15,832
edits
Changes
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
Amend text. Temp save
These guns are at the [http://www.royalarmouries.org/visit-us/fort-nelson Royal Armouries Museum Fort Nelson] Fareham
Indian gun-6pdr. Captured from the Sikhs during the Sutlej Campaign- 1st Sikh War C.1840. Field gun, British pattern- Horse Artillery. Acquired from the family of Sir Hugh Gough who finally defeated the Sikhs in the 2nd Sikh War 1849 at Gujrat. Carriage decorated with 2 figures of Sikhs, possibly representing Ranjit Singh himself.
Cutter from 6pdr. above in form of peacock.
Trail arm hook on limber ornamented with small brass figure representing Mahout.
Punjab Mountain Battery. Model showing ‘swivel’ gun barrel on mule and officer and men drawn from various regiments.
Bronze ‘swivel’ gun screwed together and mounted on carriage. Wheels bound in bronze.
Bronze gun, 7pdr and carriage.
Indian. Late 18th century; carriage, Indian (?), 19th century
This piece is decorated with palmette ornament in relief and there are cartouches with inscriptions in North West Indian script, now practically illegible. The gun is equipped with a pair of lifting rings at breech and muzzle and also dolphins; the base ring is stamped with the weight 11-0-3 and the cascable is numbered 7. Two small blocks form a fore sight and a rear sight.
Said to have been captured at Chillianwala but now thought to be Sutlej.
Bronze Gun or Howitzer, 9pdr (PL.52)
Indian, Cossipore dated 1838.
The surface is decorated in relief with bands of conventialised foliage edging rings which, with the exception of the vent astragal, are flat. On the first reinforce in relief are the arms, with crest, supporters and motto, of the East India Company. The second reinforce bears a cartouche engraved with Persian verse inscription which reads ‘What a fine brass barrel with roaring muzzle. This muzzle is like that of a destructive lion. This splendid gift which Lord Auckland, Governor-in-Chief (governor General), brought to Hindustan which at the behest of friendship he ordered as a present for Maharajah Ranjit Singh. To date this majestic voice, men said ‘Show forth the day of victory’.’ The letters making up the last phase also form a chronogram giving date of manufacturing according to Christian reckoning 1838. Between the lines of verse are three words meaning ‘Christian religious (era)183(8).’ The chase bears a representation of the Order of the Bright Star of the Punjab, a decoration instituted by Ranjit Singh towards the end of his reign. The decoration is shown attached to a ribbon, this being inscribed in Pujabi written in Persian script: ‘Noble great King of Kings! Maharajah Ranjit Singh Bahadur. In the year 1895.’ This date in the Vikram Samvat era is equivalent to 1838. The first reinforce ring is inscribed G HUTCHINSON, 1838. COSSIPORE. The second reinforce ring bears the number 11 on either side of which is also engraved in Persian script ‘this piece of artillery was named Khorehnal’ ( devouring gun). There is a disport patch at the muzzle and a block on the cascable which is drilled for a central rear sight and stamped with the number 70. The weight 7-0-8 is stamped on the base ring.
L 3ft 9in ( 114.3 cm) 4ft 2 in (127cm) Cal 4.2in (10.7cm) wt 7cwt 8lb (359.2 kg).
Transferred from the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich 1968. This gun together with a similar one now in the Rotunda Museum Woolwich which may have formed part of another gift, is similar in form and decoration to the above but bears the name D PREGRAVE and is dated 1839 ( its companion at Woolwich is illustrated as fig, 85 in ‘plans of ordnance captured by the Army of the Sutledge during the campaign of 1845-46’. Drawn by Capt Ralph Smyth, Bengal Artillery.n.d)
Bronze Mortar
Indian, probably late 18th century.
The piece is cast in the form of a sitting tiger, the muzzle issuing from open jaws, the surface being modelled and chased to simulate stripes. It appears to be unfinished since the vent is not drilled and the bore has not been cleaned after casting. There is a lifting loop at the front, on the under side.
L 4ft 6in (137.2cm) Cal 9.4in ( 23.9cm) Diam chamber 7.2in (18.3cm)
Found concealed in the Fort at Kurnaul, Madras Presidency, in 1838 together with 219qv. There is a similar mortar, also from Kurnaul, at the firepower Museum.
Bronze Gun 24pdr
Indian probably 18th century.
The muzzle trunnion ends and cascable button are formed as ‘tigers heads’. Two tigers stripes appear on the chase and the reinforce rings are edged with engrailed bands in relief. The gun is unfinished, the vent has never been drilled, a cartouche on the second reinforce intended for inscription is blank, and a lump of metal below the cascable button intended to provide a fixing for an elevating screw has never been pieced for the securing bolt.
Found with another in the fort of Kurnaul, Madras Presidency, about 1838 (1859 Inventory, 137, No 85). Other pieces of ordnance from the same source are in the Rotunda Museum Woolwich. They were originally found concealed in the Fort. From the Rotunda Catalogue 1864 it appears they were intended for the equipment of an insurrectionary force raised to drive the British out of India.
BRONZE GUN 6pdr
Indian, early 18th century
The bore is sleeved with an iron tube constructed of welded parallel strips. There is a band of conventional flowers and foliage by the trunnions and on the base ring, the cascable being stylised lotus form. Diamond-shaped cartouches on the second reinforce and on the chase frame Hindu names and Hindi titles in Persian inscriptions. These are much worn and in parts illegible, but they appear to state that the gun was made to order of the ‘Earth-lord Maharajah Sava’i Jai Bahadur’. The base ring carries a back sight. By the vent, the first reinforce is incised with the number LXIII and 67-0-0, the latter probably the weight. Further forward is stamped ANO 24 6Pr. These markings were added after the capture of the gun.
L11ft 4in (345.4cm): 12ft 8in (386.1cm) Cal 3.75in (9.5cm) Wt 67cwt(3403.6kg)
Captured at Bhurtpore in 1826 by General Viscount Combermere, later Field Marshal and Constable of the Tower. Presented by the East India Company in 1856 (1859 inventory, xix 78)
The inscriptions show that this gun was cast to the order of Sava i Jai Singh, ruler of Amber (modern Jaipur) from 1693 to 1743. He was the founder of Jaipur and is famous for the astronomical observatories which he built in various places in N. India.
BRONZE GUN 2pdr
Indian, 18th century
The muzzle is formed as a monster’s head. The prominent mouldings are edged with conventional foliage, the chase and second reinforce being ornamented with foliated panels in relief. A raised block on the base ring is pierced with a peep sight, there being a large fore sight at the muzzle. The chase is engraved with the measurements: ‘Length 10 in 5, width 2in 5, 10’. Just below the first reinforce ring are stamped the numbers 59-4-2-25, the first being an inventory number, the other it’s weight. The entire surface shows considerable traces of gold paint.
L 5ft ( 152.4cm): 5ft 8.5in (174cm) Cal 2.3in (5.8cm) Wt 4cwt 2 qtr 25lb (239.9Kg)
Transferred from the India Office to the Indian Section of the Victoria & Albert Museum, in 1894, and from the Museum to the Armouries in 1958.
Burmese Dragon Gun
Taken by British forces in 1885 from King Thebaw’s Palace in Mandalay.
