how many national guardsmen were eventually mobilised
Plate 1 (right): Soldier of the Horse Artillery from Rio Grande do Sul, 1865. This man is wearing the non-regulation red campaign uniform described in the previous article on the Brazilian Army. Drawing by Benedetto Esposito. Plate 2 (far right): ‘Caçador’ of the São Paulo ‘Fixed’ corps, 1864. For more details on the uniforms of the ‘Fixed’ corps, see the previous article on the Brazilian Army. Drawing by Benedetto Esposito.
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UNIT
ORIGIN
HISTORY
1st CVP
Formed at Court, with volunteers from various provinces of Brazil.
2nd CVP 3rd CVP 4th CVP
Formed at Court. Renumbered as 24th CVP. Province of Bahia. Renumbered as 25th CVP. Formed at Court, with one company from Renumbered as 27th CVP. the province of Paraná.
5th CVP
National Guard of Rio de Janeiro, plus 1st Absorbed into the 28th CVP. Volunteer Fusilier Battalion of Niterói.
6th CVP 7th CVP 8th CVP
Province of Rio de Janeiro. Provinces of São Paulo and Paraná. Provinces of Rio de Janeiro, Sergipe and Alagoas.
Renumbered as 33rd CVP. Absorbed into the 35th CVP. Renumbered as 37th CVP.
9th CVP
Formed at Court, with volunteers from various provinces of Brazil.
Disbanded.
9th CVP 10th CVP 11th CVP 12th CVP 13th CVP 14th CVP 15th CVP 16th CVP 17th CVP 18th CVP 19th CVP 20th CVP 21st CVP
Police corps of Rio Grande do Sul. Police corps of Bahia. Province of Pernambuco. Police corps of Rio de Janeiro. Police corps of Pará. Province of Pernambuco. National Guard of Bahia. Province of Goiás. Province of Minas Gerais. Provinces of Minas Gerais and Ouro Preto. Police corps of Ceará, Sergipe and Piauí. Police corps of Alagoas. Police corps of Paraíba, plus volunteers from the province of Pernambuco.
Renumbered as 39th CVP. Renumbered as 41st CVP. Renumbered as 42nd CVP. Renumbered as 44th CVP. Disbanded. Renumbered as 49th CVP. Renumbered as 50th CVP. Renumbered as 52nd CVP. -
during the conflict (presumably well over 100,000 men). We know that the province of Rio Grande do Sul alone mobilised a total of 43,500 soldiers of the National Guard, of whom 29,200 saw combat. Equally, there is no complete listing of the number of units raised. This is not very surprising, considering that the conflict saw a continual process of units being raised, disbanded, amalgamated and renumbered, to the point that even following the history of a single unit can be very difficult. For example, there were many units designated as ‘Provisional Corps’, which were considered to be part of the National Guard: evidence suggests that these were ad hoc units, formed with drafts
Renumbered as 23rd CVP.
from various sources and provisionally attached to the regular army. In some cases, the national guardsmen also served as cadres to form the new battalions of ‘Voluntários da Pátria’. The ‘Voluntários da Pátria’ Although the Empire had a large National Guard, Brazilian law stated that its individual provincial units could only be used beyond the national borders when their respective provinces were attacked by outside forces. The Paraguayan attacks against Mato Grosso and Rio Grande do Sul therefore meant that only these two provinces could send National Guard units to assist the regular
army on the field. Brazilian public opinion was incensed at the ‘outrages’ of Paraguay, whose soldiers had invaded Brazil’s border provinces: national cohesion was soon achieved and public support for the war was overwhelming. It was time for Brazil to call on its large population to defend the nation: the Brazilian government opted for the creation of a whole new class of volunteer troops, organised separately from the National Guard and to exist for the duration of the war with Paraguay. With the Decree No. 3,371 of 7 January 1865, the Emperor ordered the formation of the new ‘Corpo de Voluntários da Pátria’ or ‘CVP’. The response to this new force was very enthusiastic: thousands of men from all over the country answered the call within a short time and signed up. The new infantry battalions of the ‘CVP’ were soon formed, with the 1st, 2nd, 4th and 9th being raised by the Imperial Court. Initially, the volunteers had no standard organisation and each unit had a different composition. Battalions could consist of white or black soldiers, but the majority were of mixed race. The following battalions of ‘Voluntários da Pátria’ were initially formed (see table left). Another volunteer unit, the ‘16º Corpo de Voluntários Auxiliar’, was also known as the 16th CVP. This had a very peculiar history: it was formed with volunteers of many nationalities (mostly Italians) living in Uruguay, who had been recruited in Montevideo during the Brazilian invasion of 1864. The unit was clearly inspired by Garibaldi’s ‘Red Shirts’ and was thus known as ‘Voluntários Garibaldinos’. The Battalion was attached to the Uruguayan forces under command of Venancio Flores, taking part in most of the battles fought during 186566. The unit was finally disbanded on 13 October 1867. After the great enthusiasm of the first year, the number of new volunteers for the ‘Voluntários da Pátria’ began to
Left: National Guard infantrymen ‘of the Court’, wearing their smart campaign dress consisting of a kepi covered by a white havelock and entirely dark blue uniform (see text for more details). Note that they are all armed with old flintlock muskets.
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Right: The peculiar unit badge of the ‘Voluntários da Pátria’, created to identify CVP units. It was worn on the upper left sleeve. See text for more details.
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Above left: Officer of the ‘Voluntários da Pátria’, dressed with the most common uniform used by volunteer officers: dark blue kepi, ‘gandola’ and trousers. The ‘gandola’ was a loose blouse with pleats on the front, which became standard issue for all the CVP units around 1866-67. The two elements which differentiate this officer’s uniform from that of his rankers are the golden rank rings around the cuffs and the red waist-sash with golden knots. Above middle: Officer of the ‘Voluntários da Pátria’. The black brimmed hat, which was the standard headgear of the volunteers, had one side of the brim turned up to show a brass unit numeral and/or a Brazilian national cockade. Above right: Corporal of the 1st CVP in 1865. This was exactly the general appearance of the volunteers: black brimmed hat with unit number and national cockade, dark blue ‘gandola’ and white trousers. Note the CVP badge and three rank stripes on the left sleeve.
wane. Recruits had to be obtained in other ways: the authorities started to enlist foreign migrants, unemployed, rogues, criminals, orphans and many ex-slaves or slaves. As the rest of the Brazilian Army, the ‘Volunteers of the Fatherland’ were reorganised by Caxias on 20 December 1866. A standard composition was introduced for all battalions: each was to have 37 officers and 805 soldiers, divided into eight companies. As a result, the battalions which did not reach this establishment were disbanded and their soldiers were distributed among the other units. To avoid any confusion resulting from the expansion of the regular infantry, the new numbering of the CVP battalions started from number 22. In total, during the Paraguayan War, Brazil mobilised a force of 55,985 volunteers. The table, previous, shows some of the new organisation ordered by Caxias. In the province of Bahia, which had the highest number of plantations and black slaves in all Brazil, 11 companies of free blacks were formed, known as the ‘Zuavos da Bahia’ (‘Zouaves of Bahia’). Another company of free blacks was formed in Recife, in the province of Pernambuco: this received the denomination of ‘zouaves’ only after being attached to the companies from Bahia. The ‘Zouaves of Bahia’, numbering 638 men in total, were not administratively part of the ‘Volunteers of the Fatherland’
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system: in fact, their companies were later organised into a ‘Provisional Corps of Zouaves’. The ‘Zuavos’ fought with great courage during most of the early battles (including Tuyutí) and were finally disbanded after the high losses suffered at the battle of Curupaytí. In addition to the companies of zouaves, the free blacks of Bahia also formed a company known as ‘Couraças’, numbering 80 men. Its name, which literally means ‘cuirasses’, derived from the fact that these volunteers were dressed in protective leather (see plate 6). They were all ‘vaqueiros’ (cowboys) from the ‘Sertão’, whose traditional working dress was usually made of leather. This kind of military unit had a long tradition in Bahia, the first ‘couraças’ having been formed during the struggle for independence against the Portuguese. Uniforms National Guard: The outbreak of the Paraguayan War saw the rapid disappearance of the fancy and rather old-fashioned 1852 uniforms. However, no new dress regulations were promulgated for the National Guard during the conflict; management of such matters was generally left to the individual provinces. Units ‘of the Court’ had smart but elegant uniforms, quite different from those of the provincial forces (see plate 3). For example, National
Guard infantrymen ‘of the Court’ marched to the front in a practical and entirely dark blue uniform, with the kepi covered by a white havelock. In general, National Guard units wore uniforms based on those of the regular army, but simplified and plainer, with little extraneous decoration. In some cases, however, unit distinctions in the form of badges, coloured collar patches or piping would have been on the uniform. As the war progressed, many units started to wear the same campaign dress of the volunteers, with comfortable dark blue blouses and black slouch hats or blue kepis. Some units seem to have been largely dressed in civilian clothing, probably because of the shortage of replacement uniforms. National Guard cavalry, which was largely recruited amongst gauchos of the Rio Grande do Sul province, wore the traditional gaucho dress rather than uniforms. ‘Voluntários da Pátria’: The flow of men enlisting to form the ‘CVP’ quickly created many problems to supply officials: all these volunteers suddenly had to be supplied and clothed. The overwhelmed government issued whatever could be found in stores, including regular army, National Guard or even police uniforms. This was enough to meet the needs of the first few battalions, but dozens more were forming. The local authorities of the various provinces also addressed the clothing problem. Predictably
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Detail from a large painting by Pedro Américo (dated 1872-77), showing CVP soldiers at the Battle of Avay (11 December 1868). In this case volunteers are dressed with dark blue tunics of conventional cut, with red collar patches and shoulder straps. Sometimes also the ‘gandola’ could have a red collar, cuffs or cuff flaps and shoulder straps. Note the white covers on the kepis, bearing on the front a simple unit number written in black. Above left: Officer and soldier of the ‘Voluntários da Pátria’. The officer on the left wears parade dress with contre-epaulettes and white summer trousers; the soldier on the right has a kepi covered by a white havelock and dark blue ‘gandola’. Left: Soldier and officer of the ‘Voluntários da Pátria’. The soldier on the left wears a dark blue ‘gandola’ and white trousers; the officer on the right has a national cockade on the black brimmed hat.
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trousers, medium blue waist-sash, white waist-belt and spats (see plate 5). Weapons In 1857 the Brazilian Army had been re-equipped with new rifled percussionlock weapons, all Belgian-made Minié. In 1858 a certain number of similar Enfield weapons were bought from England. In general, the standard Brazilian weapons were Belgian, because the British ones were bought in small numbers. The line infantry muskets were either Belgian ‘Espingardas Minié’ or Pattern 1853 Enfields. In 1867 the Brazilian Army purchased 5,000 Roberts rifles; however, these never saw service during the war due to ammunition problems. The ‘Caçadores’ battalions were armed with the same weapons of the line infantry, but in their light infantry short version. The muskets of the ‘Fusileiros’ had triangular socket bayonets, while the carbines of the ‘Caçadores’ had sword-
Plate 3 (far left): National Guard sapper ‘of the Court’, 1864. This elegant parade uniform is in perfect French-style, albeit having some peculiar and local elements, like the upper part of the apron made with jaguar-skin, the red cuffs of the gloves and the Brazilian coat-of-arms on the lower part of the apron. Drawing by Benedetto Esposito. Plate 4 (left): Soldier of the ‘Voluntários Garibaldinos’, 1865. The uniform is more or less the same of Garibaldi’s ‘Red Shirts’, who were very popular during those years and especially in South America. The red blouse, typical of Garibaldi’s volunteers, has a green collar, cuffs, upwards-pointing pocket flaps and button fly section on the chest, all piped in white. Drawing by Benedetto Esposito.
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this confusion resulted in a great variety of novel-looking campaign uniforms. To identify them, a badge specifically created for volunteers was to be worn on the upper left sleeve. Some of these new uniforms were quite elaborate and thus inadequate for use in the field, and were later replaced by more practical ones. Around 1867, the universal uniform of the volunteers became a loose blue blouse with pleats on the front, called ‘gandola’. This blouse was generally plain, but some units added red collar, cuffs or cuff flaps and shoulder straps. Trousers were blue for winter, white for summer. A dark blue kepi, frequently with white cover, was the most common headgear. However, many units of volunteers preferred a black brimmed hat. Both the kepi and the brimmed hat could be plain or bear the battalion number and national cockade. The ‘Voluntários Garibaldinos’ were dressed similarly to Garibaldi’s volunteers: red
kepi with green bottom band and white piping, red blouse with green collar, cuffs, pocket flaps and button fly section on the chest, all piped in white, with dark grey trousers and black belts (see plate 4). The ‘Zouaves of Bahia’ had one of the most handsome uniforms of the whole Brazilian Army, which was almost identical to the one worn by the contemporary French Zouaves. It consisted of a red fez with medium blue tassel, dark blue oriental-style jacket and vest trimmed with yellow lace, baggy red
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The ‘Zuavos da Bahia’ at the Battle of Itapirú, on 17 April 1866. You can see the Zouaves on the right.
bayonets (of the ‘yataghan’ type for Enfield carbines). Also the ‘Zouaves of Bahia’ had light infantry carbines. At the beginning of the Paraguayan War a decision was made to use only 14.8mm bullets, in order to avoid any confusion regarding supply of ammunitions: for this reason, all the Enfields of the Brazilian Army (which calibre was 14.66mm) were returned to the army’s arsenal to be ri-rifled to the correct size. The weapons issued to the ‘Voluntários da Pátria’ were initially quite varied, including a certain number of smooth-bores, but with the progression of the hostilities all Volunteer units received the same Minié rifles of the regulars. In 1852 the Brazilian government had bought 900 Dreyse M1841 needle-guns for the
war against Rosas; in 1866 an independent company of ‘Caçadores’ was formed to test these weapons on the Paraguayan field of battle. In December of the same year the Prussian-born Lieutenant Meyer was selected to command it, because he already had experience with the needle-gun. Gradually the company grew in numbers and was attached to the 15th Battalion of ‘Caçadores’. The whole battalion was completely re-equipped with the Prussian Dreyse and took part to the assault against the Cierva redoubt on 18 February 1868. The position was finally conquered, but many of the unit’s soldiers threw away their needle-guns because of their poor performance, picking up muzzleloading rifles from the wounded and dead soldiers of other Brazilian battalions. The Dreyse guns jammed on many occasions: apparently, climatic conditions in Paraguay were not ideal for this kind of weapon. The Brazilian cavalry was armed with Minié or Enfield carbines, which were gradually replaced from 1867 by the excellent Spencer seven-shot carbines (2,000 of which had been bought in 1866). The newly-raised ‘Mounted Rifles’ were armed with the same carbines of the light infantry; later in the war, they received Spencer carbines, the same as the rest of the cavalry. The Brazilian
cavalrymen were armed with sabres model 1831 or 1851, which were Brazilian copies of the excellent French 1822 light cavalry sabre. These were used in two different versions, for officers and soldiers. A certain number of old British Pattern 1796 light cavalry sabres were also in use, despite being officially replaced since 1831. The cavalry also had lances, which were of the 1844 model (imported from England) or of the 1864 model (imported from France). The Rio Grande do Sul National Guard cavalry was armed with the cross-type lances and ‘bolas’ of the gauchos. The Brazilian artillery and engineers were armed with musketoons, either Minié or Enfield. In addition, the engineers also had a peculiar sword-bayonet with serrated blade, known as ‘sabre-serra’ and used as a working tool. The majority of the Brazilian officers were armed with Colt or Lefaucheux revolvers, but percussion pistols were still in use, either Minié (most of which were smoothbores) or Enfield. Since 1831, the Brazilian generals had a distinctive model of sabre. Brazilian field artillery was technically up to date and consisted mainly of muzzleloading rifled cannons of the French Model 1858 La Hitte system of 4pdr and British Whitworth field guns of 20lbs. In addition, locally manufactured Congreve and Hales rockets were used. ■
Plate 6 (far left): ‘Couraça’, 1865. The name of this unit, which meant ‘cuirasses’, derived from the kind of clothing worn by these soldiers: in practice, this was the traditional working dress of the ‘vaqueiros’ from ‘Sertão’, consisting of slouch hat, jacket and trousers all made of crude brown leather. This material had a precise protective function, working as some sort of ‘cuirass’. The only military elements of these volunteers’ dress were the green pointed cuffs having yellow piping. Weaponry consists of an old flintlock light infantry carbine and an infantry short sabre. Drawing by Benedetto Esposito. Plate 5 (left): Zouave of Bahia, 1865. This uniform was almost identical to that worn by the contemporary French Zouaves. The ‘Zuavos da Bahia’ had a red fez with medium blue tassel, dark blue oriental-style jacket and vest trimmed with decorative yellow lace, baggy red trousers, medium blue waist-sash and white spats. Weaponry consists of a light infantry carbine with ‘yataghan’ sword bayonet. Drawing by Benedetto Esposito.
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THE MEN BEHIND THE GUN
NEW SERIES
JAMES PARIS LEE
J
ames Lee was born in Hawick, Roxburghshire, Scotland, on 9 August 1831. His parents, George Lee (1803-66) and Margaret Paris (1803-46), had been married in the parish of Stow in Midlothian on 31 October 1826. [1] Mary Lee was born in Hawick on 7 August 1827 and the family grew steadily. Shortly after the birth of Isabel in 1835, the Lee family group decided to emigrate.[2] In the summer of 1836, according to Donald Whyte, writing in 1986 in A Dictionary of Scottish Emigrants to Canada before Confederation, George and Margaret Lee sailed across the Atlantic to start a new life in the township of Galt, Ontario. The 1851 Canadian census lists ‘George Lee, Watchmaker’ as a widower, with daughters Mary, Isabella [sic], Margaret, Ann and Jessie, and sons John and George. Three of the girls and one of the boys had been born in ‘Upper Canada’.
Fig.2
Fig.1
Fig.3
Fig.1. A portrait of James Paris Lee, completed in 1888 by John Horsburgh (18351924) of Edinburgh, probably on the basis of photographs taken in his London studio. Courtesy of the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution,Washington DC; Gift of Robert Lee Morris Jr and Frances Mathews Morris. Fig.2. Lee single-shot .44 RF carbine no. 1707. The barrel swung laterally to expose the breech. Courtesy of auctioneers James D. Julia, Inc., Fairfield, Maine, USA (www.jamesdjulia.com). Fig.3. Lee ‘Vertical Action’ or M1875 .4570 Springfield-Lee rifle no. 88. Tests showed that the compact design and exceptionally easy disassembly were outweighed by the quirky operating method. Courtesy of auctioneers James D. Julia, Inc., Fairfield, Maine, USA (www.jamesdjulia.com).
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James Lee inherited his fascination with guns from his father, who collected coins and antique weaponry. When Lee was 16, however, on a foray into the wilderness, he dropped his homemade gun. The accidental discharge injured his heel and, although Lee was able to crawl back to the track on which he was eventually found, he spent many months bedridden and the wound would trouble him for the rest of his life. Lee trained as a watchmaker, first as an apprentice to his father and then for a short time in Toronto. Intending to follow his new trade, he decided to settle in Chatham, Ontario. There he fell in love with Caroline Juliet, daughter of blacksmith Henry Chrysler. Married in Chatham in 1852, James and Caroline moved in 1854 to Owen Sound, where William J. Lee was born a year later. The family left Canada for Janesville, Wisconsin (where George Miles Lee was born in November 1859), before moving on to Stevens Point. On 25 October 1860, James Paris Lee filed a ‘Declaration of Intent’ to assume US citizenship. The untamed land around Stevens Point fuelled Lee’s fascination with shooting. Unhappy with muzzleloaders and with the benefit of a precision-engineering background, Lee began to develop guns of his own. One of the first attempts had chambers in the butt from which cartridges could be conveyed to the breech. When the Civil War began in 1861, Lee, who designed breech-loading conversions of the standard Springfield rifle-musket in this period, realised that firearms would be sought in ever-increasing numbers. A prototype single-shot carbine based on the pistol protected by US Patent 35941 of 22 July 1862 was shown to the Federal Ordnance Department and, on 7 May 1864, Lee’s offer to supply 1,000 guns at $18 apiece was accepted. After a brief sojourn in Washington DC, James Lee moved from Stevens Point to Milwaukee and ‘Lee’s Fire Arms Company Armory’ was
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From small Scots town to world renown. By John Walter
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THE MEN BEHIND THE GUN Fig.6 Fig.4
established at 454 Canal Street on 13 October 1864. Articles of Association were filed on 2 November in the State Capital, Madison, incorporation was granted on 8 May 1865, and issue of $100,000 of capital stock was authorised (though scarcely more than a tenth was ever subscribed). James Lee became Superintendent of Works. The official order for the ‘Caliber .44’ carbines was signed on 18 April 1865 and work began. Remington delivered 1,136 barrel-blanks, bored but not rifled; the sights and some other components seem to have been supplied by the makers of the Burnside carbine. Unfortunately, the first sample Lee carbine was rejected by the inspector, William A. Thornton, and its successors were accepted only grudgingly in January 1866. The Civil War was over by this time, and there was no need of the guns; in addition, Brigadier-General Alexander Dyer, the Chief of Ordnance, had drawn attention to the bore diameter that measured merely .42 inch. As early as 23 March 1866, the Milwaukee Daily Sentinel was reporting that Lee was offering sporting rifles, light and heavy, in .38 and .44 RF
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Fig.5
Fig.4. A typical .45-70 M1882 ‘Chinese’ Remington-Lee. Most of these rifles were issued with a sabre bayonet, though the stud was cut short enough to allow a Remington-type socket bayonet to be substituted. Courtesy of auctioneers James D. Julia, Inc., Fairfield, Maine, USA (www.jamesdjulia. com). Fig.5. One of the .43 RemingtonLee rifles supplied to New Zealand in 1887. Serious breech explosions and other problems are now usually attributed more to poor ammunition than inherent flaws in the Lee action, but the guns were rapidly withdrawn. Courtesy of auctioneers James D. Julia, Inc., Fairfield, Maine, USA (www.jamesdjulia. com).
in addition to the ‘army carbine’ that would clearly not be accepted in quantity. On 20 December 1866, Lieutenant-Colonel McAllister reported that only 255 carbines had been completed when he had visited Milwaukee in November; 102 of these had been sold commercially, and another 202 were in course of assembly. But exactly how many guns were made in Milwaukee is still a mystery; serial numbers on sporting rifles run as high as 2300, but there is no evidence that they had started at ‘1’. In January 1867, Lee appealed directly to Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, claiming damages in addition to monies due under the contract. General Dyer, basing his calculations on an estimate made by McAllister that Lee’s expenses amounted to $20,350.15, offered merely $4,087.75 – half the ‘nett loss’ once the value of tools, equipment and unsold stock had been deducted. The ensuing court case did not end until January 1868, long after Lee’s Arms Company had closed its doors. The judge accepted that the letter of 7 May 1864, which did not refer to the calibre or chambering, constituted
the contract; and that the order of 18 April 1866, in which ‘Caliber .44’ was mentioned for the first time, did not. Lee had been entitled to assume that the production carbine would be chambered identically to the prototype. It was a hollow victory. The 1870 US Federal census places James Lee and his family in Milwaukee, at ‘130 Prospect [Street]’. He had gone back to watchmaking, but still owned real estate valued at $13,000. Lee was subsequently employed by Remington at a time when the rolling-block was being perfected, assigning US Patent 122470 of 2 January 1872 to ‘Philo Remington, of Ilion in New York State’. Among the patents he had reserved for his own use was 54744 of 15 May 1866, protecting a dropping-block action; one carbine of this type survives. On 6 June 1872, Congress approved a ‘Board for the Selecting of a Breech-System for Muskets and Carbines’, which convened in Springfield Armory on 3 September and worked until 5 May 1873. Among the 95 guns tested were ‘Lee No. 53’, ‘Lee No. 54’ and ‘Lee No. 61’. No. 53 was an embryonic
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Fig.7. An advertisement from Army and Navy Journal of 24 March 1883, illustrating the 1879-type Lee. Note the position of the bolt handle. Author’s collection. Fig.8. The markings on the New Zealand Remington-Lee. Courtesy of auctioneers James D. Julia, Inc., Fairfield, Maine, USA (www.jamesdjulia. com).
Fig.8
straight-pull design, relying on a pull on the hammer to unlock the action and retract the breech-block in an arc to expose the chamber; No. 54, protected by US Patent 116068 of 20 June 1870, assigned to Remington, had a Peabody-type breech operated by pulling the hammer back; and No. 61, similar in concept but protected by patent 122772 of 16 January 1872, needed forward pressure on the hammer to open the breech. [3] Lee objected to Peabody, Martini and similar designs because the under-lever hindered operation if the firer was prone. His No. 61 ‘Vertical Action’ rifle intrigued the US Army, and Lee, with the help of a wellplaced politician or two, was able to persuade Congress to grant $10,000 to fund field trials. By 1874, Lee had left Milwaukee for Springfield, Massachusetts, to supervise production of these rifles; according to the Report of the Chief of Ordnance of 30 June 1875, 143 were made. They incorporated improvements made by US Patent 160919 (sought on 9 May 1874 but not granted until 16 March 1875), had a one-piece stock, and used standard 1873-type Springfield sights and fittings.
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A later tipping-block design, protected by US Patent 193821 of 7 August 1877, was tested in 1878 as ‘Lee No. 25’ by the Ordnance Board, authorised on 21 November 1877 to select a magazine rifle. It relied on a backward pull of the hammer to open the action, but the WinchesterHotchkiss was preferred. The rejection of the tipping-block rifles caused James Lee’s thoughts to wander elsewhere. In 1877, he and his younger brother John (18331907) made a prototype bolt-action rifle that is said to have been tested by firing from John Lee’s metal-foundry in Wallaceburg, Ontario, across the Sydenham River into a large oak tree on the opposite bank. Protected by US Patent 221328 of 4 November 1879, and by comparable protection granted elsewhere, the rifle was duly licensed to the Sharps Rifle Company, which had enticed Lee away from Remington – still actively promoting the boltaction Remington-Keene, with a tube magazine under the barrel. The Lee Arms Company [4] was formed to sell the new rifle in accordance with an agreement signed with Sharps on 10 May 1879, though officers and premises were shared.
Lee worked tirelessly to promote the guns in Europe, and Sharps’ agent, Colonel Frank Hyde, visited Britain in July 1879 to demonstrate a prototype M1879 rifle to the War Office (three rifles and three carbines were acquired for trials by the Committee on Machine Guns in 1880). A rifle and a carbine went to Spain in the same era. On 16 November 1879, Army and Navy Journal highlighted the first public appearance of the new guns. A plan to convert ‘Trapdoor Springfields’ to the Lee system was rejected in February 1879, and an offer to take 500 new rifles, said to have been made by General Nelson Miles, President of the Army Equipment Board, was never ratified. However, the US Navy promptly ordered 300 .45-70 M1879 rifles from Joseph Frazier of New York City. Sharps had made only 30-50 guns in the Bridgeport toolroom, some of the earliest with the bolt handle projecting above the stock behind the receiver bridge, and business failed almost as soon as work began on the Navy order. The incomplete contract and rights to the rifle were duly acquired by Remington. The M1879 could be identified by the position of the bolt handle, which locked down ahead of the split receiver bridge; the handle of the M1882 (and the later M1885) lay behind the solid bridge. Chamberings were customarily restricted to .45-70 or .43-77 (.43 Spanish), but 11mm Gras and .42 Russian were among others used for trials guns. The earliest magazines relied on a small nib or spur at the front of the body to retain the nose of the uppermost cartridge. Consequently, the first round had to be moved back before it could be tipped sharply upward, requiring a shroud or ‘hood’ above the bolt-way to ensure satisfactory feed on the forward stroke. This type of magazine had to be removed to reload. Hugo Borchardt, Roswell Cook and then Louis Diss all tried to make the detachable magazines durable enough to withstand active service. Lee’s relationship with Remington had become strained, so the 1885type rifle was protected by patents granted to Louis Diss (e.g. US 356274) and assigned to Brill & Russell, Receivers of E. Remington & Sons. A major change had been made
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Fig.6. Drawings accompanying Lee’s original bolt-action patent 221328 of 1879. Courtesy of the US Patent Office, Washington DC.
Fig.7
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THE MEN BEHIND THE GUN to the 1882-type bolt to prevent the firing pin flying out backwards when a case-head burst, with potentially fatal consequences for the firer. The bolt-way shroud was eliminated – allowing the M1885 to load through the open action – and some 1882type guns were upgraded by grinding the shroud away. The M1899 Remington-Lee, which had been strengthened to handle small-calibre smokeless ammunition, had a front-locking bolt patented by Roswell Cook on behalf of the Remington Arms Company (US no. 539037 of 14 May 1895). It could be obtained in 7×57, 7.65×53, .30-40 and .303. Lee-type sporting rifles accepted cartridges from .30-30 WCF to .45-90 WCF. The Remington-Lee was moderately successful, though output is difficult to assess satisfactorily. Judging by serial numbers, about 9,000 M1879 rifles were made, 1,000 of which (including 700 ‘non-contract’ guns) had gone to the US Navy. There were at least 30,000 M1882 rifles, of which 750 had been acquired for trials with the US Army, and 9,000 had gone to China in 1884-85. Chinese guns usually have ideographs on the body acknowledging the import agent, Jui Sheng of Shanghai. Hartley & Graham, Remington’s agents in New York, shipped 1,000 guns to Peru on 27 May 1889 and 2,000 to Haiti on 3 July 1889. Production of 1885-type rifles is unlikely to have exceeded 10,000. Of these, 3,956 went to the US Navy; 1,960 were sent to Bolivia by Hartley & Graham on 8 April 1891; 500 were shipped to New Zealand on 16 July 1887; and 300 went to Britain for trials. The British guns, numbered in the 46000s, were fitted with a magazine cut-off when they arrived in Enfield. A large ‘W D’ mark was stamped into the butt. The Michigan National Guard took 2,001 .30-40 M1899 rifles, and 3,000 rifles and carbines went to Cuba in the early 1900s. Remington seems to have started the ‘1899’ serial numbers at 100001, though the Cuban consignment had its own series. Service revealed weaknesses in the bolt-head locking spring, the extractor (which was easily lost), and the bolt stop. Sales of sporting guns had scarcely exceeded 1500 by the time the last
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Fig.8
Fig.8. The .303 Mark III* SMLE could be identified by the omission of the cut off. Courtesy of IMA, Inc., New Jersey, USA (www. ima-usa.com).
three were dispatched in 1909. The originality of Lee’s box magazine was tested in court in Germany where, perhaps unwisely, he challenged the legitimacy of DRP 45561 granted on 18 April 1888 to Mauser. The story had arisen that Franz Mauser had spied on Lee in the Osgood Hotel in Ilion, the implication being that Mauser had simply copied Lee’s work. Unfortunately, a deposition by Professor Adolf Ernst and Major Carl Lehr, expert witnesses called by Mauser, drew attention to ‘prior art’ in the form of British Patent 483/67, granted to Walker, Money & Little in 1867, and US Patent 156431, granted on 3 November 1874 to George Luce of Tallahassee, Florida. If the German lawsuit was a low point, Britain was to provide Lee’s greatest success. Trials resolved into a battle between the 1882-type Remington-Lee modified to chamber the ‘577-450 Gardner Case’, the Lee-Burton and the quirky Owen Jones. Eventually, 300 1885-type .43 Remington-Lee rifles were purchased to take part in trials against Lee-Burtons made in the Enfield factory. The Remington-Lee was preferred, but the advent of smokeless ammunition soon led to a smallcalibre derivative. Changes made by John Rigby, Superintendent of the Royal Small Arms Factory, Enfield Lock, and factory manager Joseph J. Speed proved to be enough to allow the adoption of the .303 ‘Rifle, Magazine, Mark I’ (later, ‘Lee-Metford’) on 22 December 1888. Unfortunately, these events were overshadowed by the sudden death of Caroline Lee, who succumbed on 26 January 1888 to a heart attack brought on by a severe chill, and was buried in St Mary’s churchyard, Willesden, London. Important changes had already been made to the Lee rifles when the South African War began in 1899, including the replacement of sevengroove Metford by five-groove Enfield rifling and the substitution of the eight-round single column magazine with a ten-round staggered-row design. Combat revealed the LeeEnfield to be too long, too clumsy and too inefficient. Many attempts to design compact ‘universal issue’ rifles were made, but the solution was a compromise: the full-length Lee-Enfield became the ‘Rifle, Short,
Magazine Lee-Enfield’ (‘SMLE’). The US Navy had decided to select its own small-calibre rifle, beginning trials in 1894. The Lee Arms Company entered the first of the ‘Straight Pull’ guns inspired, perhaps, by ‘No. 53’ of the 1872/3 trials. The straightpull rifles will be discussed in detail in a future issue of The Armourer. The British & Foreign Lee Arms Company Limited was subsequently founded in London to promote the 1895type Winchester-Lee, and then the improved ‘Parkhurst-Lee’ tested in Britain in 1900. Protected by US Patent 599287 granted on 15 February 1898 to Edward G. Parkhurst of Hartford, Connecticut, the trials rifle is said to have been made in the USA – but may have been completed and proved in Britain. Rejection of these straight-pull guns forced the British & Foreign Lee Arms Company into liquidation in 1902. James Paris Lee died on 24 February 1904 in Short Beach, New Haven, Connecticut, in the seaside residence of the writer Louisa May Alcott (a friend of his granddaughter Anabel). He was 72 and had been in poor health for some time. But, largely owing to the Lee-Enfield, his name was destined to live on. ■ NOTES 1: Several writers have claimed that the family name changed from ‘Lees’ to ‘Lee’ after the relocation to Canada. However, Scottish records regularly substitute one for the other. The marriage records of George and Margaret, and the birth and baptismal entries for their children, are all in the name of Lee; however, the name of George Lee’s father John and several of his own siblings is usually recorded as ‘Lees’. 2: The Lee family group included John Lee (1775-1849), his wife Isobel Pat[t]erson Lee (1771-1854) and their surviving children – George (1803-66), Thomas (1806-79), John (1809-82), David Patterson (1812-86), Isabel or ‘Isabella’ (1817-55) – and grandchildren. 3: A rifle essentially similar to No. 54, complete with a shoulder-slung bandoliermagazine, was submitted to the British Army in 1875. It was described as ‘similar to the Martini-Henry’ but worked by the hammer. 4: There was no relationship with a revolvermaking business of the same name which traded in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, in the 1880s. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My special thanks are due to Brad Lee Morris, great-great-great grandson of James Paris Lee, for supplying copious details of the inventor’s life. I must also thank Lisa Oakes and auctioneers James D. Julia , Inc. of Fairfield, Maine (www. jamesdjulia.com), for such excellent photographs, and the Smithsonian Museum for the Lee portrait that was in the family’s possession until 2011. The story of the trials of the Lee rifles in Britain has been told in detail by the peerless Ian Skennerton (www.skennerton.com)
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SWORDS
EARLY RAPIER FENCING IN GERMANY Duncan Noble investigates how Spanish rapier fencing changed as it made its way eastwards into Germany
Fig.1
I
t is generally accepted that the rapier (the espada ropera) was a Spanish invention around the early 15th century. From Spain it spread to Italy and France and eventually to Britain. But it never made much progress towards acceptance in central and eastern Europe. In Germany and Poland, for reasons that were social rather than technological, German Renaissance writers on sword fighting considered the longsword to be the typically German weapon and the Poles clung to the sabre. Of the several interpreters of the German system of longsword fighting that started with Johannes
24 p024-027 rapier fencing.indd RMcD.indd 24
Fig.1. Meyer’s High Guard, the Ox and the Diagonal High Cut.
Liechtenauer at the end of the 14th century the latest in time was Joachim Meyer, of Strasbourg, a city that is now in Alsace in France but in the late16th century was a self-governing ‘Free Imperial City’ in the Holy Roman Empire. In 1570 Meyer wrote a treatise titled Ein Gr ndliche Beschreibung der freyen Ritterlichen und Adelichen Kunst des Fechtens, which is translated into English as ‘A Thorough Description of the Free Knightly and Noble Art of Fencing’. Meyer was a citizen of Strasbourg, a cutler by trade, and fencing master to Duke Johann-Albrecht I of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. In
addition to all those calls on his time and energy he also in 1570 produced the last of the series of commentaries on the longsword fighting principles that Johannes Liechtenauer had laid down around a 150 years before. I had known of Meyer’s longsword teaching for some years from reading online versions of it when I was more interested in the longsword than in the rapier. My field of interest has now expanded to include rapier fencing and I have just bought a copy of the 2006 edition of Jeffrey Forgeng’s translation of Meyer’s teaching that, in addition to the longsword,
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A modern made side sword by Hanwei. This is not a replica of an actual sword. The blade is 30¼ inches (77cms) long by 1 5/8 inches (4.1cms) wide. It weighs 2lbs 8ozs and the point of balance is 1 inch (2.5cms) from the hilt. Printed on the blade is a dragon and the inscription MADE IN DALIAN CHINA.
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Fig.2
credited with introducing the lunge. But that is not to say that the cut-and-thrust side sword gave way to the thrusting rapier at that time. These and other books of around the same date enshrined what must have been the general views on fencing at that time So if Meyer’s style of fighting was still that of the side sword, it was at the end of the period of acceptance of it in Italy but still within it. One must expect some time to elapse for any change in a foreign, generally accepted style of fighting that was going out of date in western Europe to reach Germany. (See my article ‘Forerunners of the Rapier’ in the February/March 2013 issue of CAAM for a description of side sword fighting, excluding Meyer.) In the section on the rapier in Meyer’s corpus he makes a strong point that the longsword is the
Fig.2. Hilt of a modern made replica by Arms and Armor of the side sword of Gustav Vasa, (1494-1550), King of Sweden. The blade is 35½ inches (90cms) long by 1¼ inches (3cms) wide. It weighs 2lbs 14ozs and the point of balance is 3 inches (7.5cms) from the hilt.
Fig.3
Fig.3. Hilt of a modern made Venetian side sword by Arms and Armor. The blade is 43¼ inches (110cms) by 1¼ inches (3.2cms) wide. The point of balance is 3½ inches (9cms) from the hilt. It weighs 2 lbs 4½ozs and is more blade heavy than the Danelli sword, although it feels much lighter. I have a feeling that the original was a military weapon.
▼
includes the dusack, the rapier, the dagger, and the quarterstaff, halberd and pike. It is fascinating, not only for Meyer’s personal interpretation of early rapier, or more accurately, side sword fighting, as it includes cutting as well as thrusting However, it is interesting also for its view of the place of the cut-andthrust side sword, called by Meyer the rapier, in the 16th-century German gentleman’s armoury. Here the point should be made that the only dates we have for the abandonment of the cut-andthrust side sword in civilian sword duels in western Europe in favour of the thrusting rapier are those of the publication of books by sword masters, urging the abandonment of cuts. They were written by experienced, probably middleaged, masters writing from their accumulated experience of the previous few decades, so their dates of publication are not the dates when the ideas put forward in them were first presented. The proposals may have been around, even been accepted, for quite a few years before that, and what the masters had learned then were possibly not the latest fencing ideas. The name side sword, spada da filo, was given to the sword that could be used for thrusting as well as cutting by Camillo Marozzo in 1536. One of the last of the Italian side sword books was that of Angelo Viggiani, published in Bologna in 1575. He is
true German weapon and that the rapier is a foreign arm recently arrived in Germany, but with whose management German swordsmen must familiarise themselves. I regret that 16th-century German social history is too far outside my specialisations for me to comment further on that. Meyer’s section of his text on the rapier runs in Forgeng’s translation to 174 pages of text and 13 excellent woodcuts that feature swordsmen in rather neo-classical fencing halls engaging each other in fights which are linked to the text. The swords that they use have long thin blades and do not look like everyday fighting ones. They have long straight crosses like medieval swords with the addition of side loops and knuckle guards. They are considered by rapier specialists to be training rather than serious fighting swords and the general conclusion is that by the late 16th century longsword and rapier fencing had become in Germany energetic accomplishments, a sport in fact, rather than the urgent skill required for self-defence as it was in countries like France, which were being hit by duelling mania. Meyer writes in the Franconian dialect of Middle High German. It is identifiable as German, although the spelling is chaotic
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SWORDS and nouns do not start with a capital letter. He gives detailed, easy-to-understand instructions for both the fighter’s body and sword positions and the circumstances under which specific cuts and thrusts should be used. This is not the rapier fencing of the great Italian masters of the early 17th century; it is a textbook for swordsmen who, although experienced, did not know about side sword fencing. It teaches the early methods of fighting that were in an extremely fluid state of development with a kind of sword that was new to the readership. To give a few examples: it teaches the fighting back and forwards in a straight line that was adopted in the late 16th century instead of the fighting in a circular direction that was the accepted method in the early part of that century. Yet there are several instances where the fencer is instructed to spring to the side in order to take up a new line of attack. It teaches the lunge, the introduction of which is credited to Viggiani who published his book in 1575, yet calls it a thrust. There is even one occasion when Meyer says that an attack should be made on the pass. That was a very old-fashioned method of attack in 1570, which was more reminiscent of the longsword fencing that was the current preferred German weapon. Meyer’s methods are no-nonsense and practical, which suggest that Italian methods had yet to be accepted in Germany. For example, Meyer gives space to feints and parries that more established southern European masters disregarded. His feints even include sneering at one’s opponent in order to deceive him as to from where the next attack was coming. One cannot imagine Italian masters approving of that. An excellent clue into how much Meyer is teaching rapier fencing and to what extent he is still instructing in the older cut-and-thrust side sword is given by his teaching on the swordsman’s grip. For in fully developed rapier fencing the index finger of the sword hand is looped over the guard and round the blunt ricasso of the blade. This gives much greater control over the direction of a thrust at the expense of much
26 p024-027 rapier fencing.indd RMcD.indd 26
Fig.4
less power in the cut. Meyer does not touch on that subject and in the illustrative woodcuts, the drawing of which I suspect he did not closely supervise, the figures’ hands are behind the hilts and the index fingers are not looped over the blades. So I have a feeling that the emphasis was on the older medieval arming sword’s power in the cut instead of the newer rapier’s fine control in the thrust. Meyer starts with the High Guard, to which he also gives the longsword name of the Ox. He describes two slightly different forms of it, one for the cut and the other for the thrust. Then comes the Low Guard (underhut) which resembles the alber (Fool) of longsword fencing. It is followed by the Iron Gate (eisenport) which is a one-handed version of the Plough of the longsword. The Long Point (langort) is a thrust at the face. The derivation of Meyer’s version of side sword fencing from the longsword of Liechtenauer and other German masters is obvious. Meyer then goes on to describe other cuts derived from the High Guard. Some have the same names as cuts in earlier longsword books while others have names not previously used, such as the Scalp Cut and the Suppressing Cut (dempffhauw). Some are unusual. The Squinting Cut is done with the hand turned over so that the hit is made with the short edge, the back edge, of the blade. He is quite clear that parrying should
Fig.4. Meyer on how to counterattack from the Low Guard. Fig.5. Hilt of a modern replica by Arms and Armor of the side sword, c. 1585, of the Life Guard of Christian I, (1586-1591), Elector of Saxony. The blade is 37½ inches (94.5cms) long by 1¾ inches (3cms) wide. It weighs 3lbs 13½ozs and the point of balance is 4¼ inches (11cms) from the hilt. Although this is a side sword, this dangerous but rather clumsy weapon is very much a military one. The Life Guard wore black armour and a morion and carried a brace of wheellock pistols. Fig.6. The hilt of a modern made side sword designed and made in the Danelli Armouries. The high quality of the metal work is obvious.
never be done with the flat of the blade, always the edge. Most unusually he describes and illustrates diagonal High Cuts that are made in a criss-cross way in both directions one after the other on the face, body and leg. This is certainly not Italian rapier fighting, it is more like sabre work. And very effective it is too. He was writing when fighting in the round had begun to give way in western Eutrope to fighting back and forwards. But that did not constrain him from recommending a sideways jump in preparation for a thrust, by which he meant a lunge. An essential feature of Meyer’s teaching is that he gives more details of how to deliver cuts than do earlier Italian side sword writers such as Marozzo, Agrippo and Manchiolino. He describes the moves of the side sword in terms of the longsword, with cuts an important part of his teaching and not just coincidental additions. It is not that his side sword fighting is basically different from that of others but that he also describes in detail the stances that should be adopted in preparing to undertake it. His attitude to side sword fencing is most realistic. With the Suppressing Cut he tells you what to do when both you and your opponent are about to make the same cut at the same time. The secret is to watch for the first indication of your opponent’s intentions and to retain the
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Fig.7. A modern made side sword by Marco Danelli of the Danelli Armouries. The blade is 33½ inches long by 1½ inches (4cms) wide. The point of balance is 2¼ inches (5.7cms) from the hilt, which makes it blade light, although it weighs 2lbs 10½ ozs.
Fig.5
Fig.6
initiative by getting in there first. This stress on the retention of the initiative is very much in line with German longsword doctrine. This is much more cut-and-thrust sword fighting than the rapier work of the 17th century. He teaches single sword fighting, without the parrying dagger in the left hand that had become rather out of date by that time, until five pages from the end of the section on the rapier. The lunge, where the sword arm is held straight and the impetus comes from the extensive step forward, was coming into fashion at that time, and his illustrations show fencers in very low positions following a lunge. He teaches the adoption of a stance with the right leg, the one on the same side as the sword arm, forward and yet teaches a thrust where the sword hand is brought back behind the level of the head and then thrust forwards. The earlier fashion of fencing with the left leg forward and the cut being made on the pass is only mentioned on one occasion. Meyer follows that with instructions on what to do, and why, if you confront an opponent who fights in a certain style and holds his rapier, for example, far out to the right or the left, or who will not cut or thrust at the outset of the fight. I am not suggesting that Meyer has the last word in rapier fencing; he was writing fairly early in the life of the rapier in France and Spain. But he is introducing the
www.militaria-history.co.uk p024-027 rapier fencing.indd RMcD.indd 27
rapier to a clientele, Germans, who although accustomed to the longsword find the rapier new to them. He is providing explicit help for someone who, although not a novice swordsman, yet does not know how to realise the possibilities of a weapon that is strange to him. Meyer’s teaching is principally for the single sword but he provides some advice on how to handle the rapier and dagger and the rapier and cloak. To summarise, Joachim Meyer can be said to teach a very up-todate ‘how to do it’ version of a type of sword fighting that was falling into desuetude in western Europe and his style was obviously derived from the late medieval and early Renaissance German longsword methods of Johannes Liechtenauer, Sigmund Ringeck, and the other German fencing masters of that earlier period. I am always on the lookout for modern-day skilled swordsmiths who make reasonably priced medieval and Renaissance swords that are superior in quality to the cheap run of the mill swords in online catalogues. Neither original ones nor modern-made versions are common on the market and originals would be extremely expensive. In the easy to access modern-made sword market side swords have largely been supplanted by the much better known rapier. Fortunately I have been able to make a small collection of four modernmade side swords, although two
of them should more accurately be described as military swords of that type. Differentiating a side sword from a rapier is best seen in the dimensions of the blade. The rapier has a blade of no more than one inch in width, too narrow for an efficient cut, while the side sword blade is wider. The side sword has a complicated hilt of twisted bars like a rapier but it usually does not have a knuckle-guard. But the width of the blade is the defining feature. When searching online for side swords I came across the website of Marco Danelli of the Danelli Armouries. He specialises substantially in side swords and rapiers and his quality seemed good. So I ordered the side sword that is illustrated here, and I must say that I am extremely pleased with it. The bars of the hilt are discreetly decorated as one would expect on a good quality but not luxury sword and it balances well; side swords are heavier and therefore slower to use than rapiers. The blade is 33½ inches (85cms) long by 1½ inches (4cms) wide, suitable but not excessive dimensions for that sort of weapon. The black leather scabbard that I ordered with it is well made. It weighs 2lbs 10½ozs (1kg 204.85g) and the point of balance is 2¼ inches (5.7cms) from the hilt. So it is blade light, which is what you want in a sword that is designed to be used for fast cuts. I’m a happy side sword owner. ■
Fig.7
27 13/07/2016 11:07
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RIFLES
FREDERICK PRINCE’S BREECHLOADING RIFLE By Matthew Moss
Above: Prince’s system used a sliding barrel to open the breech, a paper cartridge could then be loaded and the action closed again. (Courtesy of Chuck Kramer)
Fig.1
I
n February 1855, London gunmaker Frederick Prince patented an unusual breechloading system. Prince offered his rifle to the Board of Ordnance for testing where it outshot the then-standard Enfield 1853 Pattern rifle musket during trials at the School of Musketry at Hythe in 1855. However, the Board refused to consider adopting the new system believing it to be too complex and expensive to manufacture. Prince’s system used a sliding barrel to open up the breech to allow the loading of a paper cartridge, once the breech was closed the percussion lock was then capped. Once the hammer was brought back to full cock the rifle was ready to fire. In order to load the rifle
Fig.1. this example of Frederick Prince’s rifle is marked X.16 and was made by Wilkinson of London some time before 1860. (Courtesy of Chuck Kramer)
The original patent drawing, dating from February 1855, demonstrates how the action worked. Prince’s system allowed the rifle to fire six rounds in just 46 seconds when tested at the Hythe School of Musketry. (Courtesy of David Minshall)
the weapon was placed on half cock, the ‘bolt handle’ was then unlocked by pulling back the curved piece which protruded from the base of the trigger guard. The bolt handle was then turned slightly to the right disengaging the two lugs which locked the breech and then the bolt could be pushed down a short ‘L’ shaped channel. This pushed the barrel assembly forward, sliding on rollers inside the stock. This opened the breech allowing the rifleman to load a paper cartridge. Once loaded the bolt handle was pulled rearward again, and turned to the left again to re-engage the locking lugs. The bolt locking piece was then pushed back into a recess in the bolt handle to secure it. The bolt handle, along with the lugs inside the receiver, act to keep the breech block locked during firing.
The bolt handle was turned slightly to the right to disengage the rifle’s two locking lugs, the bolt could then be pushed forward. With the barrel assembly forward the breech was opened allowing a paper cartridge to be loaded. (Courtesy of Chuck Kramer)
30 p030-031 prince rifle RMcD.indd 30
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Fig.2
Fig.3
6. Th the b the n seen
Fig.5
Fig.4
Prince’s original patent drawing dating from February 1855, pictured opposite, shows how his rifle action worked. The ‘bolt handle’ is positioned below the receiver. The handle acts as a locking mechanism for the breech block. The patent also mentions the use of an interrupted screw thread to seal the breech and the possible use of rubber gas seals to prevent venting. During the trials at Hythe, Prince’s rifle had been able to fire six rounds in just 46 seconds with 120 fired in just 18 minutes by Prince himself. Using a small bore version of the rifle Prince was able to demonstrate how accurate his rifle was by putting 16 rounds onto a small piece of notepaper, a grouping of 1 ¾ inches, at a range of 100 yards while demonstrating it at the Victoria Regimental Practice Ground. The trials at Hythe saw it fired against the Enfield rifle musket where it put 48 out of 50 rounds on target at 300 yards compared to the Enfield’s 47. While Prince’s rifle performed admirably the Board of Ordnance refused to order a batch for further testing, perhaps feeling his system was too complex or too expensive to manufacture, or perhaps not robust enough for military service. Another important factor to consider is that in 1855, while the Board of Ordnance continued to trial guns the British Army had just two years earlier formally adopted the 1853 Pattern rifle musket and was in the process of manufacturing these. Prince’s patent is undeniably
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an ingenious breech-loading system. It is a testament to the belief in the design that in 1859, four years after it had first been rejected, a group of prominent London gun makers including Manton, Wilkinson, Samuel Nock, Parker Field, and Tatham petitioned the Board of Ordnance to reconsider their decision. While rare there are a number of examples which survive today which indicate Prince’s Patent rifles were produced by a series of different British gunmakers including Prince’s own company Prince & Green, Wilkinson’s, E.M. Reilly and Isaac Hollis & Sons. The rifles tend to have barrel lengths of between 25 and 31 inches and most have either three or five groove rifling. The rifles were made in various calibres from the British army’s standard issue .577 to much smaller rook and rabbit hunting guns in .24 and .37 calibre. Other calibres include .500 and .90 inch bores. With the variety of makers the sights, stocks and fittings found on the rifles vary greatly from simple dovetailed leaf rear sights to more complex ladder sight with one example even having a series of folding aperture sights. The example pictured was manufactured by Wilkinson of London (who later became Wilkinson Sword). It is marked with the serial number ‘X.16’ on the receiver and had ‘Prince’s Patent’ engraved on the action. It was possibly manufactured in the mid 1860s as it is marked simply ‘Wilkinson’ rather than
Fig.2. Once loaded the bolt handle was pulled rearward again, and turned to the left again to reengage the locking lugs. The bolt locking piece was then pushed back into a recess in the bolt handle to secure it. The bolt handle, along with the lugs inside the receiver, act to keep the breech block locked during firing. (Courtesy of Chuck Kramer) Fig.3. Once a cartridge was loaded into the breech and the action closed the rifleman placed a percussion cap on the nipple readying the rifle to fire. (Courtesy of Chuck Kramer) Fig.4. The paper cartridge was loaded directly into the breech and a percussion cap was applied to the nipple. The rifle’s locking lugs can clearly be seen in this photograph. (Courtesy of Chuck Kramer) Fig.5. An engraving showing the rifle’s action from Hans Busk’s 1861 book The Rifle and How to Use It.
Wilkinson’s & Son as it had been until 1861, when Henry Wilkinson died and left the company to John Latham. This example was one of the many Prince’s Patent rifles made for civilian sporting and target use. In refusing to adopt Prince’s breechloading system it can be argued that Britain lost an opportunity. The system was undoubtedly fast and accurate in action, it’s possible the Board of Ordnance felt the system was too complex and not robust enough with its sliding barrel. However, the Prince rifle was a single victim of a wider trend between 1842 and 1865. The British Army and Board of Ordnance examined and trialed dozens of breech-loading rifles but did not feel it necessary to adopt one until they had been overwhelmingly proven in the field. In early 1864, the armies of Europe were shocked by the decisive victory the Prussian Dreyse Needle Guns brought during the Danish-Prussian War. In 1865 the British began to seriously look for a breech-loading replacement of their Enfield 1853 Pattern rifle muskets. Following trials of various submitted designs Jacob Snider’s cartridge conversion was selected and in September 1866 the Snider rifle was introduced becoming Britain’s first breech-loading military rifle. ■ ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
• Photographs courtesy of Chuck Kramer of www.Gunlab.Net • Thanks also to www.researchpress. co.uk for their assistance in finding Prince’s patent.
31 14/07/2016 11:18
p032.indd 1
06/07/2016 16:06
Taunton Antiques Market Taunton, TA1 3DH Monday 9am-3pm
flintlocks HP.indd 1
Price: £16,950.00
Price: £21,950.00
Gun maker to the “Prince of Wales” & “Duke of York” retaining much of their original finishes throughout. 10 inch fine twist barrels, platinum touch holes, set triggers and spurs to trigger guards, trade label to the lid.
Fine original cased pair of Flintlock Duelling Pistols signed with 24ct gold stamps to the barrels “Staudenmayer of London”
Pair of near mint “T.J.Mortimer” cased Percussion Duelling Pistols
Price: £14,950.00
06/07/2016 16:04
As seen in “The Mortimer Gunmakers 17531923” book by “H.Lee Munson” pages 102-103, in stunning condition complete with original accessories and finest original brass bound mahogany case
www.flintlocksatwar.com
Quality Original Cased Pair of 16 Bore Flintlock Duelling Pistols by “William Parker” 10 inch barrels, set triggers, gold touch holes, front and rear sights, spurs to trigger guards, excellent examples overall.
Fine cased pair of Flintlock Duelling Pistols by “W Parker” Holborn, London
Always interested in purchasing good quality items
Specialists in English Flintlocks, Percussion Pistols and Revolvers.
Tel: 01803 605405 Mob: 07969 599076 info@flintlocksatwar.com
PISTOLS
THE WEBLEY-FOSBERY SELF-LOADING REVOLVER By George Prescott
did with the Colt 1911, Fosbery produced a design based on a Colt SAA (Single Action Army) revolver, which cocked the hammer and rotated the cylinder by using the residual energy generated from explosion of the weapon’s cartridge. Unfortunately, the Colt company rejected his prototype as too complicated for economic manufacture and so Fosbery took the idea to the English firm of P. Webley & Sons (Webley & Scott from 1899) and they began producing a gun incorporating Fosbery’s system based on their top-break, double-action revolvers, which was subsequently exhibited at Bisley in 1900. Operation Fosbery’s automatic revolver differed from the more conventional designs of semi-automatic pistol in using a conventional revolver cylinder to deliver cartridges to the firing mechanism, which necessitated some fairly unique design features. As it was operated by the residual
Colt Model 1900 with early rear slide grooves and ‘high’ spur hammer. The slide is stamped “BROWNINGS PATENT” PAT’D APRIL 20 1897”, together with the usual Colt retail stamp. (Courtesy of AdamsGuns.com)
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Fig.1
energy generated by the recoil of the cartridge, unlike a conventional revolver, the Webley-Fosbery was divided into two distinct sections: the upper barrel, cylinder and hammer mechanism and the lower trigger and butt assembly. The barrel, cylinder and hammer were fixed together during operation and slid on rails machined in the top surface of the lower frame, which housed the trigger mechanism. The weapon was loaded by operating the frame locking lever on the left side of the lock, allowing the barrel and cylinder assembly to tilt forward, a star-shaped ejector simultaneously expelling the spent cartridges, using a mechanism similar to the Webley service revolvers. Fresh cartridges are then either pushed into the chambers individually or inserted using an auto-loader and the barrel and cylinder assembly was returned to its original position and locked. The upper barrel assembly could now be pulled back to its fullest extent, cocking the hammer and indexing the cylinder, whereupon this assembly was pushed forward by an internal recoil spring, thus making the weapon ready to fire. A Fosbery revolver may also be manually
Fig.1. WebleyFosbery semi-automatic revolver, made after 1902 and showing rebated cylinder, safety catch and frame slide. The frame stamp “.455 CORDITE” shows this to be a weapon produced after 1902. (By kind permission of Bonhams)
▼
O
riginally designed by Lieutenant Colonel George Fosbery and patented in 1895, Webley & Scott began production of this unique revolver in the early years of the 20th century. Fosbery produced the original weapon because his experience while serving in India with the British Army convinced him of the need for a pistol that combined the rapid fire and simple operation of Browning’s automatic pistols with the powerful .455 calibre British service revolver cartridge. The simple blow-back mechanism of most early automatic pistols meant that they could only be chambered for low power cartridges such as the .32 ACP or .38 ACP and Fosbery was convinced that a larger round was necessary for military service. Rather than trying to design an automatic pistol with a stronger mechanism incorporating the bolt and firing pin in a slide surrounding the barrel, as Browning
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PISTOLS Fig.3
Fig.2
cocked in a manner similar to a conventional single-action revolver, although this would not operate the indexing mechanism of the cylinder, which only cycled when the barrel and lock assembly were pulled to the rear. Consequently, simply cocking the hammer will only allow the weapon to be fired if the cylinder has an unused cartridge already in the firing position. Unlike the very similar Webley government revolvers, the Fosbery is fitted with a safety catch on the left side of the butt, which only operates when the revolver is cocked. This mechanism allows it to be safely carried with the hammer at full cock, so that all that is required to fire the weapon is for the safety catch to be moved up from the ‘SAFE’ position and the trigger pulled. When a cartridge was fired, the residual force from the explosion moved the barrel, cylinder and hammer assembly backwards, while a pivoting lever connected to the frame cocked the hammer, and a diamondshaped stud mounted on the frame below the cylinder simultaneously pushed on one of the diagonal grooves milled on the outer surface of the cylinder, partially revolving the cylinder. The recoil spring then returned the whole assembly to its original position, such that the stud encountered a second groove, which indexed the cylinder to its final, firing position. This mechanism was simple and reliable as long as it was kept scrupulously clean, but it would only fully cycle the mechanism if the gun was firmly gripped when firing. If the gun was allowed to lift under the force of recoil in the normal manner, in order to lessen the ‘kick’
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Fig.2. Webley -Fosbury revolver, showing the frame stamps and cylinder, which bears a Birmingham House ‘View mark’. These are characteristic of guns made in 1902 and later. (By kind permission of Bonhams) Fig.3. WebleyFosbury revolver with frame open for reloading, showing the starshaped ejector and the thumboperated framelocking lever. This mechanism is similar to that fitted to Webley Mks I-VI. The diamond-shaped cylinder indexing pin and grooves in the hinge between the barrel and the lower frame are also visible. (Courtesy of the National Firearms Museum, NRAmuseum.com)
delivered to the shooter’s arm, the gun’s mechanism would often fail to operate and the revolver would need to be manually cycled before it could be fired again. Specification Serial number range: 1-5000. (Manufactured: from 1900, possibly until 1924. The Webley-Fosbery revolver was still included in Webley’s catalogue of 1939). This was a solid-frame, top break, self-extracting, semi-automatic revolver in .445 or .38 calibre, with barrel length varying from 4 to 7½ inches. Cylinder is semi-fluted, with six chambers, machined on the external surface with a series of zig-zag grooves, making this arm easy to recognise. A later version was designed for the .38 ACP cartridge and had a shorter cylinder with eight chambers. There is a thumb-operated frame-locking lever on the left
side, similar to Webley government revolvers but with a safety catch, also thumb operated, on the lower left side of the frame. This safety catch can only be operated when the hammer of the weapon is at full cock. Frames are stamped on the left side of the top-strap: ‘‘WEBLEY-FOSBERY AUTOMATIC’’ which became, on arms made in 1902 and later: ‘‘WEBLEY-FOSBERY’’ On the left side of the frame below the cylinder is stamped: .455 CORDITE ONLY which became on weapons made in 1902 and later: .455 CORDITE or, on the revolvers chambered for .38 ACP: .38 AUTOMATIC indicating the chambering of the weapon. Proof marks, usually of the Birmingham Proof House, are stamped on both barrel and cylinders.
A Mauser C96 semi-automatic pistol, another of Webley’s competitors in the semi-automatic pistol market. This is one of the weapons designated ‘Red 9’, because they were chambered for the 9x19mm Parabellum cartridge, instead of the more usual 7.63x25 Mauser cartridge, although the weapon entered for the trials used a .45 ACP cartridge, in accordance with the US Army’s specifications. (Courtesy of Wikipedia: CC-ASA-3.0)
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‘‘WEBLEY-FOSBERY’’ On left side frame stamp: .455 CORDITE A number of further variations were produced of the 1902 Model, involving changes in barrel length and designated Mk I to Mk VI. This revolver was also produced as a ‘Short-Frame’ Model, with a cylinder having similar dimensions to the .38 ACP Model but with only six chambers, for the .455 service cartridge. Webley-Fosbury .38 calibre Model: Manufactured for .38 ACP cartridge, cylinder with eight chambers, various barrel lengths.
Colt Model 1911, the early version selected to be the US service pistol in the 1906 trials. The WebleyFosbery was also entered but was considered too expensive and complex for serious consideration. (Public Domain)
A German Luger, with a 4-inch barrel, chambered for 9x19mm Parabellum cartridge. This was another of Webley’s competitors in the semiautomatic pistol market. (Courtesy of AdamsGuns.com)
The lower frame of the revolver was fixed, while the hexagonal barrel, cylinder and upper frame assembly moved on machined rails under the force of the weapon’s recoil, cocking the hammer and rotating the cylinder, so the action was analogous to a modern semi-automatic pistol. Incidentally, the weapon seems to have only functioned correctly with the higher power smokeless or cordite rounds, hence the stamp on the frames of the early weapons. Variations Pre-1902 revolvers Webley-Fosbury .445 calibre Model: Cylinder with six chambers for the government issue Webley .455
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cartridge, barrel lengths between 4 and 7½ inches. These weapons worked best when using the Mk 1 pistol cartridge, with a load of 6.5 grains of cordite and a 265-grain bullet. However, they would still shoot adequately when using the earlier black-powder rounds, although with some detriment to automatic function. Serial range: 1-600 Left side of top strap stamped: ‘‘WEBLEY-FOSBERY AUTOMATIC’’ Left side of frame stamped: .455 CORDITE ONLY Post-1902 revolvers Webley-Fosbury .445 calibre Model: Serial range: 600-5000 Top-strap stamp:
Military service Although Fosbery’s revolver was very accurate and fast to shoot, the precise machining necessary to produce the revolver made it both expensive and susceptible to stoppages in muddy conditions, so that it proved to be unsuitable for service use. It was also heavy and unwieldy, at eleven inches in length and 2½lbs in weight and that made it unpopular with many British officers, who were responsible for the purchase of their own sidearm during the period before WWI. Some officers did purchase it for use during both the Second Boer War and WWI, but reports appear to have quickly circulated about the weapon’s unreliability in dirty or wet conditions, the fine tolerances of the sliding mechanism proving particularly susceptible to the ingress of dirt or sand. However, it quickly became popular with target shooters, who preferred it to the Colt and Browning semiautomatic pistols because of the Fosbery’s much reduced recoil. Good results were obtained by experienced shooters, with records showing that it was possible to discharge twelve shots through a four-inch target in as little as 20 seconds. Values: • NRA ‘Good’: £2,800-£3,350 • NRA ‘Fine’: £3,300-£ 3,700 • Cased: £4,500-£4,900 ■ BIBLIOGRAPHY
• Taylerson, A.W.F., The Revolver 18891914, Barrie & Jenkins, London 1970. George Prescott is also the author of The English Revolver: A Collector’s guide to the Guns, their History and Values, Schiffer Publishing Ltd, 2014.
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BAYONET BYTES
BAYONET BYTES No.19 Francis Bannerman – arms dealer (1851-1918) by Graham Priest
A
s a young boy, my walks around the city of Bath often took me south through Queen Square and along Barton Street, past the Theatre Royal, to West Gate Street (on which was the Beau Nash Cinema). On the corner of Beauford Square stood the half-timbered antique shop (now demolished) of V.R. Smith (Fig.1). One day as I peered through the small window panes I spotted a muff-pistol on the sill (roughly at eye level), priced at £1. For months I saved every coin to buy it and eventually (with a heavy purse, mostly of pennies, so some 240 of them!), purchase time arrived. The bell jangled as the door opened and an old man surveyed my approach. I stuttered my request (with a correct ‘please’) but to my amazement I was angrily turned out of the door! This event may explain how ‘the bayonet’ replaced my interest; I might have become an antique pistol enthusiast if encouragement had been forthcoming. For many years the next port-of-call was Thomas (‘Tommie’) Best Ltd., ‘Government Fig.1
Surplus Stores’ on a bomb-site in nearby Avon Street. Little did I know that my path to the world of militaria was like that of so many others of current and former generations. Much of this can be laid at the door of Francis Bannerman, arms dealer extraordinaire. Even by the mid 1970s, when my modest collection began to stimulate purchases and contacts abroad, I had not heard of Bannerman’s emporium in New York. However, dealings with James Herbert at H-H Bayonet Shoppe (Fort George Station, New York) educated me. He sometimes mentioned finds from, ‘the former Francis Bannerman “Horde of Militaria” ’ in his listings. Subsequent acquisition of the Military Goods Catalogue of Francis Bannerman Sons from January 1927 made everything clear (Fig.2). A full history of Francis Bannerman can be read elsewhere (American Society of Arms Collectors Bulletin No.82) (Fig.3). His Scottish immigrant father was a scrap dealer in the area of Brooklyn Navy Yard and Francis (Frank) was inculcated in what we would now call ‘recycling’. By the age of ten he was working
Fig.3
Fig.1. V.R. Smith’s half-timbered antique shop on the corner of Beauford Square as it was in the 1930s. (Bath in Time – Private Collection) Fig.2. Cover of Military Goods Catalogue circulated by Francis Bannerman Sons in January 1927. The castle on Pollepel Island is depicted. (Priest) Fig.3. Francis Bannerman at his desk in Broadway. Note the muskets behind him. (Catalogue of Military Goods 1927) Fig.4. Catalogue of Guns, Swords, Cannons, Equipments and Military Goods from October 1888. (Priest)
alone as his father took part in the American Civil War (1861-65). Bannerman Senior returned with broken health, so his son abandoned a higher education and supported his parents with more scavenging and message carrying. By 1867 the family had obtained a property at 14 Atlantic Avenue and were trading in mercantile stores. Frank was sent to Ireland to buy old rope (used for paper making) in 1872, the year of his father’s death. He returned with the cordage and a wife! His mother continued the chandlery business and Frank expanded it into new premises, as well as bringing up his three sons. Frank began to go to United States Government Auctions (to buy anchors, chain etc.) and his first serious ordnance purchases were made in 1880. An association with military goods dealer J.W. Frazier was profitable and Frank continued to develop the business, helped by buying up ex-American Fig.4
Fig.2
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Civil War surplus. Four years later the importance of advertising was recognised when a small sales catalogue was published (Fig.4). In 1890 Frank bought the Spencer Arms Company in Windsor, Connecticut, and added shotguns to his product range. Yet more buildings were rented in Manhattan between 1892 and 1897 and the business became very prosperous. After successful publicity from a huge stand in an exposition and bicycle show at Madison Square Garden in early1898, Frank grasped the opportunity to buy virtually all of the captured Spanish matériel from the Spanish-American War of the same year. His talented promotional skills, used in larger catalogues and lavish advertisements, began to move even mundane items as ‘souvenirs’. Enormous quantities of weapons, munitions and equipment could not be accommodated (or allowed) in his current premises central to a major city, so Pollepel Island, near West Point on the Hudson River, was added to the real estate in December 1900. During the next 18 years this
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Bannerman supplied weaponry etc. to Britain and elsewhere. However, a world he did not live to experience had arrived before his death on 26 November 1918. Francis and David continued the business. An explosion wrecked part of Pollepel Island on 15 August 1920. The catalogues became more elaborate, but 501 Broadway more decrepit as sales waned. Francis died in 1945 and David in 1957, leaving the business to grandson Charles. The Broadway premises closed in 1959 when the residue moved to a small operation selling gun parts at Blue Point, Long Island. Charles sold Pollepel Island to the New York Taconic State Park Commission in 1967 and on 8 August 1969 fire destroyed most of the castle. Its ruins continued to decline despite the creation of a Bannerman’s Castle Trust, Inc (Fig.10). The administrative doors finally closed at Bannerman’s in 1970. S and S Firearms of Glendale, New York, retained the last vestige of the business and guaranteed that some of its gun parts and other artefacts had Bannerman provenance. I never visited 501 Broadway (demolished c.1959) and cannot recall a sight of Pollepel Island on a visit to West Point Academy in 1995, but both places linger in the memories of those who did. In a post-World War II environment, where the enormous quantities of militaria that stimulate(d) us to this day circulate, those smart or ramshackle antique/junk shops
Fig.5. A 1915 postcard view of Pollepel Island with the harbour and Bannerman’s Castle. (Newburgh Bay, USA, 1915) Fig.6. An aerial view of the Pollepel Island harbour on the cover of the 77th Anniversary catalogue of January 1940. (Catalogue of Military Goods 1940) Fig.7. 501 Broadway, Manhattan, bought in 1905. (Bannerman Castle Trust, Inc.) Fig.8. and 9. Views of the gun racks inside 501 Broadway prior to 1927. (Catalogue of Military Goods 1927) Fig.10. Derelict ‘Bannerman Island Arsenal’ buildings before the major collapse in December 2009. (Andrew Hazlett)
▼
Fig.10
was populated with storage buildings around a harbour, a comfortable home and a pseudo Scottish castle (Figs.5 and 6). Wherever possible surplus materials, especially cement and metalwork, and ‘bodging’ building methods were utilised. Live munitions made the island an interesting place to inhabit! With sons David and Francis as employees to mind the shop(s) Frank spent the first 15 years of the 20th century on buying trips to Europe, China and Japan. Together with United States matériel bought from frequent auctions, often at lower prices than listed due to ‘ringing’ with dealers Stokes Kirk, William Read etc., a ‘golden age’ of militaria buying and selling ensued. The whole 40,000 square feet block of 499-501 Broadway’s (Manhattan) multiple floors, bought in 1905, began to fill with every conceivable military artefact that Frank hoped would one day form a ‘Museum of the Lost Arts’ (Fig.7). The shop and free museum became a magnet for military organisations, theatrical companies, patriotic and youth brigades, and a new breed of ‘collector’ (Figs.8 and 9). Simultaneously the catalogues advertised goods for sale and became reference books in their own right. World War I (1914-18) changed public perceptions and Francis
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BAYONET BYTES Fig.11
Fig.13
Fig.16
of the past often emulated Frank’s arrangements to encourage sales. Those of us of a certain age recall with nostalgia our forays when we view the items we gleaned. Pages of Bannerman’s catalogues illustrated artefacts, mainly with woodcuts, but also with early photographs. Descriptions allow current identification even if not too many of us now use weapons as ‘a beautiful home decoration’. Masculine ‘dens’ have become ‘man caves’ usually banished to some obscure location! ‘Beautiful home decoration’ was printed on the rear label of a ‘US Bayonet, Model 1873’ converted to a sconce in my possession (Fig.11). The blade was bent into a curl and mounted through a nickelplated cast-iron bracket on a black painted wooden board, to make a
candleholder. The rear description states, ‘U.S. ARMY-BAYONET converted into a “SCONCE” 40 years in service by Regular Troops which have gone through Indian Campaigns, also used by STATE NAT’L GUARDS AND VOLUNTEERS OF SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR now forever in PEACE as a beautiful Home Decoration’ (Fig.12). The work would have been done in a Bannerman’s workshop as part of the drive to sell piles of inexpensive artefacts as ‘military decorative trophies’. Plaques could be acquired and customised by the purchase of small weapons or items of equipment. In 1927 prices ranged from 15 cents (socket bayonet) to 95 cents (sword bayonet) with a trowel bayonet fetching 85 cents! Sometimes detached bayonets puzzle us to this day! (Fig.13). Frank made a large profit from the
Fig.11. ‘US Bayonet, Model 1873’ converted to a sconce by Bannermans. (Priest) Fig.12. Rear label on the sconce. (Priest) Fig.13. Part of a sconce or candelabra made from a ‘US Bayonet, Model 1873’. (Priest) Fig.14. Advert for 10,000 sets of cadet equipment. (Catalogue of Military Goods 1927) Fig.15. Page of different cadet rifles for sale in 1902. Mention of shortening bayonets was made. (Catalogue of Military Goods 1902)
Cadet and Boys Brigade movements. Ten thousand sets of cadets’ equipment were listed as, ‘... suitable for small boys’ (Fig.14). Some fullsized bayonets (Models 1835, 1855 etc.) often had the blades shortened by two inches from the 18 of the original. Ex-Civil War scabbards received the same treatment. These were fitted to the ‘United States Springfield Cadet Quaker Gun’ from 1889 onwards (Bannerman:1903:11) (Fig.15). Surplus ‘US rifle-musket, Model 1855s’ were shortened, or made up from parts, with the central section of barrel replaced by a wooden rod. This reduced weight, allowed use in drill and prevented discharge. The metal muzzle accepted the socket bayonet. Usually ‘quaker’ had been a reference to a log used in an embrasure as a pretend cannon but Frank stretched this term.
Fig.15
Fig.12
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In parallel appeared the imitation ‘Cadet Quaker Gun’ totally manufactured from new components (Fig.16).This time the muzzle of the wooden barrel was wrapped with tin to prevent wear by a small cast-iron bayonet. Some of these castings were never finished when the workshop was closed. Purchased from H-H Bayonet Shoppe on 24 December 1976 ($20.00) was another nickel-plated cast-iron socket bayonet with a spring steel locking ring (Fig.17). At this time it was listed as ‘bayonet for a “Quaker” rifle, for Cadet use’ (Kiesling:1976:63 no.839). Typical of Bannerman’s stock, it fitted ‘The Boys Brigade Gun’ produced by the F.A. Requarth Company of Dayton, Ohio, as ‘Model A’. This 1885-1910 manufactured wooden-barrelled weapon had a flip-up breech, similar to the Allin design (Gibson: pers. comm:5/2007). The Requarth Gun was also sold by William Read and Sons, Boston. Yet another miniature European style bayonet from 1902 came with a functional ‘Flobert’ cartridge ‘Breech-Loading Cadet Rifle’ based on a Remington ‘rolling-block’ principle (Fig.18) which Frank imported from Belgium. Many of the individual bayonets that Bannerman’s sold will never be identified, due to their commonplace design. Some may still languish in the stock rooms of film property
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companies like Bapty (2000) but most have been dispersed throughout the globe. However, two designs can be identified with certainty. In the 1927 listing ‘No.1390D’ described: ‘175 Flint Lock Side Arm Sword Bayonets, double-edged point, same kind of socket as the Revolutionary spade bayonets. Found in old warehouse in London, established over 300 years ago. Full length 23½ inches, socket, 4 inches; blade 19½ inches; slightly rusty; offered as are, $1.00 each’ (Bannerman:1927:172) (Fig.19). The woodcut portrayed a ‘Brown Bess’ style socket with a central fullered, flat, single-edged sword blade aligned in the vertical plane when fitted to a foresight. Most that turned up lacked Board of Ordnance inspection stamps and were marked ‘C C’. The bore was too small for a 0.75in. calibre barrel. They must have derived from an unrecorded carbine. A quarter of a century before, Bannerman’s artist drew the image he associated with ‘American Revolutionary War Period Old Tower Spade Bayonets, used on old Queen Bess Flint Lock Muskets. Rare relics. Each $1.00’ (Bannerman:1903:46) (Fig.20). The long shanked weapon in the image had the mortise for a sub-barrel bayonet stud not used on the Land Pattern Musket. Comparison with known artefacts identified the Norwegian dollebajonett m/1765/69/74 used on the infanterimusket
m/1765, infanterigevaer m/1777 and dragonkarabin m/1769 (Aarum and Saegrov:1983:114). Other drawings were so accurate that the depiction must have been correct for the example drawn. It might have been Frank who had mistaken the two types of socket bayonet. Even today many collectors say, ‘They all look the same to me!’ Surrounded with numerous bayonets during the writing of this article I can muse about how many of them once graced 501 Broadway after their original service. Might Francis Bannerman once have handled any of them? At least his shade can be certain that those masterly advertisements, fascinating catalogues and dim recollections of a lost world still inspire this individual to declare he is happy to be a collector! ■
Fig.16. A ‘Cadet Quaker Gun’ with bayonet and scabbard from the 1902 catalogue. (Priest) Fig.17. ‘The “Model A” Boys Brigade Gun’ and bayonet produced by the F.A. Requarth Company of Dayton. The bayonet was purchased from H-H Bayonet Shoppe. (Priest) Fig.18. A ‘Breech-Loading Cadet Rifle’ with bayonet and scabbard from the 1902 catalogue. (Priest) Fig.19. ‘Flint Lock Side Arm Sword Bayonet’ from the 1927 catalogue. (Priest) Fig.20. ‘American Revolutionary War Period Old Tower Spade Bayonet’ appears to be a Norwegian dollebajonett m/1765/69/74 from the drawing in the 1902 catalogue (and others). (Priest)
FURTHER READING • Aarum, F., and Saegrov, S.G., Dølle Bajonetten I Norsk Bruk, Forsvarmuseet, Norway, 1983. •Demeritt, D.B., ‘Francis Bannerman VI, Military Goods Dealer to the World’, American Society of Arms Collectors Bulletin, No.82, 2000, pp.43-50. • Bannerman, F., Catalogue of Guns, Swords, Cannons, Equipments and Military Goods, 114 Butler Street, Brooklyn, New York, October 1888. • Bannerman, F., Catalogue of Military Goods, 579 Broadway, New York, April 1903. • Bannerman, F., Catalogue of Military Goods, 501 Broadway, New York, January 1927. • Priest, G., ‘Bayonet Bytes No.6’, Classic Arms and Militaria, Vol.20, No.6, Dec.2013/Jan. 2014, pp.50-54. • Kiesling, P., Bayonets of the World, Vol.4, Military Collectors Service, Kedichem, Holland, 1976..
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Thanks to the late James Herbert (sadly murdered in his shop) and late Jerry Janzen for their early support. Appreciation to Shawn Gibson and others mentioned in the captions.
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LAIDLAW A U C T I O N E E R S & VA L U E R S
AUCTIONEERS OF ANTIQUES, COLLECTORS’ ITEMS &
MEDALS, ARMS AND MILITARIA
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E S C O T T B U S I N E S S PA R K , R O M E S T R E E T, C A R L I S L E , C A 2 5 L E
WOO L LE Y & WA L LI S SA L I S B U R Y SA L E R O O M S
AN INVITATION TO CONSIGN ARMS & ARMOUR, MEDALS & COINS For Auction 19th October 2016 Regular Specialist Auctions of Arms & Militaria, Coins & Medals Please contact us for free advice and appraisals ENQUIRIES: Ned Cowell | +44 (0)1722 341469 | nc@woolleyandwallis.co.uk 51-61 Castle Street, Salisbury, Wiltshire, SP1 3SU, UK
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RIFLES
GIRANDONI’S AIR RIFLE
By George Prescott Fig.1
Fig.2
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communicated directly with the barrel and the chamber bar effectively closed the entrance to the magazine. The air supply was contained in the removable, cylindrical metal butt. Some weapons also appear to have been made in which the ball was fed to the chamber under gravity, although the construction of the chamber bar and the weapon’s operating system was the same as in rifles with a spring-loaded magazine. Having filled both the air reservoir and the magazine, the weapon was loaded by first pulling the transverse chamber bar out of the breech until it reached a position which would allow a ball from the magazine to position itself correctly in the chamber itself. The chamber bar was then allowed to return to its original position under the influence of a spring, the barrel and the chamber, which now contained the ball, thus being in alignment. Pulling the trigger released a fixed quantity of air which drove the ball down the barrel. Sufficient air was held in the butt reservoir to fire approximately 30 shots to a distance of around 125 metres, although how accurate the weapon was at such an extreme range is not recorded. When this reservoir was empty it had to be laboriously refilled using a hand
Fig.1. A wellpreserved Girandoni air rifle, its superior finish and leather-covered air reservoir indicating that this is a civilian weapon rather than wellused military stock. (By kind permission of Bonhams) Fig.2. A more typical military weapon, showing the dummy hammer characteristic of air weapons of this period. This type of hammer was fitted to air weapons in order to convince interested observers that these were conventional flintlock arms. (By kind permission of Bonhams) Fig.3. Air pump for a Girandoni pattern air rifle. (By kind permission of Bonhams) Fig.4. Spare air reservoir for a Girandoni pattern air rifle. (By kind permission of Bonhams)
pump that needed around 1,500 strokes to charge the reservoir completely. Standard equipment for a soldier using a Giradoni rifle, according to regulations issued by the Austrian Army in 1788, was: • three compressed air reservoirs (two spare and one attached to the rifle) • a cleaning stick • a hand pump • a lead ladle • 100 lead balls, 1 in the chamber, 19 in the magazine built into the rifle and the remaining 80 in 4 tin tubes. As well as keeping the gun scrupulously clean, a soldier also found it necessary to keep the leather gaskets of the reservoir moist in order to maintain a good seal and prevent leakage. As well as the hand pumps issued to individual troops, for emergency use, rifle companies were issued with a larger pump, mounted on a wheeled chassis. Military service Giradoni’s air rifle was approved for service in the Austrian Army and was in use with that body from 1780 until 1815. It had distinct advantages over
The breech section of a typical military Girandoni air rifle, showing the dummy hammer, 20-shot magazine fitted parallel to the barrel and the transverse chamber bar. (By kind permission of Bonhams)
▼
A
lthough 18thcentury firearms were dominated by weapons fitted with flintlock ignition, this was not the whole story. An innovative magazine rifle saw service with a European army in the late 18th century and it was something of a departure from the traditional muskets of the period, since it was a repeating weapon which used compressed air instead of black powder as its propellant. The gun was developed by an Austrian inventor, Bartholomäus Girardoni (or Girandoni), who also produced a number of pistols of the same design, and it was the only primitive technology associated with the design of the containers used to hold the propellant and the means to pump them full that fatally impeded the development of what was a very superior weapon indeed. Production numbers: Not known but 1,500 were issued to troops in the Austrian Army. Giradoni’s rifle was 40 inches long and weighed about 10lbs, which made it comparable to a contemporary flintlock musket. It fired a ball of between .46 and .51 calibre, which was supplied to the breech of the gun from a tubular, spring-loaded magazine holding approximately 20 rounds and mounted beside the barrel with its opening adjacent to the breech. A tranverse metal bar containing the chamber ran through this combined breech and magazine section, such that in the firing position the chamber
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RIFLES Fig.3
Fig.4
the contemporary flintlock arm, having a high rate of fire and no muzzle flash or smoke. Moreover, compared to a black powder arm it was almost silent. Contemporary, muzzle-loading muskets required the operator to stand up in order to reload, but another advantage of Giradoni’s weapon was that it allowed the operator to reload a ball from the magazine by holding the rifle vertically while lying on his back and operating the ball delivery mechanism, without exposing himself to the enemy. Unfortunately, despite its many advantages, the weapon proved fragile under field conditions, particularly the brazed and riveted sheet iron air reservoirs, which needed to develop only the most minute of leaks to be rendered
inoperative and the Austrians finally removed it from service after Waterloo. Lewis and Clark also took one of these weapons with them on their expedition and used it to impress the Native Americans they encountered. Values Although rare at auction, examples do occasionally appear. • NRA ‘Good’: $4,000 • NRA ‘Fine’: $8,000 ■ BIBLIOGRAPHY
Pollard, H.B.C., Pollard’s History of Firearms, (later editions edited by Claude Blair), Countryside Books, 1983. (Still one of the best and most thorough accounts of firearms history.) George Prescott is also the author of The English Revolver: A Collector’s guide to the Guns, their History and Values, Schiffer Publishing Ltd, 2014.
Another military issue Girandoni rifle, this one believed to have been the weapon which Lewis and Clark took on their expedition. (Public domain)
FamilyTree Tree Britain’s longest-running family history magazine Providing expert advice since 1984 GET YOUR FAMILY HISTORY FIX EVERY FOUR WEEKS l the latest genealogy news l vital research information l fascinating reader stories
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www.militaria-history.co.uk 13/07/2016 11:28
THE COUNTY’S LEADING AUCTIONEERS & VALUERS OF FINE ART, ANTIQUES & COLLECTORS’ ITEMS
THE CANTERBURY AUCTION GALLERIES ARE ACTIVELY SEEKING CONSIGNMENTS OF MEDALS, MILITARIA AND ANTIQUE WEAPONS FOR AUCTION FREE VALUATION DAYS HELD MOST FRIDAYS 10AM TO 1PM NO APPOINTMENT REQUIRED SPECIAL COMMISSION RATES FOR COLLECTIONS RING DAVID PARKER (GENERAL MANAGER) ON (01227) 40 STATION ROAD WEST, CANTERBURY, KENT CT2 8AN
763337
thecanterburyauctiongalleries.com
FORTHCOMING AUCTIONS 2016, 12TH & 13TH APRIL, 7TH & 8TH JUNE, 2ND & 3RD AUGUST
Office Details: Unit 4, High House Business Park, Kenardington, Kent TN26
Tel: +44 (0) 1233 510050 Email: enquiries@candtauctions.co.uk Auction Venue: The Spa Hotel, Mount Ephraim, Tunbridge Wells TN4 8XJ
Arms, Armour & Militaria Auction Wednesday 28th September 2016
Selection of German Daggers Being Offered in this Auction Taking Consignments For Our 30th November Military Auction
www.candtauctions.co.uk
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quo.
REPORTS & PREVIEWS
AUCTION NEWS
Details of the biggest auctions from Great Britain, Europe and the USA
S
alisbury auctioneers Woolley & Wallis have announced the arrival of Ned Cowell as head of the new Arms & Armour, Medals & Coins and Militaria department. Ned started his career as a porter at a small saleroom in Chippenham in 2000. Moving to George Kidner auctioneers in Lymington in 2002, he soon found an opportunity to combine his work with a lifelong enthusiasm for weapons and military history by producing a series of
WOOLLEY & WALLIS WELCOME NEW HEAD OF ARMS & ARMOUR regular arms and militaria auctions. He comes to Woolley and Wallis with more than a decade of saleroom and rostrum experience in the fields of firearms, edged weapons, militaria, medals and associated disciplines to create a new department covering these subjects and also encompassing coins. Ned said: ‘I am delighted to be joining Woolley and Wallis and starting a dedicated department covering fields I am so passionate about. There are more and more collectors looking to augment their collections so now is a good time to be selling. Woolley and Wallis are generally recognised as the leading regional auction
house, often posting news of recordbreaking sales and it is a privilege to join the company.’ Already consigned to the 19th October sale from a private collection is a fine 24 bore flintlock pistol by Samuel Nock, smooth bored sighted octagonal barrel 7 in., top flat engraved ‘GUN MAKER to his MAJESTY’, estimated at £2000 – 3,000. Also offered will be a 54 bore Beaumont-Adams percussion revolver, cased with accessories at £1,2001,600 and a good 44 bore percussion duelling pistol, by Joseph Manton at £700-1,000. Woolley and Wallis offer free auction appraisals either at the Castle Street salerooms in Salisbury or home visits by appointment, together with monthly valuation mornings on the first Friday of every month from 10am – 1pm, no appointment necessary. To book an appointment with Ned please contact him on 01722 341469. ■
AUCTION HOUSE SUPPORTS CANTERBURY FESTIVAL Canterbury Auction Galleries will be hosting a series of lectures to support the cities annual Festival, including one specifically on collectible militaria. The talk will be presented by David Parker, the Galleries’ in-house expert,
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who was the founder of The Rochester Armoury and who has wide ranging specialist, military knowledge. Entry to event on July 28th is £15 and will include complimentary wine and nibbles, plus the chance to have a VIP
preview of the latest items for sale. The talk is one of four on different subjects hosted by Canterbury Auction Galleries. More details can be found on their website, www. thecanterburyauctiongalleries.com ■
www.militaria-history.co.uk 13/07/2016 11:32
HOLTS SELL RARE LEVER-ACTION VENDITTI PISTOL
H
olt’s Auctioneers latest sale on 30th June (post referendum) was encouraging for the market. Despite being a slightly smaller offering of just under 700 Lots, the final total topped £1million. According to Holt’s nearly 65% of the buyers were UK-based, so no currency-exchange led feeding frenzy to take the credit! One of the rarest pieces to sell was a .38 lever-action repeating pistol made by celebrated Italian gunmaker Venditti, around 1860, which made £2800. The pistol was the brainchild of Pietro Antonio Venditti, (1828 - 1878), who, on his release from prison after doing hard labour for murder returned to gunmaking. Venditti filed many patents, with this being his most successful design, unfortunately
only to have it copied whilst in prison by Horace Smith and Daniel B. Wesson. Therefore this pistol could be rightfully termed a forerunner of the Winchester rifle. Not many examples exist with the total estimated production only being around 100 pieces. For the second auction running, a walking cane with links to F.C. Selous made a headline result, matching the previous example at an impressive £15,000 hammer price. An exceptionally rare Boss double rifle from 1989 – one of just 11 made – soared to over double its estimate to make £23,00. A very rare Dickson ‘Skeleton’ round-
action non-ejector – one of just 14 known – surpassed all expectations by nearly trebling its top estimate to sell for a £13,000 hammer price For those who missed the auction, the opportunity to purchase Lots remaining unsold can do so via the website, where the Sealed Bid sale is also available to view and bid on until its closing at 10:30am on Thursday 14th July. The next auction will be held on 15th September 2016. ■
MARLOW’S ANNUAL AVIATION SALE LOOKS SET TO SOAR
T
he next Marlow’s sale will be the annual Aviation and Collectors Auction held on Thursday 15th September 2016 at Ravon Court, Stafford when one of the best collections of signatures from surviving battle of Britain pilots, 617 squadron aircrew, American aircrew and German pilots will be for sale Compiled during the 1980s and 90s, it includes many famous names including Geoffrey Page DSO, DFC. Neville Duke, Robert Doe, Wallace Cunningham DFC and Les Munro 617 Sqn. There is also a good selection of signed aircraft prints including “Front line Hurricanes “by Robert Taylor signed by Battle of France 1940 pilots, “Those Valiant Few “by Robert Taylor, signed by 50 Battle of Britain pilots and aircrew,” The great Escape by Richard Taylor, signed by escapers from Stalag Luft 111 in 1944 and “Eagles Prey “by Robert Taylor, signed by members of Eagle “American” Squadron. The Flying equipment will include a Battle of Britain period Irvin flying jacket, WW2 period Observers parachute harness complete with spine pad, pair of Tropical mosquito pattern boots,” F” type oxygen mask, pair of Mk V11 flying goggles, various pairs of 1941 flying gloves and a 1950s Mk 1 flying bone dome helmet. The German section includes a 1st pattern Luftwaffe Officers sword, Luftwaffe Officers dagger with provenance, Luftwaffe women’s section tunic and various German badges.
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Aircraft equipment includes a rare WW2 Wellington Frazer Nash FN5 turret cupola, WW2 RAF blind flying panel, WW2 Aircraft laminated bullet proof front windscreen and various captured German instrument used by no 1426 “Rafwaffe” at Farnborough. Please note that all sales will now commence at 10.30 a.m. and live Internet bidding is now available. Viewing will commence at 8 a.m. and continue throughout the day. Please note that viewing prior to the sale day is strictly by appointment only. All auctions are being held at Marlow’s
venue at Ravon Court, Drummond Road, Stafford, Staffordshire ST16 3HJ. There are facilities for disabled parking onsite and for collection of items during the sale. General free parking is a short walk away from the venue. Full details can be found on our website at www.marlowsauctions.co.uk. Kevin King can be contacted on 01785 214100 or 07789 628030 to help with any of your questions. The next Military Antiques sale is scheduled for 24th November and cataloguing is under way for that, so if you have any items you wish to consign please contact us. ■
47 13/07/2016 11:32
AUTUMN 2016 Saturday 8 October
Times & Prices 8.30am – Collectors £15 10.00am – Public £8 Fair closes 3.00pm Children under 14 free with an adult
Antique Arms, Armour, Sporting Guns & Militaria
Admission on door
The oldest and most prestigious antique arms fair in the country
a rare 32 bOre irisH Hand rOtated seVen-sHOt reVOLVing carbine by W. & J. rigby, dUbLin, circa 1838 sOLd by tHOmas deL mar Ltd. FOr £21,600 incLUding premiUm.
The 97th London Antique Arms Fair Hotel Ibis London Earls Court, 47 Lillie Road, London SW6 1UD Organised by arms Fairs Ltd directOrs John Slough & Adam Slough 07780 663 819 www.antiquearmsfairsltd.co.uk
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ART & ARMS
We offer a unique collection of antique swords, armour and paintings from the Isle of Man.
www.artandarms.co.uk
info@artandarms.co.uk • +44 (0) 7624 432172
To advertise here in the next issue please call Liz Warner on 01778 391129
FREE VALUATIONS AND TAKING IN OF GOODS A Colt model 1860 (Army) .44 cal. percussion revolver MONDAY TO FRIDAY BETWEEN 9AM - 5PM Sold for £2000 (EXCEPT SATURDAY SALE DAY) AND ALSO EVERY pair of cased A taxidermy Cavalier King MORNING BETWEEN 9AM - 12A NOON percussion belt pistols Charles spaniel Sold for £900
Sold for £1700
‘THE INTERNATIONAL’ BIRMINGHAM ARMS FAIR The UK’s most popular ANTIQUE ARMS & MILITARIA FAIR held in the luxurious & prestigious suites of the
WE CAN HELP YOU WITH THE FOLLOWING:
NATIONAL MOTORCYCLE MUSEUM
• Formal Valuations • House Clearances • Specialist Valuations • Bespoke Auctions Three Victorian Bogardus A Victorian taxidermy African A display of eight Blue • Valuation Events • Probate type coloured glass targets Leopard head and neck Sold for £750
Iridescent Butterflies Sold for £270
A muzzle loading percussion rifle of approx .40" bore by Hanson Sold for £920
Sunday 18th September 10.00am to 3.00pm (dealer & keen collector preview 8.45am to 10.00am Adm. £8.00, thereafter £5.00)
Join us on /AntiqueArms AndMilitariaFair
Sold for £380
INVITATION TO CONSIGN FOR THE FOLLOWING SALES: A pair of Charles Hellis & Sons Ltd. 12 bore side lock ejector shotguns Sold for £3000
Superbly located on Junction 6 off the M42 Motorway Come and see the best selection on offer in the UK, with over 100 dealers filling the 184 tables. It’s the biggest & the best!
Scenes from a recent fair, just a small selection of what is usually on offer! Future dates: 20th November 2016 , 19th February 2017, 18th June 2017, 17th September 2017
For further details or to register on our waiting list (all tables usually rebooked by existing exhibitors) Write to :-
ANTIQUE ARMS & MILITARIA EXHIBITIONS P.O.BOX 194, WARWICK CV34 5ZG
TEL. 07710-274452 • www.birminghamarmsfair.com
2nd September – Militaria, Medals, Sporting Guns and Firearms 25th November - Militaria, Medals, Sporting Guns and Firearms Plus regular Antique and Fine Art Auctions please visit www.durrants.com for further details FREE VALUATIONS AND TAKING IN OF GOODS MONDAY TO FRIDAY BETWEEN 9AM - 5PM (EXCEPT SALE DAY) AND ALSO EVERY SATURDAY MORNING BETWEEN 9AM - 12 NOON WE CAN HELP YOU WITH THE FOLLOWING: • • •
Formal Valuations Specialist Valuations Valuation Events
• • •
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House Clearances Bespoke Auctions Probate
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Bid live at all our auctions via www.the-saleroom.com/durrants Catalogues, results, and photos available at www.durrants.com RICS accredited Valuers and Auctioneers Formal valuations undertaken for any purpose Full and partial House clearances available upon request Catalogue and photographs will be available at www.durrants.com and www.the-saleroom.com/durrants saleroom.com/durrants
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For further information please contact Mark Whistler ANAVA Durrants Auction Rooms, Peddars Lane, Beccles, Suffolk, NR34 9UE. Tel: 01502 713490 Email: auctionrooms@durrants.com RICS accredited Valuers and Auctioneers
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Tel: 0117 9671000 www.eastbristol.co.uk
07/07/2016 15:06
Paul M. Ambrose Antiques 929 White Plains Rd., Ste. 183, Trumbull, CT 06611
Tel/Fax: (203) 452-9035 www.ambroseantiques.com
Q The Treasure Bunker Militaria Shop Paul Ambrose.indd 1 21 King Street, Glasgow G1 5QZ, Scotland, UK.
Tel. 0141 552 8164
& C
MILITARIA
22 Suffolk Road, Cheltenham GL50 2AQ. RFD Glos D167 Telephone: 01242 519815 • Mobile Telephone: 0777807/10/2015 613977 16:35 qcmilitaria@btconnect.com • www.qcmilitaria.com
We Wish to Buy for Cash
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THE LANES ARMOURY
26 MEETINGHOUSE LANE, THE LANES, BRIGHTON, EAST SUSSEX, BN1 1HB, UK
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INVITE TO OUR AMAZING WEBSTORE
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01782 822986
14/07/2016 09:52
LITERATURE
BOOK REVIEWS
Bill Harriman guides you through a range of the latest historical literature
Hard Fighting – A history of the Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry 1900 – 1946 by Colonel Jonathan Hunt This is the companion volume to the excellent ¨Unicorns¨ that covers the Regiment’s war service between 1900 and 1945. During the Boer War the SRY formed part of the first volunteer unit to see active service overseas fighting the Boer Commandos as cavalry. For its role in Gallipoli the Regiment was awarded the King’s Colour and then fought Allenby’s victorious campaign against the Turks. During the Second World War the
Regiment saw service in Palestine, at the siege of Tobruk and the fall of Crete. After acting as Special Forces in Ethiopia, they were converted to armour and fought through from Alamein to Tripoli before returning to North-west Europe for D-Day. They won thirty Battle Honours and 159 awards, including eighty-three for gallantry. General Sir Brian Horrocks later wrote ‘no armoured regiment can show a finer record of hard fighting.’ Hence the title. Setting aside what might be deemed as partiality ( I served in the Sherwood Rangers during the late 1980s), I am hard pressed to recall a regimental history as well written. Highly recommended. ■ • Casebound. 324 Pages. 16 pages of b & w plates. Numerous maps and diagrams • Pen and Sword • £30.00 • www.pen-and-sword.co.uk
Roman Shields
Greece and Rome at War
by Hilary and John Travis
by Peter Connolly
This is a very welcome soft cover edition of the hardback version review in Classic Arms in 2014. It is a comprehensive and amply illustrated study of Roman shields, their changing styles, their construction and use in combat. The authors are academics, re-constructive archaeologists and re-enactors. That combination of experience gives them a unique in sight into their field of study. The 2014 CAAM review described it as a ¨Revolutionary study¨. That cannot be expanded upon. ■ • Card covers. 208 Pages. 117 illustrations, many in colour • Amberley Publishing • £20.00 • www.amberley-books.com
This is another soft cover edition of a book the has already passed through CAAM’s book reviews. The author is an acknowledged expert on a consummate illustrator. My only gripe with this edition is that the colour plates are no longer as vibrant as earlier editions and they are starting to look a little washed out in places. It remains a first rate study and is very good value for money. ■
• Card covers. 320 pages. Profusely illustrated in colour • Frontline Books • £19.99 • www.pen-and-sword.co.uk
Hitler´s Artillery 1939 – 1945 Rare photos from wartime archives This is other volume in Pen and Sword’s excellent Images of War series. Hitler’s Artillery 1939 – 1945 is a highly illustrated record of the firepower of the German war machine between 1939 – 1945. Many of the photographs, all from the author’s collection, come originally from the albums of individuals who took part in the war. The images and text cover the guns in service with the Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS and
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provide a unique visual record of artillery pieces. These include the famous FLAK 88 as well as the 7.5cm 1.IG18, the 10.5cm infantry gun, the powerful 15cm field howitzer, heavy 18cm and 21cm mortars and others including captured French, British and Russian guns. These and other weapons are seen in action in Poland, the Low Countries, France, Balkans, North Africa, Italy and, of course, Russia. Initially a key part of the Blitzkrieg offensive concept. The emphasis became defensive as the tide turned against the Germans. Using over 250 rare and unpublished photographs together with detailed captions and accompanying text, this book provides a unique insight into German weaponry. ■ • Card covers. 160 pages, numerous b & w photographs • Pen and Sword • £14.99 • www.pen-and-sword.co.uk
▼
by Hans Seidler
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LITERATURE
Guns of the Special Forces 2001 – 15 by Leigh Neville In the years since 9/11 Special Forces of many nations have been in almost constant action in covert, high risk operations around the globe. These include the two long conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, fighting nationalist insurgents and jihadist terrorists, as well as other lesser known operations. The weapons used by SF are a constant source of interest and speculation, as are SF training, methods and vehicles. The armouries of these elite units have developed rapidly to meet their demands and the ever more
Osprey Publishing Latest selection covering modern day, both World Wars and 19th century Osprey Publishing has established itself as a publishing house with an incredibly diverse base of titles ranging from the warfare in the earliest times to the present day. It offers books on weapons campaigns and uniforms; each within its own series. These books come from Osprey´s unparalleled stable of expert authors and talented illustrators. This time we review six of many new titles on offer. They are all very readable, good sources of information, illustrated in colour and inexpensive, making them widely accessible to re-enact ors, historians and collectors. From the ¨Elite¨ series, ¨USMC Recon and Special Ops Uniforms and Equipment 2000 - 2015¨ by J. Kenneth Ward. This book examines these highly specialised soldiers and their equipment in detail. An authoritative study of the most modern combat gear and weapons. RRP £11.99 From the ¨New Vanguard¨
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sophisticated threat. They include for example suppressed pistondriven carbines, programmable grenade launchers that airburst behind hidden enemy positions and sniper rifles of extreme accuracy and range. This highly researched book gives the reader a privileged insight into this secret world exploring the custom-built weapons that operators carry on capture/kill missions in the 21st Century. This a book for anyone interested in modern smallarms. The six ingredients behind SF Ops are purpose, simplicity, speed, security, repetition and surprise. There is a seventh: the right tool for a difficult job. This book is all about those tools. ■ • 244 Pages with numerous colour and b&w illustrations • Pen and Sword • £25.00 • www.pen-and-sword.co.uk
series ¨The Valentine Infantry Tank 1938 - 45¨ by Bruce Oliver Newsome, Ph.D. A detailed study of all variants and marks of Britain’s most prolific tank, built in its thousands . RRP £10.99 From the ¨Campaign¨ series ¨Camden 1780¨ by David Smith. The annihilation of General Gates´ Grand Army. One of the forgotten, decisive British victories of the AWI From the ¨Men at Arms¨ series, ¨Imperial Chinese Armies 1840 1911¨. The modernisation of the chaotic Qing Dynasty’s vast army which became the New Army as the 20th Century dawned. RRP £10.99. From the ¨Weapon¨ series, ¨German Machine Guns of World War 1¨. Stephen Bull. An excellent study of the MG08 and the MG 08/15. An excellent study of one of WW1’s defining weapons. From the ¨Combat¨ series, ¨US Infantryman vs German Infantryman European Theater of Operations 1944¨ by Steven Zaloga. GI Joe with his Garand slogs it out with his Kar 98k armed counterpart around Cherbourg, on the the Scharnhorst Line and in the Ardennes. Features innovative split screen artwork showing the attack on Bunker 5 from the perspective of both sides. RRP £12.99 ■
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D. P. & G MILITARY PUBLISHERS – TECHNICAL PUBLICATIONS These are reprints of lectures on military topics given at the Royal United Services Institute. They are especially valuable to historians as they are first hand accounts and opinions by serving officers, often breaking new ground. This selfexamination and reflection so prevalent in Victorian military circles combined with an unquenchable thirst for knowledge often put these men at the cutting edge of military technology. Their opportunity to test theory in the field came with the numerous ¨small wars” of the period. This caused the art of war to become more scientific and less arcane. This issue, we present three historical titles documenting military rifles and the ballistics of their projectiles. As these three lecture were all delivered within 9 years of one another from 1858 to 1867 , they represent a unique window into the early development of rifling – both for small arms and artillery. Each pamphlet costs £10.00 plus postage. All are illustrated. Handsome, gold-tooled, green-cloth binders are available to store them, building up into an invaluable prime source library
for the researcher or collector. ¨On Projectiles” by Michael Scott, CE. This is an account of experimental trials of rifled artillery Shoeburyness in 1862. This deals with some of the problems found whilst firing large shot at steel plates, as in a warship. Doubly interesting as Sir Joseph Whitworth was involved in the discussion after the paper. ¨The Comparative Merits of the Rifled Smallarms of England France and the United States¨ by J. Boucher, 1858. As well as examining the projectiles of these three nations in some detail, this pamphlet also deals with the merits of actually cutting the rifling grooves in the barrels. ¨Rifle trajectories and Rifles¨ by Arthur Walker, 1862. (The author was a Lieutenant in the 79th Highlanders and and Instructor at Fleetwood). This deals with the efficient deployment of the Enfield Rifle which was capable of good performance up to yards. Yet as this was being written, the average range of engagement during the Americn Civil War was under 100 yares. The author wryly observes that no soldier in Wellington´s army was taught to shoot and ¨for every 250 bullets fired, 249 were thrown away¨. ■
Pen and Sword Publishing Pen and Sword Publishing have an innovative series of titles called G.I. This presents the uniforms and equipment of the United States Army from the nineteenth century to the present day. Each volume combines detailed and informative captions with over one hundred rare and unusual images. They are excellent and very handy books.
Redlegs – The US Artillery from the Civil War to the Spanish American War 1861 - 1898
Distant Thunder - The US Artillery from the Spanish American War to the end of the 20th century
by John P Langellier
by Alexandjro M. de Quesada The term ¨red legs¨ referred to the stripes on the trousers of America’s gunners. This book covers the Civil War, the wars against thee Indians and culminate with the Spanish -American War in Cuba. It contains an eclectic mixture or photographs, graphic plates and original historical artefacts which illustrate the history of this branch of the US Army. First published in 1998 by Greenhill Books.• £12.99 ■
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A perfect complement to the previous volume. Armed with both books, the reader has a compact and authoritative history of the US artillery in the Modern Age. First published in 2001 by Greenhill Books. • £12.99 ■
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&EVENTS
AUCTIONS AUCTIONS
www.candtauctions.co.uk
2nd & 3rd August 16 The Canterbury Auction Galleries 40 Station Road West, Canterbury, Kent, CT2 8AN T: 01227 763337 www.thecanterburyauction galleries.com
19th October 16 Warwick & Warwick Chalon House, Millers Road, Scar Bank, Warwick, Warwickshire, CV34 5DB T: 01926 499031 E: paul.murray@ warwickandwarwick.com www.warwickandwarwick. com
17th August 16 Warwick & Warwick Chalon House, Millers Road, Scar Bank, Warwick, Warwickshire, CV34 5DB T: 01926 499031 E: paul.murray@ warwickandwarwick.com www.warwickandwarwick. com C & T Auctions Unit 4, Capital House, High House Business Park, High House Lane, Kenardington Ashford, Kent, TN26 2LF T: 01233 510050 E: matthew.tredwen@ candtauctions.co.uk www.candtauctions.co.uk 2nd September 16 Durrants The Old School House, Peddars Lane, Beccles, Suffolk, NR34 9UE T: 01502 713490 15th September 16 Marlow’s Military Auctions Unit 1 Ravon Court, Drummond Road, Astonfields Industrial Estate, Stafford, Staffordshire, ST16 3HJ T: 01785 214100 info@marlowsauctions.co.uk www.marlowsauctions.co.uk 28th September 16 C & T Auctions Unit 4, Capital House, High House Business Park, High House Lane, Kenardington, Ashford, Kent, TN26 2LF T: 01233 510050 E: matthew.tredwen@ candtauctions.co.uk
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Woolley & Wallis Salisbury Salesrooms, 5161 Castle Street, Salisbury, Wiltshire, SP1 3SU T: 01722 341469 nc@woolleyandwallis.co.uk FAIRS
31st July 16 Kesgrave Militaria Medal & Arms Collectors’ Fair Kesgrave War Memorial Community Centre, Twelve Acre Approach, Kesgrave, Ipswich Suffolk, IP5 1JF T: 07980 608211 E: info@militariafairsuk.com www.militariafairsuk.com Bexley Medals Hildenborough Village Hall, Riding Lane, Hildenborough, Tonbridge, Kent, TN11 9HY 01322 523531 rick@bexleymedals andmilitaria.co.uk www.bexleymedals andmilitaria.co.uk/home.php 7th August 16 Mark Carter Militaria & Medal Fairs Yate Leisure Centre, Kennedy Way, Yate, Bristol, BS37 4DQ T: 01753 534777 markgcarter6@gmail.com www.milweb.net/dealers/ trader/markcarter.htm Newark Arms, Medal & Militaria Fair Newark County Showground, Lincoln Road, Winthorpe,
Newark, Nottinghamshire, NG24 2NY T: 01423 780759 E: a.tidswell@uwclub.net www.northernarmsfairs.co.uk 13th August 16 Irish Militaria Fair Clontarf Castle Hotel, Castle Avenue, Dublin, DO3 W5N 3.53862E+11 14th August 16 Preston Arms & Militaria Fair Park Hall Hotel, Park Hall Road, Charnock Richard, Chorley, Lancashire, PR7 5LP T: 01254 263260 info@prestonarmsfair.co.uk www.prestonarmsfair.co.uk 20th August 16 Bangor Collectors & Militaria Fair First Bangor Presbyterian Church Halls, Main Street, Bangor, Co Down, Northern Ireland, BT20 4AG E: cmartin123@btinternet. com 21st August 16 Bromley Military Collectors Fair Bromley Civic Centre, Stockwell Close, Bromley, Kent, BR1 3UH T: 0771 409 4009
trader/markcarter.htm The Bristol Fine Antique Arms Fair Holiday Inn Bristol-Filton, BS16 1QX T: 07771 742191 T: 07860 782286 E: nfo@tricornfairs.co.uk www.tricornfairs.co.uk 18th September 16 The International Birmingham Arms Fair National Motorcycle Museum, Coventry Road, Bickenhill, Solihull, B92 0EJ T: 07710 274452 www.birminghamarmsfair. com 24th September 16 Stockport Antique Arms, Armourer, Medals & Militaria Britannia Hotel, Dialstone Lane, Offerton, Stockport, Cheshire, SK2 6AG T: 0161 624 6211 davidowensmcs@ymail. com 8th October 16 London Arms Fair Hotel Ibis, London Earls Court, 47 Lillie Road, London, SW6 1UU T: 07780 663819 www.antiquearmsfairsltd. co.uk INTERNATIONAL
Brecon Fairs Brecon Town Hall, Tredegar Street, Brecon, Powys, LD3 7AD T: 01639 722479/01874 658342 4th September 16 Mark Carter Militaria & Medal Fairs Woking Leisure Centre, Kingfield Road (A247), Working Park, Woking, Surrey, GU22 9BA T: 01753 534777 E: markgcarter6@gmail.com www.milweb.net/dealers/
18th August 16 Cowan’s Auctions Estate Avenue, Ohio, Midwest, USA, 45232 T: 001 513 871 1670 firearms@cowans.com www.cowans.com 9th - 11th September 16 Rock Island Auction Company 7819 42nd Street West, Illinois, USA, 61201 T: 001 309 797 1500 E: info@rockislandauction. com www.rockislandauction.com
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Pete Holder P.O. Box 1199, Guildford, Surrey GU1 9JR Tel: 01483 277788 Mobile: 07778 008008 WEBSITE: www.peteholder.com Email: info@peteholder.com
Factory engraved Sharps Tipping & Lawden four barrel deringer serial number 3271 with embossed floral decorated two-piece hard-rubber grips
BUYS * SELLS * TRADES * INVESTMENT ANTIQUE * AMERICAN FIREARMS
ANTIQUE AMERICAN FIREARMS
Pete Holder
15th September 2016 at 10.30am Aviation and Collectors Auction
Ravon Court, Drummond Road, Stafford ST16 3HJ
Online live internet bidding available For further details, contact Kevin King 07789 628030 or 01785 214100
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