09/20/2023

The Journal of THE ARMS & ARMOUR SOCIETY

Volume XXIV, No. 4 September, 2023

CONTENTS

WESTLEY RICHARD’S SELF CAPPING CARBINE OF 1838

Brian Godwin

In 1838, William Westley Richards patented what he called “an improved primer for firearms”. This rather curious device was intended to speed up the process of placing a percussion cap on the nipple by mechanical means rather than by hand, although the firearms he produced with this mechanism appear to be few in number. This article examines the patent and describes the device in detail using photographs of a very fine example.

HENRY SHARP (1857-1943); WILDFOWLER AND GAME SHOT AUTHOR AND JOURNALIST

Arthur G. Credland

Henry Sharp (1857-1943), the son of an East Yorkshire farmer, was a prolific contributor to the Shooting Times magazine from its earliest days. In 1895 Practical Wildfowling established him as an authority on this subject, in the footsteps of Hawker and Payne-Gallwey. Further volumes demonstrate the extent and depth of his knowledge of contemporary guns and shooting in the early twentieth century. Family photographs and documents from his daughter Constance Nicholson enables us to give an outline of his life and times.

FIRE UNDER THE CLOAK: FOLDING-BUTT FIREARMS IN EARLY 17TH CENTURY BRESCIA

Paolo De Montis

As early as the mid-17th century, Brescia had become a main player in the field of both civil and military firearms manufacturing. At the same time, however, in the city, crime was increasingly spreading. Members of the most distinguished Brescian noble families – such as Martinengo, Gambara, Avogadro – employed henchmen, in Italian bravi, to illegally enforce their rule and advance their interests inside the city and the surrounding territories. To tackle the violent outbreaks and assassinations, between 1603 and 1648 Venetian authorities published several laws against firearm carrying, particularly banning the arquebus, which was most frequently used for these crimes. As a result, the folding gun was developed. This firearm was easily concealable under the big cloaks in vogue during that time, the ferraioli. The author examines the origins and popularization of these weapons in early 17th century Brescia.

THE MAKER’S MARK OF MICHAEL BARNETT STRUCK ON GEORGIAN SILVER GUN FURNITURE AND SWORD HILTS AND HIS LONDON WORKSHOP

Leslie Southwick

Michael Barnett, the little known, but prolific Georgian London silver gun furniture and hilt-maker, died two hundred years ago in January 1823. This paper marks this bicentenary and provides biographical details of Barnett’s life, together with particulars of the guns and swords he ornamented for the London fine arms trade. Barnett’s forty-two year professional career coincided with a most decisive period of British history. He was not only the primary London silver gun furniture maker of his day (as well as a silver small-worker and hilt-maker), but also a man who emerged from a line of gifted predecessors, all active in the same reputable workshop at 36 Cock Lane, Snow Hill, West Smithfield, City of London. This shop is known to have definitely existed from the first quarter of the eighteenth century until Barnett’s death in 1823 and then on for a further five years under his widow and successor, Elizabeth Barnett, until 1828.

09/05/2023

The Journal of THE ARMS & ARMOUR SOCIETY

Volume XXIV, No. 3, March, 2023

CONTENTS

“A SWORD USED BY CROMWELL”?: AN ASSESSMENT OF A MID-17TH CENTURY RAPIER IN THE PRESTON PARK MUSEUM COLLECTION, STOCKTON-ON-TEES

Christopher Young and Phil Philo

A mid-17th century rapier in Preston Park Museum’s Spence Bequest of arms & armour is documented as having been “…used by Cromwell”. Surviving swords thought to be associated with the Protector are predominantly basket hilted broad or backswords. This paper describes this weapon for the first time, highlights the documentation associated with it and attempts to establish the story of this rapier within the context of Cromwell memorabilia.

ALFRED HUTTON OF BEVERLEY, MASTER SWORDSMAN

Arthur Credland

A summary account of the life of Alfred Hutton, pioneer in the study of historic fencing, identifying his birthplace at 71 Walkergate, Beverley, E.Yorks. He and a number of contemporaries rediscovered the arts of European sword play and laid the foundations of modern contemporary fencing, with foil, sabre and épée. Hutton was the first president of the Amateur Fencing Association. He incorporated into his repertoire, bartitsu, a blend of jiu jitsu and stick-fighting.

NOTES ON THE LIFE, WORK AND DEATH OF THE SILVER-HILT MAKER AND FREE FOUNDER OF LONDON, WILLIAM KINMAN

Leslie Southwick

The life and work of the London silver-hilt maker and free Founder of London, William Kinman, is well known, but the year of his death and burial are not. The author has been seeking Kinman’s final locations for some time and now believes that he has found the answer. Ironically, the burial fits in with several other prominent free Founder interments in the Churchyard of St Sepulchre, Holborn Cross, City of London (one hundred yards north of the Criminal Courts of Justice at the Old Bailey). This paper reviews Kinman’s life and work, the offices in which he served in his livery company, and the sites from where he operated in London; and also illustrates examples of this notable artisan’s work, a craftsman who created and manufactured a greater range of silver-hilt designs for the leading London retail sword-cutlers in 18th century Georgian London, than many other specialist sword manufacturers of his day.

URBANUS SARTORIS: ONE OR TWO?

Matthew Schneiderman

Urbanus Sartoris is known for his contribution to breechloading firearm design in the early 19th century, utilizing an upward-pivoting breech chamber for loading and an interrupted screw for a gas seal. However, in the antique arms literature almost no information is available about his life. This article presents the Sartoris-system British and French patents, places them in the context of breechloading firearms history, and shows step by-step how his action works. It also provides a current list of surviving Sartoris-patent firearms, almost all of which are serial-numbered, as a resource for collectors and researchers.

Web-searching “Urbanus Sartoris” has yielded new, primary-source information about a man named Urbanus Sartoris in the same locations (London and Paris) and at the same time (the first third of the 19th century) as the firearms designer. This man was a banker, businessman, investor in canals and bridges, landowner, diplomat, and the father of a family whose images live on in the UK’s National Portrait Gallery. The article confronts the question of whether this man and the firearms designer were the same person, and reaches a satisfying conclusion.

04/05/2023

The next meeting of the Arms & Armour Society will be held on 1 June. It will be a hybrid meeting, with members being able to attend in person at the Tower of London or join online. Speaking will be Dr Nicholas Harlow on the subject of ‘James Woodward, Gunmakers’.

Attending as special guests of the Society will be officers of the Worshipful Company of Gunmakers. It is also anticipated that HSBA members will be able to attend online.

09/01/2023

The Arms and Armour Society has reached an agreement with HRP (Historic Royal Palaces) that given certain required security conditions we can now hold four meetings a year at the Tower of London. This will mean that meetings at the Tower will now be hybrid, with members in physical attendance and online via zoom. In fact, we held our first hybrid meeting back in October, which was a great success!

22/09/2022

The Journal of THE ARMS & ARMOUR SOCIETY

Volume XXIV, No. 2 September, 2022

CONTENTS

ENGLISH CANNON-BARRELLED BOX-LOCK PISTOLS OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY: A DEVELOPMENTAL AND CHRONOLOGICAL REVIEW

PART 2: THE PHASE OF MATURITY, ca. 1760 – ca. 1790

Michael G. Spencer

A previous paper considered the stylistic development of the English cannon-barrelled box-lock pistol during the first quarter century of its existence, starting in ca. 1735. The present article presents an account of its further evolution during the period of its maturity, from ca. 1760 to ca. 1790.

A BRISTOL GUNMAKER – JOHN JENKINS

Brian Godwin

A short investigative account of a commonplace gunsmith working in Bristol, which in the mid-18th century was the second largest city in England.

AN OFFICER’S SWORD AND BAND SWORD TO THE

WARWICKSHIRE RIFLE VOLUNTEERS

Martin J. Milner

In order to counter a perceived threat of invasion, Volunteer Rifle Corps were raised from 1859, and organized by county. Most used the proscribed patterns of equipment, but the Warwickshire Rifle Volunteer (WRV) Corps adopted a unique officer’s sword with a bowl hilt, described and discussed below. Also, the band sword for this corps had a blade 7” longer than the then current regulation pattern, with a particularly decorative cast brass hilt featuring oak leaves, ammonite finials to the quillon, and, in he centre of

the crossguard, the national flowers of the United Kingdom.

THE MAKERS’ MARKS, ‘I•K’, ‘JA’ AND ‘M•B’, STRUCK ON

LONDON 18TH CENTURY GEORGIAN SILVER GUN FURNITURE AND THE COCK LANE, WEST SMITHFIELD, WORKSHOP.

A LOGICAL THEORY

Leslie Southwick

The three silver makers’ marks, ‘I•K’, ‘JA’ and ‘M•B’, struck on London 18th century Georgian silver gun furniture are distinctive and familiar, yet it is only the third mark, ‘M•B’, that has, to date, been accurately identified as to its true owner. The first two marks, struck on surviving quality London firearms between c.1739 and c.1794, have not been convincingly identified, although certain suggestions have been proposed in the past. As the first two marks are the primary London makers’ marks found on silver gun furniture during the reigns of George II (1727-1760) and George III (1760-1820), and the third mark distinctive during George III’s rule, the author, through logical historical evidence and a chronological sequence of the lives of the persons involved, believes he has found the answer.

RICHARD LACY (1796-1883), SPORTING AUTHOR AND ENTHUSIASTIC WILDFOWLER

Arthur G. Credland

Richard Lacy’s quirky but informative volume, The ‘Modern Shooter’ documents all aspects of the shooting sports in the heyday of the muzzle- loader. Lacy’s particularly emphasis on wild-fowling gives us a picture of that sport as it developed following the passing of Hawker but preceeding the publications of Folkard (1857), Clement (1880), and Payne-Gallwey (1882). The chain of sportsmen with an enthusiasm for punt-gunning and shore-shooting was continued by Sharp (1895), and completed by Duncan (1911, 1950) whose publications are a summation of the art for all who come after. The paper introduces Lacy’s background in addition to discussing the book and what it shows of Lacy’s shooting preferences.

22/06/2022

It is with great sadness that we inform you of the death of Fred Wilkinson, on the morning of the 21^st June 2022. He leaves behind a legacy and body of work that few others within the field of arms and armour can match. He will be sorely missed but his contribution to the arms and armour community will never be forgotten

03/05/2022

22/04/2022

Now available from Headstamp Publishing, John E. Plimpton, “Swords of the Emperor: A guide to the Identification of Imperial Japanese Swords, 1873 – 1945”

More can be found here: Swords of the Emperor (Standard Edition) — Headstamp Publishing

15/03/2022

Journal of the Arms and Armour Society, Vol. XXIV, No 1, March 2022

Contents:

Frederick Wilkinson: An appreciation

Guy Wilson

Pages 1-6

A group of Indian war rockets, their flags, and a rocket sword presented to George IV

Abstract: A group of eighteenth century Indian war rockets, some with their flags, and a rocket sword have been identified in the Royal Collection. Some of the rockets are of the type used in India by Haidar Ali and Tipu Sultan’s army of Mysore. All were presented to George IV when Prince of Wales before 1806. Together with the war rockets their original inventory records, display history, and the earliest photograph of a rocket sword have also been found. This paper is a note on the rockets description and a discussion of their provenance. It highlights and confirms details about war rockets in India and their widespread use beyond Mysore, as well as demonstrating their importance to the King and the British military. Details of other Indian war rockets in the UK are also included for comparison.

Pages 7-28

Simon Metcalf

An 18th century sword-bladed metal cased Maratha war rocket and the evolution of the use of the war rocket in India

Abstract: This article describes a newly re-discovered sword-bladed metal cased rocket thought to have been made by the Marathas. This rocket is unique as the best preserved of its kind given that it still retains its fabric cover and charge. Recent rocket finds in Mysore have increased our understanding of such rockets and have triggered others to review their holdings. These finds, their context and the sources on the manufacturing and use of metal-cased rockets outside Mysore, are summarized here. The rediscovered rocket is also analyzed with respect to these to show that it is likely to be Maratha. While Tipu Sultan’s Mysore was the most visible user of rockets in India to the

British, such rockets were not first used or invented in Mysore, they were much used by the Marathas and others. Why this earlier use was less apparent remains to be explored.

Pages 29-41

Nidhin Olikara

English Duelling Pistols and their Origin – A Re-examination

Abstract: During the 1760’s, the wearing of small swords by English gentlemen fell out of fashion and pistols became the weapons of choice for duelling. At first, the traditional silver mounted holster pistol was a common choice. However, by the mid- 1770’s, a distinct new, relatively plain pistol design had appeared which was being sold in cased pairs, and ultimately became known as duelling pistols. Over the ensuing centuries, a mythology developed around these pistols and how they were developed expressly for the purpose of duelling. In particular, it has been claimed that their form was determined by their function as duelling pistols. On close examination, this explanation for the genesis of what has become referred to as a true duelling pistol appears incompatible with the actual practice of duelling. It also creates ambiguity by defining these multi-purpose pistols in terms of a single use, i.e., duelling. This paper re-examines the initial development of duelling pistols in the context of the actual practice of duelling and the shift in popular fashion from rococo to neoclassicism in 18th century England. It is argued that the development of the new unique form for ‘duelling pistols’ was the result of a change in fashion, and not directly related to their end use. It is demonstrated that this transformation was introduced and championed by John Twigg and that his design became universally accepted, as expected for a popular fashion product as opposed to a purely utilitarian one.

Pages 42-75

David Weaver

The Earliest Assayed Sword Recorded By Thomas Price Of London, 1809-10, Awarded To Major General William Carr Beresford In 1808

Abstract: A silver-gilt mounted stirrup-hilted sabre resolved to be awarded by the British Factory at Madeira in 1808 to Major General William Carr Beresford for services to the island has come to light and revealed it to be the earliest fully-marked London Assayed token with date-letter ‘O’ for 1809-10 made by the prominent London silversmith and sword-cutler, Thomas Price of Pentonville, Parish of St James’s Clerkenwell, London. Not only is the sword the earliest assayed example by Price yet

recorded, but the design of the weapon is also an early version of a distinctive pattern designed and often used by the craftsman for orders from the royal goldsmiths and jewellers, Rundell, Bridge & Rundell, for presentation to deserving army and naval officers between c.1808 and 1816, a list of heroic tokens that now amount to twenty-two swords of honour.

Pages 76-100

Leslie Southwick

01/12/21

International conference on arms and armour

The Armourers and Brasiers Company of London and the Arms and Armour Society

In 2022 the Armourers and Brasiers Company of London will celebrate it’s 700th anniversary. As part of the events to commemorate this occasion, the Company in partnership with the Arms and Armour Society is planning a 2-day international conference on the history of arms and armour.

The conference will be held in the Company’s historic Livery Hall in the city of London on the 17-18 October 2022.

There will be a range of speakers covering the many aspects of the history of the Company – including talks on armour, swords, small arms, cannon founding as well as on the history of the Company. We are also hope to hold a conference dinner on the evening of the 17th in Livery Hall.

So please save the date and look out for a detailed list of speakers, costs and further details.

4/10/2021

The Journal of the Arms and Armour Society, Vol.XXIII, No.6

Contents:

English Cannon-Barrelled Box-Lock Pistols of The Eighteenth Century: A Developmental and Chronological Review. Part 1: The Early Phase, ca. 1735 – ca. 1760.

Michael G. Spencer

Abstract

The top-hammer box-lock cannon-barrelled pistol is a quintessentially English flintlock firearm of the eighteenth century. From its first appearance, probably shortly after 1730, to its demise around 1790, it underwent a number of constructional and stylistic changes which provide a guide to the dating of any individual piece. The purpose of this article is to describe the developmental sequence and to fix this chronologically as far as is reasonably possible.

Pages 421-425

The Black Sea yataghans.

Thom Richardson

Abstract

This paper identifies a rare and distinctive group of yataghans, associated with the Laz of the Black Sea coast around Trabzon, and the manufacture of weapons for them in Daghistan, and the impact on the region of the Circassian genocide.

Pages 426-446

A young general by van Dyck and pieces of Italian armours decorated in the Jorg Sorg style: on description and attribution.

Yulia Igina

Abstract

The article is focused on a group of the pieces of Italian armours decorated in the Jorg Sorg style, the decorative pattern of which is represented in the Portrait of a young general by Anthony van Dyck, in the series of canvases Jerusalem Delivered by Domenico Finoglia at Conversano, in the portraits of Duke of Arcos and of Count Potocki. The group consists of 70 pieces of armour in total or 3 composite armors and 26 separate pieces of armor dispersed throughout the world. In the article the author attempts to unite all objects decorated in the pattern in question known today (some of them are introduced into scholarship for the first time) and to systematize this large group of pieces dividing them into several subgroups by their authenticity, the quality of their etching, the variation of their pattern and their relationship to one another.

Pages 447-473

The Manufacturing of Manton’s Pattern 1833 Carbine lock, a late Ordnance flintlock, and Lovell’s Pattern 1842 Percussion lock, the first purpose-designed Ordnance percussion sidelock.

David Williams and David Harding

Abstract

Recent work has revealed the significant steps that were made in the interchangeable manufacturing of flintlock musket locks in Britain between 1809 and 1817, and which built on Henry Nock’s earlier work on his enclosed screwless lock. This note uses experimental object study to

examine the manufacturing and interchangeability of subsequent key Nock-influenced designs of Ordnance flint and percussion locks, to help to understand the British position before the step changes in technology that were applied in the manufacture of the Pattern 1853 Rifle Musket. The objects studied include a unique lock Pattern made in 1845 to guide manufacturing. The note shows that Manton’s Pattern 1833 Carbine lock, although using large numbers of gauges in its manufacture, was not interchangeable. The Pattern 1842 lock, which again used many gauges in its manufacture, while not interchangeable was highly standardised and made at close to interchangeable standards, with specific allowances to permit explicit management of metal-to-metal fitting, and at a high “West End” level of quality. The detailed changes in its design suggest that it provided an important platform for learning, thus contributing to the successful Pattern 1853 lock design. The present work also suggests that the fits, in engineering jargon, at which interchangeability was achieved should be more closely examined.

Pages 474-492

27/09/2021

Arms and Armour:  History, Conservation and Analysis 

This book brings together papers giving new insights into the history, science and interpretation of important objects. It has been written by curators, conservators and scientists who have worked with European and Oriental arms and armour from the world’s finest collections. 

This book also recognises the influence that David Edge has had on the field of arms and armour. 

Contents:

Foreword
Preface and acknowledgements
Introduction

History of arms and armour
1 The 1520 foot combat armours of Henry VIII: design, technology and meaning
Keith A. Dowen

2 Cloth of steel: elements of a Landsknecht armour in the Wallace Collection
Tobias Capwell

3 Henry VIII’s Italian armour of 1544: a metallurgical note on alterations and improvements by the Royal Workshops at Greenwich
Simon Metcalf and Alan Williams

4 A lance rest from a Spanish royal garniture in the Wallace Collection
Alvaro Soler del Campo

5 The remains of a rare Tibetan shaffron
Donald J. La Rocca

Conservation and display
6 Mannequins for armours: a conservational and aesthetic challenge
Petra Fuchs

7 Six armours of the National Museum of Finland
Lasse Mattila

8 Pierced metalwork on Iranian vambraces and their cleaning
Francesca Levey

9 Analysis: Viking-era swords investigated by medical X-radiography and CT scanning: a new pommel classification and the assessment of blade geometry
Robert A. Hill

10 The helmet of the Black Prince analysed by neutron diffraction
David Edge, Francesco Grazzi, Antonella Scherillo and Alan Williams

11 Shah Jahan and Mughal steel: recent studies on Indian blades by neutron diffraction
Arthur Bijl, David Edge, Francesco Grazzi, Antonella Scherillo and Alan Williams

12 Indo-Persian axes and the faking of wootz
David Edge, Richard Furrer, Francesco Grazzi, Antonella Scherillo and Alan Williams

13 Fakes and their detection by analysis
Brian Gilmour

14 Metal woodscrews during the flintlock years: West European metal woodscrews from 1650 to 1830: an archival and metallurgical study
Yannick Chastang

Publisher’s price £49.50 plus P&P, discounted price to UK and Rest of the World Arms and Armour Society members and friends £40.00 plus postage and packing. Email armsandarmoursociety1953@yahoo.com to reserve your discounted copy. 

Copies will be available on on the 3^rd October 2021 at the 103^rd London Antique Arms Fair, RAF Museum, Hendon, London NW9 5LL. 

Available in the US at $67.50 plus postage and packing via the Oakeshott Institute and to US Arms and Armour Society members at a $10 discount using the code AASOC2021 at https://www.arms-n-armor.com/discount/AASOC2021?redirect=%2Fproducts%2Farms-armor-history-conservation-and-analysis-essays-in-honour-of-david-edge 

Edited by Society members Alan Williams and Keith Dowen. 

Published in association with Archetype Publications and supported by the Oakeshott Institute. Partially underwritten by the North fund. 

ISBN: 978-1-909492-82-0