Arms Cavalcade 2021

AUGUST 2021 ISSN 1325-779X

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Contents Teddy Sheehan — V.C.

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Presentation Stand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The Cave Dwellers Club — Part 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Four Daggers

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British Artillery Officer’s Sword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

N.S.W. Rigbys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Wilson Gunmakers

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Notes on the Duelling Code

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Robert Wogdon — Duelling Pistol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Contributors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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OFFICE BEARERS

EDITOR’S NOTE When writing the editorial last year I wondered if 2021 would be a better year. Unfortunately Covid 19 is still with us and has forced further lockdowns around Australia. In Sydney and in country areas members have continued to meet. Australian Antique Arms auctions have continued to publish quality catalogues in paper and digitally, and to run successful auctions.

So what drives people to collect things? In an earlier editorial I quoted from Edmund deWaal’s book, The Hare with Amber Eyes. The story of a collection of netsuke, deWaal wrote; “Japan was a box of sweets. Collecting in Japan encouraged a striking greed.

Sichel writes of the urge “dévaliser le Japan” – to plunder or rape the country …”.

Ownership seemed transposed. These objects seemed to induce insatiability, to own you, make demands on you. Collectors themselves speak of the intoxication of hunting and buying, a process that could send you towards mania.

Being a true collector requires an emotional connection, which can sometimes border on an obsession. Time and money mean nothing compared to the delight they get from owning these objects.

There can be a darker side to collecting. This poses a problem for psychologists trying to explain collecting. Sometimes the line between collecting and hoarding becomes blurred. It’s a willing addition. Perhaps this explains the modern phenomenon of the mid-life crises.

I offer my sincere thanks to John Corcoran and Fred Bienvenue, the authors of Classic Rifles in Australia, published by Buffalo Creek Press in Victoria in 2019.

They have permitted us to republish the article. The story of The New South Wales Rigbys, which was included in their book. I should add that the book is already out of print, and copies are very highly prized.

My congratulations to the Victorian Arms Collector’s Guild for their new style Caps & Flints magazine.

My thanks to the authors, photographer and the design team, and the co-editors.

Enjoy this edition.

REGISTERED OFFICE C/- Hartmann & Associates 135 Macquarie St Sydney NSW 2000

EDITORS Paul Duffy Bill Taylor Mike Smith

COMMITTEE Paul Duffy Mitch Frost Bill Newbold Dominic Hassett Ken Buxton Geoff Pogson Rick Jones Andrew Gryta

PHOTOGRAPHY Ivan Fitz-Gerald

DESIGN

Visit our website at: www.antiquearmssociety.org.au © No part of this magazine may be reproduced by any process without written permission from the editor or authors.

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Chairman Harvey Facer Secretary Terry Hartmann Treasurer Marie Line TolbizeGryta

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Scribbly Bark Design

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Teddy Sheean V.C. Desperate battle on a cruel sea In a brief moment between the deadly attacks some looked towards their stricken ship as she bubbled and hissed and settled.

By Brad Manera. Senior Historian / Curator Anzac Memorial

HMAS Armidale in Port Moresby 1942

Ordinary Seaman ‘Teddy’ Sheean

hoked by salt spray and fuel oil the men in the water were suddenly deafened by the roar of the Zero fighter’s engine as it skimmed above the waves for another murderous strafing run.

Their life vests just buoyant enough to prevent them duck diving to avoid the lethal bursts of machine gun fire, as they thrashed helplessly to dodge the line of waterspouts that announced the bullet strikes cutting through struggling men and floating debris.

In a brief moment between the deadly attacks some looked towards their stricken ship as she bubbled and hissed and settled. Bewildered, they heard the distinctive chugging report of an Oerlikon gun firing its 20mm cannon shells in defiance at the attacking Japanese aircraft.

The skipper had given the order to abandon ship.

The huge, torpedo torn, gash on the port side had

dealt the tiny warship a fatal blow and the sea would soon consume it, but someone had stayed aboard and was fighting the ship to the end.

It was on the afternoon of 1 December 1942 that the Australia corvette HMAS Armidale was sent to the bottom of the Timor Sea after losing its one-sided battle with flights of Japanese torpedo bombers and fighters.

1942 had been a disastrous year for the Allies in the Pacific. The expanding empire of Imperial Japan seemed unstoppable. In February Singapore had fallen and Darwin bombed. In the months that followed the garrisons on islands, that had been Australia’s protective screen – ‘the Malay barrier’, had fallen like dominoes from the Netherlands East Indies (NEI) to the Solomon Islands. In July the Japanese landed in Papua and advanced south down the Kokoda Trail. They were invading Australian territory.

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HMAS Armidale under aerial attack, 1 December 1942. Credit: Maritime Artist John Ford In August desperate battles were being fought at Milne Bay and on Guadalcanal. Japanese air attacks across northern Australia struck targets from Exmouth in the west to Townsville in the east. Japanese midget submarines penetrated Sydney Harbour and their fleet submarines attacked coastal shipping off south-eastern Australia. One glimmer of inspiration was news that a group of mostly Western Australian soldiers from No.2 Independent Company and a handful of other Sparrow Force men had escaped into the mountains when the Japanese invaded Timor in February. For ten months they waged a successful guerrilla campaign despite being outnumbered 10, sometimes 20, to 1. By November they had reached the limit of their endurance. A plan was hatched to rescue the gallant band.

Given the codename Operation Hamburger, it was a rescue mission in which three RAN small ships, corvettes HMAS Castlemaine, Armidale and the patrol boat Kuru, would make the run from Darwin to the south coast of Timor, pick up the survivors of Sparrow Force and bring them home, while leaving in their place a small group of commando trained NEI soldiers.

Simple in theory the operation fell apart when nature and the enemy intervened with squalls at sea and attacks from hostile aircraft. The ships became separated, rendezvous were missed and orders changed.

Despite air attacks Armidale and Castlemaine made it to Timor, arriving in the dark of night, but without the shallow draft of Kuru, to transfer passengers from ship to shore and back, the corvettes could not complete their task. They headed south and separated. At dawn Castlemaine and Kuru linked up. They lost contact with Armidale.

Alone and maintaining radio silence HMAS Armidale was steaming south of Timor when she was spotted by patrolling Japanese aircraft. Zero fighters and twin-engined ‘Betty’ torpedo bombers, scrambled from their base at Kupang.

The strike was sudden and overwhelming.

Without air support Armidale’s skipper, Lieutenant Commander David Richards, knew he had little hope. Despite evasive action the ship was soon hit by a torpedo and a bomb. Holed beneath the waterline, losing way and listing heavily to port

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Teddy Sheean V.C.

Cap worn by the skipper of the submarine HMAS Sheean with the symbol of the Oerlikon gun manned

by Ordinary Seaman ‘Teddy’ Sheean as HMAS Armidale sunk beneath him.

Royal Australian Mint commemorative to honour the first Victoria Cross awarded to a member of the Royal Australian Navy

Armidale began to sink. Richards gave the order Abandon Ship. As sailors struggled to free and toss overboard anything that would float the Zeros and Bettys swooped in to spray the stricken vessel with machinegun fire.

Through the chaos discipline and training emerged. At the davits on the port side Able Seaman Edward Pellett and Ordinary Seaman ‘Teddy’ Sheean, the youngest of the ship’s complement, ran out the ship’s motor-boat.

With the ship sinking fast sailors clambered into the boat. To Pellett’s surprise young Sheean lept out and ran the length of the upper deck to the after Oerlikon gun. The boat cast off and Pellett’s last memory of the boy was seeing him wounded, braced to the gun, firing at the enemy.

HMAS Armidale slipped beneath the waves less than five minutes after being mortally struck. Alone on a vast, empty sea the survivors chose to separate to seek help. The smallest group, in the motor-boat, were picked up after five days at sea. The others constructed a raft from flotsam including the holed ship’s whaler. When the whaler was patched it too set off for help. They were also picked up. A patrolling RAAF Catalina spotted the raft and photographed it some days later, but the sea was too rough to land.

The raft was never seen again. Half of Armidale’s company was lost and all but two of the NEI troops died with them.

Within a day of Richards landing in Darwin, after almost a week in an open boat and with most of his men still missing, he was forced to write a report of proceedings. The hastily written document described the loss of the ship and recommended only two decorations, both mentions in dispatches, one for Lieutenant William Whitting DSC, the other, posthumously, for young Teddy Sheean.

In the decades that followed several of Sheean’s shipmates felt that he deserved more. They did their best to tell everyone of the young sailor’s bravery as he fought the doomed ship. An award for naval gunnery was named after him and in 1999 one of the new Collins class submarines was given his name.

Despite this recognition the campaign for a higher honour continued.

From 2011 to 2013 a valour enquiry reviewed 13 recommendations for the award of the Victoria Cross, Sheean among them. The enquiry recommended against the retrospective award. In 2019 a tribunal was convened to review the findings of the 2013 enquiry in Sheean’s case. The tribunal also decided a higher award was not appropriate. The outcome of the 2019 tribunal were challenged as Sheean’s relatives had submitted testimony from an Armidale survivor that they felt had not been given sufficient consideration. In 2020 the Prime Minister convened an expert panel to review the 2013 enquiry and the 2019 tribunal and decide whether there was new and

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The painting by artist Dale Marsh that captures Sheean’s valour in Armidale’s final moments.

Australian War Memorial (AWM ART 28160) compelling evidence that would justify the award of the Victoria Cross for Australia to Sheean.

The expert panel studied documents from both recent enquiries and documents back to Richards’ report of proceedings in 1942. Armidale’s last survivor was interviewed and stakeholders from the head of the RAN to the president of the RSL offered their opinions. The committee was divided until a chance comment begged the question - did Japanese records survive?

Although the likelihood was extremely remote our quest was assisted by historian Dr Steven Bullard with his intimate knowledge of the records of the National Institute for Defence Studies in Tokyo. Steve was as surprised as we were when he discovered that the reports of the 202nd (fighter) and 753rd (bomber) Naval Air Groups operating out of Kupang on 1 December 1942 had survived the war! It was from the documents we discovered just how effective Sheean’s fire had been. They told that two of the bombers had returned damaged.

The inspiration for Sheean’s courage could not been denied when we discovered the Zeros had expended 519 rounds of 7.7mm ammunition. 7.7, a rifle calibre, would have done little damage to the Armidale but deadly when used on survivors abandoning ship or floating in the water.

This previously unseen evidence painted a picture of the last seconds of the young sailor’s life. It confirmed that he gave up his chance of survival and attempted to save his defenceless shipmates. Greater love has no man than this, that a person should lay down his life for the sake of his friends. On 1 December 2020 Teddy Sheean was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross for Australia.

Today Sheean’s courage lives on in the dedication and professionalism of the young men and women who crew the submarine named for him. On the side of their caps they proudly p y wear the emblem of Sheean’s Oerlikon gun.

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The Presentation Stand On the night of November 1 1944, Corbett was in command of the Hunt-class destroyer Wheatland, leading the destroyer Avon Vale northwards through the shipping lanes inshore of the island of Lussino in the northern Adriatic

By Bill Taylor

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ome years ago we were in England on another road trip to see places we had missed on earlier visits, and to indulge our passion for hunting down interesting antiques.

Towards the end of our holiday however my collecting energy was greatly diminished. I was not much in the mood for looking around when we visited one last antique centre in Ely. At first glance the rooms in the centre did not look at all promising, but just before leaving I noticed in the bottom of a cabinet a small wooden presentation stand with a silver plaque.

It held a rather shabby small telescope, but on closer examination it was clear from the indents on the top of the two uprights that the stand had been made for something else.

The plaque showed that the object had been presented to a Royal Navy Captain by 3 Commando Brigade, Royal Marines, which was a vital clue to the odd shape of the stand’s uprights. The indents now made sense to me, for I had once owned a FairbairnSykes fighting knife: one indent looked as though it was shaped to fit the commando knife’s double edged blade, and the other side looked as though it was shaped for the slender, rounded hilt.

I was lucky enough on returning to Sydney to locate an original World War II Fairbairn-Sykes knife in exceptional condition, and it fitted precisely.

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The next step was to research the recipient of the presentation, and the reason for it. Fortunately his 2012 obituary was online and gave most of the answers: THE TELEGRAPH, London 28 May 2012 Capt Hugh Corbett CBE DSO DSC RN Captain Hugh Corbett, who has died aged 95, served in wartime destroyers, winning a DSO and a DSC for his gallantry.

On the night of November 1 1944, Corbett was in command of the Hunt-class destroyer Wheatland, leading the destroyer Avon Vale northwards through

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Distinguished Service Order. DSO

Capt Hugh Corbett CBE DSO DSC RN

the shipping lanes inshore of the island of Lussino in the northern Adriatic. His mission was to prevent the evacuation of German troops from Dalmatia, and, keeping his ships hidden against the shadow of the land, he was watching carefully over the Quarnerolo Channel when he spotted two German corvettes, UJ205 and UJ-208.

Increasing to full speed, and lighting the channel with star shell, Corbett opened fire with four-inch guns at 4,000 yards, and in a fierce exchange quickly reduced one corvette to a wreck and blew up the other. Avon Vale had stopped to pick up survivors when a third German ship, the ex-Italian torpedo boatdestroyer TA-20, rounded a headland and opened fire before turning to flee.

Corbett gave chase, and in a running fight sank TA-20. The action was over in half an hour, and 71 German survivors were pulled from the water that night and 20 more the next day. Corbett was awarded a DSO. Hugh Askew Corbett was born on June 25 1916 in Stepney. His father, the Rev Frederick St John Corbett, vicar of St George-in-the-East, died of Spanish flu in 1919 after ministering to the thousands of sick in crowded East London tenements. After education at

Distinguished Service Cross. DSC

St Edmunds, Canterbury, Hugh joined the Royal Navy in 1933. His first ship was the battleship Ramillies, but thereafter most of his seagoing career was in destroyers.

At the outbreak of war Corbett was junior hand in Impulsive, but was soon appointed first lieutenant of Brazen. He was due to leave her to take a course in torpedo and anti-submarine warfare, but insisted on staying at sea.

On 15 April 1940, while escorting a landing force to Harstad during the Norwegian campaign, Brazen and her fellow destroyer Fearless attacked the German submarine U-49. Five depth charges were dropped and the U-boat burst to the surface. All but one of the 42-man crew were saved, and while engaged in the rescue work Brazen picked up papers which gave the entire U-boat disposition for the German invasion of Norway. Corbett was mentioned in despatches.

After Brazen was sunk off Dover by German aircraft on July 20 1940, Corbett served briefly as first lieutenant in the Hunt-class Tyndale, and in June 1941 he joined the newly-built Lookout, which took part in Arctic convoys, in Operation Ironclad (the occupation of Madagascar) and Operation Pedestal (to resupply Malta).

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The Presentation Stand

HMS Impulsive was an I-class destroyer built for the Royal Navy during the 1930s.

HMS Wheatland was a Type 2 Hunt class destroyer of the Royal Navy.

Under a new commanding officer, in May 1943 Corbett took part in Operation Retribution, which prevented the escape by sea of German forces from North Africa to Sicily. Only a few hundred Germans escaped the blockade, and Corbett was awarded a DSC. In September 1943 Corbett was given command of Wheatland, and was at the Allied landings at Salerno until deployed to the Adriatic.

Post-war, between staff appointments, he commanded the destroyers Charity and Cockade (1954-56) and Caesar (1960-62); he was also Captain of the 8th Destroyer Squadron.

In 1965 Corbett was given the task of bringing the assault ship Fearless into service. The following year Fearless was fully operational, and in October 1967 she enabled Irish Guards ferried in RAF helicopters to mount a surprise raid on rebels in Oman. Corbett’s last appointment was as Head of Naval Manpower Future Policy in 1967. He retired in 1969, a year after being appointed CBE. Corbett then became Warden of the University Centre, Cambridge, which offers social facilities for graduate and research students.

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Hugh Corbett married, in 1945, Patricia Spens, who survives him with their three sons.

Captain Hugh Corbett, born June 25 1916, died April 19 2012 The little presentation stand now had real meaning for me - but why had 3 Commando Brigade given him a memento?

A bit more digging on the internet told me that his last operational command Fearless was used for a wide range of operations involving carrying and supporting various fighting units (including commandos), not all of which would have necessarily been on the public record. The iconic fighting knife of the British Commandos on its special stand would have been presented to him when he left Fearless to take up his new shore posting at the end of 1967. I like to think that the stand and its original knife sat on his desk until he died, forty five years later.

The British Fairbairn-Sykes fighting knife was first designed in 1940 by close combat specialists William Fairbairn and Eric Sykes, who established and taught the combat training methods for wartime special

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HMS Cockade was a C-class destroyer of the Royal Navy.

HMS Fearless (L10) was an Assault Landing Ship, service from 1965 until 2002.

forces such as SOE, Commandos and SBS. The knife fighting techniques were taught at Highland training centres such as Lochailort Special Training Centre (STC) and Achnacarry, which was the Commando Basic Training Centre (CBTC) from 1942-1945.

There are several WWII patterns of FS Fighting Knives. The knife I bought for the stand is the 3rd Pattern, which has a copper washed cast alloy grip with a machine forged blade to enable faster production. The grip has 27 concentric rings and is believed to be the design of the Joseph Rodgers firm, of Sheffield. Wilkinson Sword started the production of the 3rd Pattern in 20 October 1943.

The small 4 cast into the grip near the pommel confirms this knife as WWII manufactured, as wartime moulds were numbered in batches 1 to 4, believed to indicate which of four contracting firms had supplied them. The moulds were destroyed at war’s end.

Collectors looking for a genuine WWII knife or a later special forces knife should take care to avoid the many modern copies, most of which are best described as ‘tribute’ pieces. Some manufacturers in India are even faking the Wilkinson Sword blade etching found on early nvestm m WWII patterns. Investment in a good reference book is advised.

Variations of this pattern are still produced and are used by special forces in many countries. Its distinctive profile is found today in many special forces unit insignia.

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The Cave Dwellers’ Club Part 2

By Geoff Pogson

Dean Thurley showing his lightened Colt Shotgun

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n my previous article on this subject, in the 2019 issue, I ended by suggesting that what I had written was only an outline and that perhaps more facts might come to light as the story circulated. As it turns out, I had more information to add myself, but had not at that time, realised it, and it was only a more recent incident that got things rolling again. On a visit to Tasmania, in 2007, at a time before I owned a Cave Dwellers’ Pistol, and had never even considered that I might write for the Arms Cavalcade, I was shown a group of photographs by a fellow collector at the Hobart Arms Fair. Noticing my interest, he offered to send me some copies and he took my address down and later the email bearing a folder of photos arrived.

The photos were of a long since broken up collection

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of old guns, once owned by an early resident of the small town of Ulverstone, Tasmania. With no mention of an owner’s name, there was however, a poor photocopy of a photograph of his house, with the name “Gravel Hill”, pencilled under it. The pictures show several groups of long arms, swords, bayonets, knives, hand guns, and trophies, many displayed on a wall with a fireplace at its centre. I got the impression that the pictures had been taken in a hurry, perhaps just before the items were being taken away for sale.

Interesting as they were, there was not much that I could do with the photos so I put them away in a “safe” place, where they have waited, patiently, until an item in a Launceston Newspaper caught the eye of my daughter, who sent me a copy of it by email.

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Pte R L Mason. 12th Battalion 3rd Regiment AIF 1914-1917

Lynne’s news referred to an enquiry from one Dean Thurley, who was seeking information about a shotgun left to him by his father, Peter Thurley.

The arm is a Colt Model 1878, double barrelled 12G, the stock of which had been lightened by removing wood to skeletonise the butt. When cleaning the old gun Dean had found a slip of paper in the barrel.

On the note was the information that his father had “Bought from the Mason Family in Ulverstone”, with a further note that the gun had been “Found in a hut at the South Pole”. As there were no huts at the South Pole, the gun may have been found at one of the few permanent coastal huts left by early polar explorations. I don’t think Dean was able to make much progress with the Polar part of the tale yet, and though we did a search or two, nothing has turned up. The name Mason rang a bell though, as there is a Robert Lindsay Mason listed among members of the C. D. Club, who was one of those about which it was hard to find much detail, in time for the previous article In discussing this new development, it was Lynne who caught on first. Might this Mr Mason be the owner of the collection in the photos I had acquired many years ago? If this was so, was he also the Robert Lindsay Mason who is listed in the members of the Cave Dwellers’ Club? Having found the photos, I had begun checking to see if Dean’s shotgun might be on display in any of the images, but sadly found no sign of it and it was then that I was convinced that Lynne was on the right track and there flickered the possibility of this new chapter in

Robert Mason & Pluto 1957

the story of the exclusive Club. Just as this momentum was growing, I received a call from another collector in Tasmania, referred to me by a Victorian collector with whom I had done some business. My new contact, Mark Wright, is writing a book on the Wilson Capping Breech Loading Carbines, and was made aware of my own interest in the Calisher and Terry Carbines. As my knowledge of the Wilson was basic, I was not able to help much, but the talk had soon turned to the Cave Dwellers Club, when Mark told me that he had read and enjoyed my last effort to shine light on the subject. This was good news to me as, although I did have some nice comments from a few members of our NSW society, very little new information has turned up since. Mark also came up with the splendid news that he knew a grandson of one of the Cave Dwellers, who he felt sure, would be able to help with further information and maybe photos. Maybe there might be more to write about the C. D. Club after all, if I could link the Ulverstone home with Robert Lindsay Mason. Perhaps we have ignition?

Once again it was Lynne who came to the rescue.

We had both Googled “Gravel Hill”, finding it in a Real Estate layout of a beautiful old building in Ulverstone, sold in March 2020. A magnificent old place, tastefully modernised on a large block of land. But Lynne had found an earlier listing of the same place, previously sold in 2013, and further research revealed that it had been built in 1911 for Samuel Mason and his family.

This second set of photos gave it an older, softer, more relaxed feeling to an old fellow like me, than the recent, more up to date and modern upgrade.

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The Cave Dwellers Club

“Gravel Hill” 16-18 Coral Avenue, Ulverstone,

This is the view shown in the photocopy of the photo that I had seen before, but in that copy the left of centre was so faded as to make that end almost invisible. Also shown on the south fence line of the plan was a smaller out-building, a garage perhaps.

There were photos with both exterior and interior views of this outbuilding, in which was the very fireplace, upon and around which, many of the arms in the collection had once been on display. There are even light profiles of pistols and long arms on the painted walls and small round fixtures on the front of the fireplace where some small pocket pistols had been mounted. These were very exciting moments and there was a promise of more to come. We Have Lift Off!

Converted Stables, which housed the collection

The photo shows the gunroom soon after the 1920’s conversion from a coach-house. There are some empty areas visible where additional items were added in the pistol section and on the front of the mantle, shown in the later photographs.

This building was a coach house and stable, during the lifetimes of Samuel and Annie Mason, the parents of Robert who was later to inherit the property. The small gun collection started by Robert Mason was not yet housed in the out building, but it may have been growing with gifts from the maternal grandfather of the family, the Colonel M. M. Shaw, Indian Army, Retired, who was one of the many Indian Army officers who retired to Tasmania, with a farm on the Castra Road and other land on the Leven. Colonel Shaw may have been a contributor who presented some of the items of Indian origin towards Robert’s collection.

Main Wall display wit

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The Gunroom soon after the 1920’s

The Gunroom after it was cleared 1960’s

Robert Lindsay Mason was born at Ulverstone in 1892, when the family lived in a house on Highfield Farm, a little east of the present Gravel Hill house.

It seems that Robert’s primary education was at a local school but when the time for High School approached, the family moved, buying a house in Launceston where the lad attended Scotch College in that City. Grandson Andrew has some prizes won by Robert in those years, which also saw him excel in the popular and, at that time compulsory, School Cadet Unit, both as a junior and then in the senior ranks.

It is thought that this school is where Robert may have had first contact with H. A. “Pete” Anderson, who acted as Starter for the footraces at the school sports days, using a large Percussion muzzle loader pistol with a blank charge, and much smoke which caused some amused comment. It seems likely that

Robert’s interest in old weapons was stimulated and he began his collection acquiring at least one, an old Webley Revolver, from Pete Anderson, “for twenty shillings”, when he was thirteen years old, in the days before our modern restrictions. It was during the stay in Launceston that the then new house “Gravel Hill” was built, to which the family returned in 1911. After leaving school about this time Robert was working in an apple orchard owned by his sister Marion, Mrs William Mitchell, near Deviot, on the Tamar River, and he also, developed an interest in things mechanical.

He did repair work on bicycles and probably motor cycles and was later to state his occupation to be Cycle Mechanic in the electoral lists On August of 22nd of August 1914, at the age of 22, Robert Mason was an enthusiastic recruit and volunteered for Active Service overseas. It was

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The Cave Dwellers Club

Other wall displays in this converted stable A group of Austro German arms probably from WW1

noted on his papers that he had been a member of the Tasmanian Rangers Militia Unit, a Citizen Militia Unit formed in 1886. After signing up at Pontville and some basic training, Robert was sent to join the 12th Battalion, 3rd Infantry Brigade, 1st Division AIF, as a Private. The 12th Battalion was soon on its way to Egypt for further training. The unit arrived there in mid-January 1915 but young Robert was taken straight off the ship to hospital, with severe pneumonia, contracted during the voyage. An operation was performed, reinfection occurred and, showing little or no improvement, Robert was sent back to Australia for attention. He sailed on the MV “Kyarra” on the 3rd February 1915, and on arrival went into the hospital in Melbourne where, after a second lung operation he began to show some improvement. After later convalescence in Ulverstone hospital, Robert’s military service seemed over. He was discharged medically unfit on the 5th May 1915 and he began a recovery that did, in due course, result in a return to fitness allowing him to volunteer again.

On his return to the Army, Robert was again posted to the 12th Battalion, on the 19th November 1916 and was soon on board a ship destined for England and his old unit, which had been relocated to France by the time he had caught up with them. Robert had been in action in France for some three months or so when, in March of 1917, he suffered a gunshot wound to his lower right leg, and was sent to Edmonton Military Hospital in England with a serious injury from a fragment from a close bursting German artillery shell.

Worse news was to come to the Mason Family when it was found that Robert’s right foot and lower leg had to be amputated, below the knee, damaged beyond repair for those times. In due course an artificial lower leg was fitted, allowing a degree of

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British Military arms, from Lee Enfield at the top, to flintlocks at the bottom

mobility and a near normal life and ability. Robert Mason left the Army, discharged on Medical grounds, on the 6th December 1917. He had had a go, twice, and done his bit and lost half a leg for “The Cause”.

One can only suppose , that getting back to civilian life would have been a trial to all returning men, and harder with his injury. Having been an orchardist before the war, then turning to Cycle repair work before his second stretch in the army, he could have easily made homself useful and might have got along well enough. After settling down to a normal life and would, no doubt have chipped in with whatever work was needed. Robert is mentioned in the Police Gazette of 1918 as owning a Cycle, and again in 1919 with a car, so he was obviously on the mend, and although he is shown as “No Occupation” in the electoral rolls of 1919, work on the quite large estate would inevitable have kept him well occupied.

Robert married Ella Henderson on 22/11/1923, and they moved into one of his father’s properties in Main Street Ulverstone. When Robert’s Mother Annie died, soon after, the couple moved back to Gravel Hill to care for his aging father Samuel, who died a year or so later.

At some time in the 1920’s the conversion of the original coach house into a gun room was made and the collection was arrayed on the Southern wall with a newly installed, centrally located fireplace, on the mantle of which smaller items and pocket pistols were positioned, and there were signs of mountings on the rear or Western wall On both of these walls there are silhouettes of the arms that were displayed there, clear spots, protected from the smoke of the fire and probably cigars, by the items on show, still there long after the collection was first moved to the main house. An earlier photo of the fireplace shows just

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A Colt, Model 1892, Army & Navy .38 Special calibre Edmonton Military Hospital North London the bayonets of several rifles mounted on the inside of the front wall corner. Following the removal of the arms, the place was used for storage, as shown in the interior photograph and there may well be more silhouettes on the other two walls that might not have been recorded in photographs which were taken during the relocation to the house. The collection was finally sold off years later, in 1967 Letters and family papers comfirm that Pete Anderson was a frequent and welcome visitor to the Mason home, as were others, including Will Allen, whose engraved Mk III Webley revolver started all this off for me. Other CD club members, like Stanley Button and Colonel G A D Youl and more, were also occasional visitors to the old Coach House.

A proposed “MK III”chapter, still to be put to paper, will feature other Members of the club and its activities, but I do think that, at last, the story of the “Cave Dwellers’ Club” is beginning to take better shape. It was in fact, a small group of wealthy and dedicated arms collectors who banded together, socially and at shooting events, forming a small, unofficial, Antique Arms Society. Under a different name, and in the mid 1920’s, but very much in the same way as our Regional Chapters of this Society do today. In small, close knit, “Mens Sheds” sort of meetings where knowledge and information is shared on technical matters and the ever present history lessons occur. Add to this The Chase” and what more could be needed. I hope this may stir more memories of the the C. D. Club to add to the next chapter My Thanks to Andrew Harvey for much vital information, many photographs and much goodwill.

To Lynne Renoden for her amazing knack of turning up just the right information, to nudge the story a bit further, each time I get stuck.

To Mark Wright for his encouragement and assistance with connections.

To John Newton for his thoughtful advice and valuable help with the detail.

“Robert Lindsay Mason from Old Pete 29-10-29”

“A Token of Friendship”

Above is a Cave Dwellers Club presentation, A Colt, Model 1892, Army & Navy in .38 Special calibre in the old Mason collection was a gift to Robert from Pete Anderson, inscribed on the left side of the frame “Robert Lindsay Mason from Old Pete 29-10-29”, while in the same area on the right hand side, the inscription “A Token of Friendship” is engraved The Colt Model 1892 A & N, .38 Spl calibre revolver from R L Masons Collection, An Inscribed Cave Dwellers Pistol.

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Four Daggers

By Paul Duffy & Wa Wazeem Johnston n

D

aggers have ve been en m made ad de fo ffor or ce centuries. ent nturies. As As Robert Hales writes” they can be objects of great beauty”. Many were never used in anger, but were primarily worn to show the wealth and status of the owner. I’ve chosen four which I think were made for this purpose.

A Mughal Pesh-Kabz, superbly forged of watered steel with elegant gold decoration A Burmese Shan dha. A dagger, with a scabbard made of dark hardwood with mounts of silver sheet worked in repoussé, with typical Burmese floral motives, and a superbly carved ivory hilt.

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A keris from m Java Jav va wi with th a w wavy avy av y bl blade lad ade e sh show showing win ing g the multi-layered workmanship of the pande, the blacksmith who made the blade. The blade is finished and decorated in gold with the image of a phoenix.

The hilt and scabbard have also been finished to present a high quality piece.

A keris from Bali with a straight blade also showing the multi-layered workmanship of the pande. The hilt, a silver figure and set with gemstones. The scabbard is covered with silver carefully finished in repoussé with floral scenes.

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The Th e Mughal Mugh Mu gh hal Pesh-Kabz Pes eshh-Ka hK bz This is a high quality piece from the 17th Century and at 41.5 cm long (blade 30cm) is a large dagger.

The blade is Wootz steel, partially double edged, and has the usual strong “T” section and armour piercing tip. The hilt is ivory. Along the top of the flat of the blade are two inscriptions in Persian.

The first: “The Beloved pulled out the dagger, and my heart left the soul. What a wonderful hand and dagger, one can take it to the heart”.

The second: “the fiend pulled out the dagger of hatred angrily. It seems she has the intention to kill me”.

I have tried to find out if there is some other meaning or reason for the inscriptions, however I have not been successful. These inscriptions are from the 17th Century, a long time ago.

The gold decoration on the blade is high quality work. The craftsman has decorated the top of the blade on both sides with birds entwined with floral scenes, and a heart-shaped cartouche in gold.

The gold floral scenes also extend along the steel backstrap.

This is a large Pesh-Kabz, superbly finished. It is almost too big to hold it one handed and I wonder if it was made as a presentation or ceremonial piece.

There is a small repair to one corner of the handle, which shows in an illustration from an auction catalogue in 1982 of Islamic Arms & Armour from private Danish Collections. This was conducted by Davis Samling in Copenhagen. So I think this is a very old repair.

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Four Daggers

Burmese Shan dha This elegant dha is 80cms long, the blade is 21cms.

I have other dha, and I have seen many more. The forged blade, with a partial double edge, a single fuller and some decorative lines appears to be a working dagger or knife. However the repoussé silver decoration on the scabbard and the base of the hilt is very well done. This workmanship is better than usual, and coupled with the intricately carved ivory hilt means that this dha was made for a person of importance. i have seen many dha in dagger form as distinct from those with a longer blade like a sword, and almost all have silver sheet or silver wire decoration.

But the repoussé work on this piece is high quality.

The flower and line work is excellent.

When I was offered this piece several years ago I was attracted by the highly detailed and intricate carving of the ivory hilt.

The hilt comprises a series of monkeys or possibly demon figures with monkey faces climbing through the intricate vine work. The artist has carved out the ivory so that figures are three dimensional, with the senior monkey or figure at the top, supported by the smaller figures. The inside of the hilt is hollow, the artist has produced a hilt of high artistic quality.

I was surprised to read that very little is known about the history, technical aspects and artistic features of ivory sculpture in Burma (Myanmar).

Daniel Stiles in a paper Ivory Carving in Myanmar,

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November 19, 2002 notes that the earliest dated object made from ivory in the National Museum in Yangon today (2002) is an ivory chair crafted for King Thibaw in 1878, the year he succeeded his father to the throne.

The Museum also contains royal swords with ivory hilts and manuscripts of Buddhist scripture written on ivory plaques from the 19th Century.

Using reconstructed genealogies and oral histories from informants, it appears most likely that Burmese ivory carving began in the 1860s in the court of King Mindon with U Oh and U Hmyin, who were brothers and U Mauna.

Robert Hales in his book Islamic and Oriental Arms and Armour has an excellent section on Burmese dha with 40 hilts illustrated, most carved from ivory. He was referred to “Mr Noel Singer” who is very knowledgeable about Burmese art history. Mr Singer’s comments are worth repeating.

“A fine group of sword handles, however most are not from Burma proper but are the handiwork of carvers from the Shan states and some areas bordering either Laos or Thailand; in the old days craftsmen tended to move around freely”.

Mr Hales lists Mr Singer’s published works at the end of his chapter on dha.

So is the carved ivory hilt on my dha from a craftsman in the Shan state? Probably yes, for further information on dha and the Shan states I refer you to The dha Research Archives, managed by Mark Bowditch: dharesearch.bowditch.us

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A Javanese keris with a Wavy blade This Javanese keris with nine waves has a fine pamor. The blade shows vital flowing line and patternwelding of a uniquely organic character. The upper end of the blade and the ganja are decorated with a bird, a phoenix with its wings open down the blade.

On top of the ganja is a crown and another phoenix also in gold.

“The front edge of the blade base features the head of the phoenix in place of the usual gandhik, the opposite edge of the blade base is called the wadidang and features detailed file work that is known as the “greneng”.

The ebony hilt (ukiran) sits in a polished metal ornament, the selut,that sits on another jewelled ornament, the mendak. Both these pieces are decorated with rose-cut gem stones comprised of white yakut (rock crystal) and red mirah (various red coloured gemstones). The ebony hilt is a planar form. The hilt maker has also completed the cecekan by pierced work. These are the small mask-like faces carved in the front of the hilt.

The overall form of the Surakarta planar hilt is supposed to express the posture of a man in the presence of his lord, thus the slightly bowed “head”.

The planar hilt has a long history. One former court hilt-maker said his teacher had a record

from Mataram, handed down among his court predecessors, which named at least two hilt types, samban (with a wayang head) and tunggak semi (sprouting stump).

Possibly we can comprehend the planar form as a highly abstracted human figure.

The sheath, the warangka, is an informal one, of the gayaman form. The top piece is carved and polished ebony and the metal oversheath (pendok) is a way of enriching keris dress. In this case the craftsman has carved on the pendok, two Phoenix climbing up a tree. This image flows on from the golden phoenix on the blade. This carving and piercing work is very good quality.

Javanese keris smiths, known as “Pande Keris”, and in some cases as “Empu”, were a group apart.

Through transmutation by fire, they achieved objects of unquestionable beauty. The forge was a holy place. Tradition gave the keris smith a special place, and those smiths who were recognised as being able to bring esoteric characteristic into a keris were honoured with the title of “Empu”. The other name for a keris smith, “pande”, simply designates skill in a particular metal trade, so a “Pande Keris” is a skilled maker of keris.

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Four Daggers

A Balinese keris with a straight blade, 45 cm This keris from Bali also exhibits the skills of the craftsmen who made the component parts of a complete keris.

A characteristic and inseparable pairing can be seen between Bali and keris. There is no other region in Indonesia where life is so closely tied with daggers as on the Island of the Gods. Nearly every Balinese religious ceremony uses keris as a ritual implement.

The same applies to several types of art and especially dance, since Bali is very rich in culture.

Master Blacksmiths in Bali’s past echoed this understanding in the pamor or damascene patterns on daggers, which were handed down through the centuries.

Traditional daggers indeed in the beginning were “weapons” that were used to defend oneself or for warfare. Early in the 20th Century the Balinese elite decided that they could no longer live as they had previously lived, before the Dutch occupation. The Balinese preferred to move into the Hidden World.

These were Hindu people, for whom death is only the beginning of a new life. The word “puputan” means “bringing to an end”, “conclusion”. When the Dutch massacred the royal elite this brought an end to the old ways of Bali. In the puputans the elite from the courts walked into the Dutch gunfire and also stabbed themselves and their close relatives. These puputans

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were in no sense at all “battles”, they were the conclusion of life on Bali as it had once been. In effect the puputans were ritual suicides involving all those who no longer wanted to live in a different World to the one they knew.

The puputans took place in Badung, Den Pasar, Kesiman, Tabanan, Klungkung and in 1946 in Marga.

In the present era, keris have artistic aspects that are very important and cannot be underestimated or disregarded and in the enjoyment of the blades as objects of art with “special qualities”.

To pre-industrial peoples, the smith who could turn raw metal into tools and weapons was regarded as a magician. In Java and Bali these smiths even had their own priests and temples and in the smith’s workshop, he was hierarchically superior to all others. Because the smith was regarded by ordinary people as a magician, it follows that the sorcery that he engaged in, in his work was complex and dangerous. Ritual prayers and offerings were employed by the kerismaker to minimise the risk to himself and his workers, to minimise the risk of failure, and bring positive qualities into the keris being made for itsfuture custodian.

This keris has a hilt beaten from silver in the form of a Bayu (the God of Winds, bringer of rain, and thus of prosperity). Bayu normally holds a small flask of magic water in his left hand. This seems to have been lost.

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The top of this blade has been expertly carved and finished. The elephant trunk with its beard.

The two channels, one with a deep impression at the top and the cut out sections along the edge of the other side of the blade. These features are also part of the Javanese keris, although the Javanese people and the Balinese people have different names for these parts.

The sheath is unique in that it is made from tooled and chased silver around the wooden core frame. The craftsman has by the repoussé method produced striking flowers and flowering tendril patterns over the cross piece as well as along both side of the sheath. At the top of the reverse side he has tooled a Buddhist eternal knot of life with a lotus.

3.

Conclusion Fine weapons have always been coveted by the wealthiest in society and by royalty, Kings, Princes and their courtiers, as prestige symbols of status and power.

The East India Company colonised India and Burma in the 19th Century. The Dutch East India Company colonised the Dutch East Indies which include Java and Bali. Deals were done in London and Amsterdam by politicians, business men and military men about spheres of influence and the control of trade with these colonised countries.

By the time WWII finished and the colonies had gained independence many of the artefacts from the colonies had been sent to public and private collections in Europe.

For example The Wallace Collection in London contains many good examples of weapons from India and Burma, and keris from Java. I hope that in a post Covid World we will be able to visit these collections again.

4.

5.

References 1. Ethnographic Arms & Armour Forum.

2. www.kerisattosanji.com – website of Alan Maisey 3. Islamic & Oriental Arms & Armour. A Lifetime’s Passion. Robert Hales.

4. Keris Bali, Bersejarah. Neka Art Museum.

Pande Wayan Suteja Neka & Basuki Teguh Yuwono 5. Understanding Balinese Keris. An Insider’s Perspective ARMS AR RMS CA CAVALCADE AVALC 2021

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British Artillery Officer’s Sword The sword is decorated with traditional late-Victoria/Edwardian designs, in additional to conventional decorations found on artillery officer’s swords, namely the canon and winged lightning bolts.

By George Charlton

British Artillery Officer’s Sword pattern of 1822/92.

Royal Regiment of Artillery The search was on!

I

have collected European military swords for approximately ten years. Whilst I was lucky enough to purchase a named 1912 cavalry officer’s sword, it took many years to discover its owner.

This process set me onto the path of purchasing other named British swords. This sword came to my attention on a British sword selling site, antiqueswords.com and I set out to research its history and discover if it was worth purchasing.

The sword is decorated with traditional lateVictoria/Edwardian designs, in additional to conventional decorations found on artillery officer’s swords, namely the canon and winged lightning bolts. The swords obverse side carries the owner’s initials “BV” in a scroll located close to the hilt. The reverse side of blade shows the Beaver surmounted

by a Victoria Crown, with “ER VII” cypher below.

Both of these characteristics confirm the sword to be post-1901-1911 Royal Regiment of Artillery officer’s sword.

The traditional way to trace British Officers is via Hart’s Annual Army List, and with the later date in mind I worked my way back through the years.

This search proved fruitless and there was no Royal Regiment of Artillery officer with the initials, BV. There was, however, a BA and upon searching for detail I became convinced that Benjamin Vaughan Arbuckle was my man, but why BV? I discovered his service in India and embarked on a search of Indian Army List online – FIBIwiki finding Benjamin Vaughan Arbuckle listed with a hyphenated last name Vaughan-Arbuckle and concluded that this was indeed my man. Searching both sources provided me with his service history and ancestory. com gave me his family history details.

The Sword Itself.

Since the Napoleonic Wars officers of the Royal Artillery carried the same regulation patterns that were required for infantry officers. At some point in the 1840s, officers in Royal Artillery gave up carrying the infantry pattern sword in favour of Pattern 1821 Light Cavalry officer’s sword. As the pattern was officially introduced in the 1822 Dress Regulations, it is not incorrect to also refer to it as a Pattern 1822 Cavalry Officer’s Sword and is still the regulation pattern for officers of the Royal Artillery. Adopted in the late 1840s it was fitted

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with the new Wilkinson style blade. During the period the 1845 blades were fitted to British Infantry and Artillery officers’ swords, and from 1845 to 1892, they tended to get straighter, but this was not universal.

The curvature varied, though it is fair to say that more straight examples seem to appear from later dates.

The 1845 swords enjoyed a long service life and was used successfully in colonial wars all over the world, often winning the praise of British soldiers who used it to defend their lives. However, in 1892 proponents of the theory that thrust should be used exclusively over cutting for swords prevailed and the cut and thrust blade was replaced by a straight dedicated thrusting blade with a thick, fullered, dumbbell section and a very acute narrow tapered point.

The sword is a single fullered Wilkinson 1892 blade, 864mm (34”) long, with an overall length of 1016mm (40”). Blade width is 292mm (1&¼”) at the shoulder.

The sword overall is in clean condition, with some cosmetic flaws. The blade is nice, with crisp deep etching, however, there is localized pitting here and there, and one small notch in the blade edge. The blade is straight and solid in the hilt. There is a steel scabbard present fitted with two rings.

The three-bar hilt is in solid condition, with a surprisingly clean and bright surface to the steel parts. The twisted triple silver wire is all in place and the overall condition of the grip remains excellent, with only minor surface wear towards the pommel.

The tang nut is tight and secure and shows no sign of removal or tampering.

Lt. Col Benjamin Vaughan-Arbuckle, Royal Regiment of Artillery.

Benjamin Vaughan-Arbuckle was born on the 10th of September, 1839 in Charlton, Kent, England. In 1858, he gained a commission in the British Indian

Army and was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant in the 6th Mountain Field Battery (Bengal Army), on the 15th of June, 1858. Commissions in the Royal Artillery were normally awarded to those who graduated from a course at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich and the purchase of an artillery commission must be considered unusual, however, one must assume that he possessed the educational standards required of an artillery officer. (There is no evidence that he attended Woolwich!) British Indian Army postings were less prestigious than British Army positions, but the pay was significantly greater so that officers could live on their salaries instead of having to have a private income. British officers in the British Indian Army were expected to learn to speak the Indian languages of their men, who tended to be recruited from primarily Hindi speaking areas and he would have attended language courses to become proficient in Hindi at Indian Army language schools.

Vaughan-Arbuckle was promoted Lieutenant, Bengal 22nd (Bengal) Field Artillery Battery in August, 1858 and continued to serve with the battery until 1863.

During April and May, 1860, he served with the forces under the command of Brigadier General Chamberlain against the Mahsood Wuzeerees and

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British Artillery Officer’s Sword

was present at the forcing of the Burrarah Pass, and destruction of Makeem and was eligible for a Medal with Clasp.

Between 1864 and 1866 he served with the 19th (Bengal) Field Artillery Battery before transferring back to the 22nd (Bengal) Field Artillery Battery in 1867, eventually becoming Instructor of Gunnery between 1869 and 1871.

In 1872, Lieutenant Vaugh-Arbuckle attended the Gentleman Cadet Company, in England, which seems to have served as a training course for more senior promotion and a necessary avenue for promotion if you had not attended a military college. Upon completion he was promoted Captain Royal (Bengal) Artillery on the 1st August, 1872. Whilst in England he married Judith Emily Preston Deplatt – they had met in India.

Between 1873 and 1875 he served as a Captain with the 3rd Field Artillery Brigade, at Dover, Kent. During this time his son, Bertram Vaughan-Arbuckle (Capt.

Royal Scots, 1874 - 1920) was born. In 1876, whilst detached to Isle of Wight, his daughter, Sybil Mary Vaughan-Arbuckle (1876 – 1932) was born. In 1877, he was appointed Adjutant of the Durham Artillery Militia.

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Between 1878 and 1882 he served back in India as a Captain in the 11th (Bengal) Field Artillery Battery and was promoted Major on the 16th of January, 1879. He served in the 1879-80 Afghan War being employed on Commissariat duty and was eligible for the Afghan War Medal. After that he served with the 9th (Bengal) Field Artillery Battery, Karachi Sind, India for two years. His second daughter, Effie Judith VaughArbuckle (1880 – 1953) was born in 1880.

What followed were a number of British home postings. Between 1883 and 1884 he served as Commander Artillery, Cinque Ports Division before being posted as Commander Artillery, Scottish Division 1885 - 1888. On the 28th of July, 1887, he promoted Lt. Colonel. He was posted Commander Artillery, Eastern Division (1889), Commander Artillery, Southern Division (1890) and Commander Royal Artillery, Aden (1891 – 1893).

In 1894, he retired to St. Brelade, Jersey, and Channel Islands and seems to have purchased this sword as a ‘retirement’ sword upon the coronation of Edward VII. Lieutenant Colonel Vaugh-Arbuckle died in St. Brelade, Jersey y and Channel Islands, on the 14th of April, 1924.

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Royal Artillery, 1861

Royal Artillery Officer with Field Gun, 1864

1: Officer, Royal Horse Artillery, 1879.

2: Sowar, 12th Bengal Cavalry, 1888.

3: Havildar, Mountain Artillery Battery, 1899.

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The Story of the N.S.W. Rigbys The military rifle of the day was the Enfield Pattern 1853 percussion muzzle loader. To hit an object at a range of 1000 yards required a trajectory in excess of 75 feet above the line of sight.

By John Corcoran

T

he New South Wales Rifle Association was formed in October 1860 ‘To give permanence to Volunteer Corps and to promote Rifle Shooting throughout New South Wales’. The same year saw the formation of the Victorian Rifle Association with similar objectives.

The military rifle of the day was the Enfield Pattern 1853 percussion muzzle loader, (there were numerous variations). It was .577-inch calibre, with a barrel length of 39 inches, rifled with three grooves at the rate of one turn in 78 inches, weighing about nine pounds and with a muzzle velocity of 1200 feet per second.

To hit an object at a range of 1000 yards required a trajectory in excess of 75 feet above the line of sight.

The first Intercolonial Match was held in Melbourne in 1862, for the Bronze Challenge Shield. This was a match for small bore rifles, which at that time was any rifle of calibre below .577 inch. The members of both teams were using an assortment of Whitworth, Kerr, Alexander Henry and Turner rifles. These were all percussion muzzle loaders, of .451-inch calibre.

The New South Wales riflemen were victorious in this first match, but while returning to Sydney on the ‘City of Sydney’ were fortunate not to lose their lives when the vessel ran aground near Green Cape on 6th November 1862. Of the ten rifles used by the team, six were lost—three Whitworths, one Alexander Henry, one Turner and one Kerr. Privates Lynch and Dickson ran below decks and rescued their Whitworths while the cabins were filling with water. Two other rifles, owned by Captain Harbottle and Lieutenant Campbell, had been mistakenly left at the Melbourne hotel by the carriers, and consequently survived.

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New South Wales won the match again in 1863, Victoria in 1864, and New South Wales then won three matches in succession—1865, 1866 and 1867, entitling them to permanent possession of the Bronze Challenge Shield.

This handsome trophy, crafted in Belgium, was not completed until 1872, when it was presented to the New South Wales riflemen by His Excellency the Governor, Sir Hercules Robinson, at a ceremony at the Exhibition Building in Sydney. It is now on permanent display in the Dehn Auditorium at the Anzac Rifle Range, Malabar, Sydney.

In 1873, an Intercolonial Match for military rifles was created, and the Intercolonial Small Bore Match was resumed, both held at Sandridge Butts in Melbourne.

The Military Match was shot with Hay rifles, a variation of the Enfield, and New Zealand also competed, using the medium Enfield rifle. New South Wales was successful, winning the Samuel Gardiner Challenge Cup and the Victorian Cup, with Victoria second and New Zealand third.

The Small Bore Match between Victoria and New South Wales was shot at 600, 800 and 900 yards, 15 shots each, eight men a side. Any make of rifle was allowed, maximum weight of stock and barrel not to exceed ten pounds, with a minimum trigger pull of three pounds. Shooters could fire from any position that could be assumed on a flat surface, but with no artificial rests.

New South Wales was represented by Private Slade, Corporal Brownlow, Sergeant Maddocks, Lieutenant Cooper, Private Lynch, Colour Sergeant Gee, Captain Strong and Private Bushelle.

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The contest was won easily by Victoria by 37 points. At the 600 and 800 yards ranges there was a difference of only three points in Victoria’s favour, but at 900 yards Victoria scored 34 points more than their opponents. This great falling-off on the part of the New South Wales team was mainly attributable to the rifle belonging to Sergeant Maddocks having been damaged, compelling him to use a Whitworth rifle to which he was unaccustomed. In the last seven shots at 900 yards he missed the target six times. Until then, Maddocks had been shooting in top form, so it was reasonable to conclude that, but for this accident, the Victorians would not have won so decisively.

When the New South Wales team returned to Sydney, they approached the Colonial Secretary for the purchase of new rifles, stating that the small bore rifles used by the Victorians were far superior to their own. They made such a good case that he ordered twelve Rigby match rifles from England, at a cost of several hundred pounds.

These Rigby rifles, purchased in 1874, were percussion muzzle loading long-range rifles designed for competitive shooting and were described as ’Best Match Rifles’. Their serial numbers are 14191 to 14200 inclusive, and 14215.

They have N.S.W. Nos. 1 to 12 stamped on the left side of the stock and on the top flat of the barrel near the breech plug.

These numbers have been stamped on at random, e.g. serial number 14191 is stamped N.S.W No.5, serial number 14200 is N.S.W No.8, while number 14215 is stamped N.S.W No.4.

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N.S.W. Rigbys

Maker:

John Rigby & Co

Type:

Percussion

Serial no:

14191

Manufactured:

1874

Barrel: Bore:

.451 inch

Length:

36 inch

Proofs:

None

Ordered by:

N. S. W. Government

Weight:

9 lbs.

Each rifle was cased, with powder flask, Vernier sights, cleaning and loading rods, nipple wrench, mainspring vice and projectiles. As with many percussion match rifles, there was no provision for a bullet mould, machine-made paper patched projectiles were supplied by the gunmaker.

Barrel lengths varied from about 34 inches to 38 inches, but apart from this the eleven rifles examined are basically the same, with only minor differences.

The following description of rifle serial number 14191 is typical of the twelve Rigbys supplied: The round barrel is blued, length 33¾ inches, key-fitted to stock, screw plug under nipple, has no rear sight fitting on barrel and the foresight block is one inch from the muzzle. The top of the barrel is engraved John Rigby & Co. Dublin & London and

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N. S. W No 5 is stamped on the top flat near the breech.

The underside of the barrel shows the Rigby trade mark, two letter Ps, 14191 on barrel and on colour case-hardened breech plug—there are no proofs. The rifling is eight shallow grooves, calibre .451 inch. The guide muzzle is stamped 14191 and N. S. W No 5.

The colour case-hardened lock is by J. Stanton and has Jno Rigby & Co engraved thereon, as well as the Rigby trade mark. Serial number 14191 is stamped inside the lock.

The walnut stock has a checkered fore end with horn cap and checkered pistol grip with horn cap.

N S W 5 is stamped on the left side of the butt five inches from the butt plate. Serial number 14191 is engraved on the trigger guard tang and the trigger is smooth.

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The blued butt plate is checkered steel, and there are fittings for Vernier sights on tang and heel.

A flat spring under these sight fittings exerts pressure on the Vernier sight to keep it upright during firing. At least two of the rifles have a different arrangement to keep the sight upright, in the form of a small hook on the lower part of the sight and a corresponding hook on the sight, which when connected by a small coil spring, keeps the sight rigid.

This rifle is cased—the case contains two rods, a leather covered Hawksley powder flask, marked NSW No. 5 on collar, the charger is graduated to allow loading of 70 to 120 grains of black powder. The oil bottle is unmarked, with eight flat sides.

The sight case and sights are missing. Rigby sights of this period are generally cased in walnut boxes,

approximately 7 inches by 3 inches by 1¼ inches high, containing a Vernier rear sight, foresight with spirit level and windage adjustment, foresight inserts, nipple wrench, spare nipples and a sight wrench.

The actual sights and the walnut box bear the serial number of the rifle for which they were made, while the foresight inserts usually are stamped with the last two digits of that serial number.

The overall length of this rifle is 50½ inches, weight 9 pounds.

This Rifle was acquired from the New South Wales Rifle Association in 1964.

Major A. B. Leech, in his Rifle Shooting in Ireland, published in 1867, made the following enthusiastic observations: To such perfection has the manufacture of long range rifles been carried, within the last few years, by the few makers who have given their attention to the subject, that it is now difficult to imagine that any further progress is possible in this direction. To shoot

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N.S.W. Rigbys

with one of these rifles is, when the first principles have been learned, the very poetry of rifle shooting.

The system of sighting is so perfect, and the accuracy of the rifle so great, that I have frequently seen beginners, who never fired any rifle before, and who had one of these rifles placed in their hands for the first time, (the sight being first set for them), hit the bull’s-eye (three feet square) the very first shot, at a distance of 800 yards, nearly half a mile.

Recently I saw five members practising at 900 yards, at the Dublin range, and two rounds were fired while I watched them, i.e. ten consecutive shots, all of which struck the bull’s-eye except one, and that grazed it. Three of the shooters were inexperienced shooters in their first year but all were using match rifles made by Rigby, which only require pointing at the bull’s-eye to hit it.

Major Leech made it sound so easy—he also stated: I shoot with Rigbys, and I believe there is no better: there is less fouling, less recoil, and it produces a lower trajectory than any other I have seen.

In 1874, the New South Wales Rifle Association Annual Meeting for prize shooting was held at Paddington Range, attended by two teams from Victoria, to compete in the Intercolonial Military and Small Bore Matches. In the Military Match, (Hay rifles were used), Victoria won by ten points, while in the Small Bore Match: ‘The New South Wales team was successful and the action of the Government in importing the new Rigby rifles was fully justified by the result, the match being won by this colony by over 100 points’.

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The esteem in which Rigby muzzle loading match rifles were held by riflemen of the day is confirmed by the fact that when the Victorian Rifle Team visited Wimbledon to represent Australia in 1876, they purchased four Rigby Best Match Rifles, three of which have been located. Rigby muzzle loaders featured in the Elcho Shield Match at Wimbledon, into the 1880s, when successful and efficient breech loaders were already widely used and accepted throughout the world.

Of the twelve Rigby Best Match Rifles purchased by the Colony of New South Wales in 1874, it is remarkable that only one rifle is unaccounted for after more than 130 years. Certainly, very few have been found complete with the original case and all accessories, but it is surprising, and pleasing, that so many from the original order have survived.

Footnote: The above story was published in Australian Target Rifle, the official magazine of the National Rifle Association of Australia, in 2010, when

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Detailed scores were

*Victoria retired and gave up the contest with 38 shots still to be fired at the 900 yards range.

both the New South Wales Rifle Association and the Victorian Rifle Association celebrated 150 years since their formation in 1860.

This article generated a response from a shooter/ collector in Canada who advised the NSWRA that he had the stock of the missing Rigby, NSW No. 12, and at that point was tracking down the rest of the rifle, which he believed was in a deceased estate in USA. From research into the NSW Rigbys, and as mentioned in the above story, only two of the twelve rifles are complete with the original sights and, hopefully one day, the missing boxes of sights, which are numbered to each rifle, will be located.

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References 1. New South Wales Rifle Association Annual Reports. 1862, 1863, 1873, 1874.

2. Rifle Shooting in Ireland. A. B. Leech. Dublin. 1867.

3. The Elcho Shield Records. The English Eight Club. 1968.

4. The National Rifle Association of New South Wales—Jubilee Souvenir.

Lieutenant H. E. Mills. 1909.

5. The Target Rifle in Australia - 1860 to 1900. J. E. Corcoran. Dolphin Press.

Sydney. 1975.

6. Photographs: Fred Bienvenu. From the collection of John Corcoran 7. Classic Rifles in Australia. John Corcoran & Fred Bienvenu.

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Richard Wilson and Family Gunmakers London Richard Wilson was born of humble north-country yeoman stock late in 1702, in the county of Westmorland and was apprenticed to the London Gunmaker Thomas Green in 1718.

By Paul Duffy

R

ichard Wilson was baptised in the church of St Bottolphs’s Aldgate London on 26 January 1703. This church is located only a hundred yards or so from the premises which the Wilson family were to occupy until 1833.

Richard Wilson was apprenticed to the London Gunmaker Thomas Green in 1718.

Green’s wife was Richard Wilson’s cousin, which probably explains how he came into the business.

Green had occupied premises in the Minories known as “The Fowler”, and since 1697 he had been a contractor for military arms to the Board of Ordnance, a position he was to retain until the close of the wars in 1715. In 1715 he became Viewer and Proofmaker to the Hudson’s Bay Company and gunmaker to the Royal African Company in 1721. So Richard’s experience would have included working in some way on all of the types of guns which were to form the mainstay of his business throughout his working life of some thirty five years.

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Richard’s son, William, joined his father in 1757, when the business was styled Richard & William Wilson & Co. In 1759 they changed the name to Richard Wilson & Co which continued despite Richard’s death in 1766.

This article features a silver mounted fowler piece, with a 37.5 inch barrel and an overall length of 52 inches. The lock is marked Wilson, and on top of the barrel is the word LONDON. The barrel is stamped with the Richard Wilson mark, RW under a star. The ornate silver side plate features a sea monster with a tail in a sea surrounded by vines and fruit. The silver trigger guard has an acorn finial. The silver butt plate is engraved with a similar floral pattern and a triumphal sconce at the foot of the butt. The trigger guard and butt plate are hallmarked for London 1765, silver maker John King. The three ramrod pipes and the small plates holding the barrel wedges are silver, as is the small, vacant silver escutcheon plate on the top of the comb.

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A silver mounted following piece, with a 37.5 inch barrel and an overall length of 52 inches.

The flintlock action has a waterproof pan, and there is no roller to the frizzen.

The full length walnut stock is chequered at the grip.

There is also a holster pistol with a round, swamped, brass barrel, .62 cal with a 9 inch barrel. The barrel has view and proof marks by the London Gunmakers Company and the maker’s mark a star over RW. The name Wilson is also engraved on the rounded lock.

On the top of the barrel is a looping engraved section running down from the breech with Wilson, Minories, London engraved in script. The long eared butt plate, trigger guard, with an accord finial of the 1780s, is stamped with clear silver hallmarks. These show that the silver work was made in London by well-known silversmith Michael Barnett in 1789.

The cups for the lock retaining screws are silver as well.

This pistol is a good example of why one should be careful about dating purely on style. Fortunately we know when it was made because of the clear silver hallmarks.

Without those marks, dating this pistol would have been a challenge. The spurred pommels were definitely obsolete by 1789. Few high quality civilian pistols were made with spurred pommels after 1780, because they had been superseded by the more functionally streamlined flat sided hooked butts introduced by Twigg, Wogdon and Griffin in the 1770s.

Only ordnance pistols still had heavy butt caps, and even they had moved away from the long spurs up the butt.

Also anomalous are the round profiles of the lock and cock, which are reminiscent of thirty years earlier.

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Richard Wilson and Family

Flintlock Pistol showing trigger guard, acorn, silver butt cap and hallmarks.

By 1789, locks and cocks had been made with flat profiles for at least a two decades. In addition, the frizzen and frizzen spring retaining screws are still fastened from the outside, which was an outdated design for 1789, for by then all good locks had those screws fastened from inside the lock plate. The engraving on the lock and cock, a stand of arms and flags, and Wilson in a bordered oval is entirely consistent with the pistols true date.

Another time warp is the fine scallop relief carving behind the tang. This had been a mark of good quality guns up to 1780, but by 1789 was quite rare.

The trigger guard has the acorn finial of the 1780s, and the ornate escutcheon of earlier times is here shown as a simple shield plate with an engraved border. The butt cap is not the grotesque mask of earlier times, but a simple cap with star engraving.

These are two fine pieces, and going by the sterling silver hallmarks the fowler was made by Richard Wilson before 1765, and the pistol by William Wilson before 1789, after his father died in 1766.

The Wilson family grew to become probably the largest, single gunmaking firm in London until, at the very least, the final decades of the 18th Century.

Richard succeeded Agnes Green as a contractor

to the Hudsons’ Bay Company. In 1733 Richard first stablished contracts with the Honourable East India Company, the largest British chartered trading company. Over this period Richard began his career-long participation as an officer of the London Gunmakers Company.

In 1737 the first records of Wilson’s activities in the American Colonies is noted. Wilson expanded his business into another potentially lucrative area when he received his first contract for Kings Pattern military small arms from the Board of Ordnance on 15 April 1746. Between this time and October 1749. He supplied the Board with some 3700 Pattern 1742 long hand muskets and 900 pairs of Pattern 1738 Land Service Pistols. The Wilson’s military small arms production from 1746 to 1803 covers most of the standard patterns. Long and short hand muskets, marine or militia muskets, sea service muskets and pistols, and latterly India Pattern muskets.

At the same period Wilson was also supplying arms for customers in Britain, not least among them pairs of pistols to be carried by officers in their saddle holsters and officers fusils, some with silver furniture, during the coming war in Europe as well as in America.

Barrels continued to be stamped with a six-pointed star over RW.

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The changes to the name of the firm when son William joined are academic as no change was made to the way their products were marked. Barrels continued to be stamped with a six-pointed star over RW, and locks to be engraved Wilson in either block letters or script depending on the grade and quality of the piece. On some better grade examples an address of “Minories London” or just London was engraved on the top of the barrel.

Guns made by William Wilson the elder or his younger brother William are relatively scarce.

Identifying them is not made easier by the retention throughout the three generations of the same lock and barrel markings. So thank goodness for hallmarked silver fittings.

A significant change in the general proportions of the flintlock pistol took place in the second quarter of the 18th Century was the result of an improvement in the gunpowder that was used. The gunpowder of the 17th Century was a slow-burning compound necessitating the use of extravagantly long barrels in all kinds of firearms. The impulse given to the bullet was not immediate, but gradual and it increased in force as the slow-burning powder became fully ignited. The barrel had to be sufficiently long to ensure that the burning powder should have developed its full force before the ball had passed out of the muzzle.

The introduction of a more rapidly burning powder made it possible to reduce the barrel length of the pistols to 9 inches.

Towards the end of the 18th Century, particularly in England, there was a gradual trend away from decoration towards a concentration on the practical efficiency of the sporting gun.

But all these stories should not be allowed to obscure the real achievements of the gunmakers and the actual performances of the flintlock smoothbore fowler. Contemporary references reveal how surprisingly effective the fowler was. As early as 1727 George Markland, in his Pteryplegia; or, the Art of Shooting-Flying, was advocating shooting at ranges of at least 40 yards: Full forty yards permit the Bird to go; The spreading gun will surer mischief sow; But, when too near the flying object is, You certainly will mangle it, or miss; The Wilson family at the Ancient Fowler in the Minories London (house, workshop and three warehouses) made fine firearms.

My thanks to my co-editor Bill Taylor for allowing me to acquire the holster pistol. And for his help p identifying the sterling silver hallmarks.

References 1. JFH Haywood; The Art of the Gunmaker VII 2. Howard L Blackmore, Gunmakers of London, Supplement 1350-1850 3. Howard L Blackmore, Hunting Weapons 4. Christies London – 8 November 1995, sale 5500 W Keith Neal Collection 5. DeWitt Bailey II, unpublished article, The Wilsons: Gunmakers to Empire, 1730-1832 6. Peter Finer – Fine Antique Arms, Armour and Related Objects, 2020 ARMS ARM AR A RM R MS CA C CAVALCADE AVA AVA 2021

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Notes on the Duelling Code

By Bill Taylor

Two gentlemen duelling with pistols W Sams (1823) Wellcome Collection

D

uelling with pistols rather than with swords emerged in England in the late 1760s, when pistols designed specifically for duelling were developed by a handful of top English gunmakers. The duel as a means of settling disputes of honour had of course been around for centuries, but by 1770 sword fighting had become so highly specialised that an expert with the sword could behave badly with impunity around anyone who was not. Duelling pistols evened the odds significantly, especially when the participants were only ten to twelve paces apart.

The rules in England and Ireland for the conduct of a pistol duel became clearly codified by the end of the eighteenth century. Although duelling was unlawful, if the code were seen to have been followed fairly, subsequent prosecution of the survivor would often fail. Because there was no degree of certainty however, duellists usually fought early in the morning at secluded spots, and got away afterwards as soon as they could.

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Although the conduct of any duel could be varied according to agreements worked out by the seconds, any deviation needed to be able to withstand close examination by society and the law afterwards. Seconds therefore took their responsibilities very seriously, lest they also be charged with murder.

Duels followed a standard protocol: After a challenge had been issued, each person would appoint a ‘second’ from amongst their close friends.

The seconds would explore the possibility of resolving the dispute without going to the duel, but failing that, they would arrange a time and place as soon as possible – usually early the following morning. Each second would also arrange for separate means of transport to take their parties to the agreed duelling ground, and for a surgeon to accompany them.

On arrival at the duelling ground the two protagonists would stay away from each other

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while the seconds stepped out the agreed number of paces (usually twelve), marked the firing points, and ensured that the line of fire for both parties would not be affected by light from the rising sun.

It was customary for the two duellists to bring their own pistols, or pistols borrowed from a friend.

Each second would then load his respective duellist’s pistols.

The seconds would place the participants at the agreed distance, after which each duellist would be handed his loaded pistol.

The men would face each other, with pistols held pointing towards the ground. Practised duellists would stand side on to the line of fire to reduce the size of the visible target. They would also wear dark clothing with no bright buttons or other colourful objects that might assist the other person’s aim.

At the ‘ready’ command they would cock their pistols and set the hair trigger mechanism if they so chose. Not everyone did, because hair triggers were often set so lightly that an inadvertent touch could fire the pistol before the firer was ready.

One of the seconds was appointed to give the agreed signal, such as holding a handkerchief aloft and bringing it down sharply as the signal to fire.

Another option favoured in military circles was for the signal to be the command ‘Present’.

At the signal, both would bring their pistols up and fire. Seconds usually required both parties to fire

simultaneously, and definitely no later than three seconds apart, to avoid the possibility that if the first person to fire missed, the other could then take slow deliberate aim and shoot them down.

If neither party was hit, the challenger could demand that another course of fire take place, unless the other person made an appropriate and acceptable apology.

After three exchanges of fire without either party being wounded, the seconds would ask the parties to accept that the matter had been resolved. In most accounts it appears that the process of facing each other’s fire was considered to have been sufficient. (However in one very well documented and highly publicised case that occurred in England in 1797, both parties exchanged fire no less than six times, despite being only ten paces apart.

They stopped only because one of them had run out of bullets.)

Immediately after a duel, both seconds were expected and advised to write a joint report of the encounter, to be kept securely in case it was needed for subsequent court action. Duels rarely remained secret after the event, but most would be ignored by authorities if it were believed that they had been conducted fairly.

Social acceptance of duelling had dramatically changed by the time Queen Victoria came to the throne, and it virtually ceased.

References 1. The British Code of Duel, anon, London 1824 2. The Art of Duelling, “A Traveller’, London 1836 3. The British Duelling Pistol, John Atkinson, 1978 4. Duelling Pistols, John Atkinson, 1964 5. Robert Wogdon, John O’Sullivan and De Witt Bailey, London, 2019 ARMS A AR ARM RM R MS C CAVALCADE AV 2021

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Robert Wogdon Duelling Pistol A rare brass barrelled, silver mounted duelling pistol

by Robert Wogdon, London, 1791

By Bill Taylor

T

he first time I handled a Georgian duelling pistol I had been collecting antique guns for only a couple of years. It was a flintlock duelling pistol made about 1780 by Robert Wogdon, and it sat in my hand as though it had been made for me. Of course I had to buy it.

Robert Wogdon was one of the great English gunmakers of his day, having built a widespread reputation for making duellers that were regarded as deadly. I became a Wogdon fan, although for many years my interest was confined to buying the relevant reference books and admiring other people’s cased sets.

Some years later I acquired this Wogdon dueller with fine silver mounts. The pistol is unusual because its octagonal barrel is made of brass, something rarely seen on any duelling pistols. Brass barrels on firearms that were regularly subject to outdoor or seagoing service are common, but brass barrels on duelling pistols are very rare.

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Brass barrelled duellers must therefore have been a special order – perhaps by a naval officer who wished to carry them with him on his service postings.

The brass barrel has the same dimensions as the regular iron stub twist counterparts made by Wogdon.

It is signed on the top flat Wogdon London in his usual style. The octagonal barrel is slightly swamped, is 10” long of .56” calibre with a silver foresight, and has a gold vent. London proof marks are on the underside.

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However, the RW barrel maker’s mark usually found between the proof marks on Wogdon’s barrels is missing. This indicates that Robert Wogdon probably outsourced the making of this barrel to a brass foundry specialising in brass barrels.

Consistent with that, the barrel also does not have the almost imperceptible downward bend that Wogdon put into his own barrels, designed to ensure that at twelve paces the ball’s impact would align exactly with the sights.

John O’Sullivan and De Witt Bailey’s major reference book on Robert Wogdon published

by Bonhams in 2019 noted that “This is the only Wogdon duelling pistol with a brass barrel so far recorded”, and devoted two pages (176,177) to describing and illustrating it.

The lock is signed Wogdon in his standard flowing script, with a sliding safety bolt and a roller bearing

to the heel of the frizzen. The semi-rainproof pan is gold lined, which is not uncommon but by no means standard. The lock and cock have been vigorously cleaned at some stage, so their edges are not as sharp as they were when new. Nonetheless the whole lock is original and still attractive.

The pistol has the usual slightly curved set trigger used by Wogdon at this time.

The trigger guard is silver with a pineapple finial and has London hallmarks stamped internally, so it has to be taken off the pistol to reveal them. Having been protected all this time we can see very clearly what good London hallmarks for 1791 look like. The maker’s stamp MB was for many years attributed to Moses Brent, but in recent times it has been established that the silver maker using these marks was actually Michael Barnett.

The heavy silver butt plaque is a distinctive form used only by Wogdon from the 1770s to the 1790s.

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Robert Wogdon Duelling Pistol

It depicts Britannia holding a spear, with one hand resting on a strange device with a grotesque face upon it. Its position on the butt is not only decorative, but also serves as a counterweight.

The balance and handling of the pistol are excellent. Having competed in modern pistol shooting events for many years, I found that this pistol came up to the target and held a steady sight picture as well as any specialised modern target pistol. It is no surprise that Wogdon’s duelling pistols had a fearsome reputation in their day.

It would be nice to find the pistol’s missing pair but the chances of that are remote. In the meantime, its elegant combination of silver, walnut, steel and brass is more than enough to keep me happy.

References 1. Robert Wogdon, Wogdon and Barton, John Barton, London Gunmakers 1764-1819, John O’Sullivan and De Witt Bailey, 2019 2. The British Duelling Pistol, John Atkinson, 1978 3. Duelling Pistols, John Atkinson, 1964 4. Early Firearms of Great Britain and Ireland, The Collection of Clay Bedford, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1971 5. Great British Gunmakers 1740-1790, Neal and Back, 1975

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Contributors BRAD MANERA Teddy Sheehan — V.C. Growing up in my grandparents’ home inspired an interest in objects with stories. The piano and mantelpiece were lined with sepia photos of young men in ill-fitting uniforms, slouch hats and puttees.

After 40 years working in museums I’m still facinated researching great objects and their stories.

BILL TAYLOR Presentation Stand, & Robert Wogdon Duelling Pistols Bill Taylor has been collecting antique arms for forty five years in Sydney, Canberra and Adelaide.

He specializes in English flintlock pistols, and still enjoys finding something good, hidden under a couple of centuries of grime. He also collects antique Japanese swords and fittings.

GEOFF POGSON The Cave Dewellers Club of Tasmania Part 2 In 1968 a lucky find in the Chatswood White Elephant Store spurred me to add collecting to my shooting interests. I began picking up interesting old guns as well as rabbits, foxes and cats. The book was British Pistols and Revolvers, by J. N. George. From this, my collecting became my main focus.

In 1968 a lucky find in the Chatswood White Elephant Store spurred me to add collecting to my GEORGE CHARLTON

shooting interests. I began picking up interesting old guns as well as rabbits, foxes and cats. The book

British OfficersbySword was BritishArtillery Pistols and Revolvers, J. N. George. From this, my collecting became my main focus.

A retired Secondary English and History teacher who also dabbles in Geography, and a boarding housemaster at a variety of schools for almost twenty years. Serving in the Australian Army Reserve in the Infantry Corps he reached the rank of Sergeant. He has recently developed a passion for 19th and 20th century military swords, with many fine examples from Britain, France and Germany.

JOHN CORCORAN The Story of N.S.W. Rigbys Interests in antique firearms and the Australian outback since a boy, and after using a .577/450 Hollis Martini rifle on buffalo leases in the Northern Territory, became involved in big bore black powder rifles. In 1975 while Honorary Historian for the NSW Rifle Association, he published The Target Rifle in Australia 1860-1900. John in collaboration with Fred Bienvenu published Classic Rifles in Australia.

PAUL DUFFY Four Daggers & Wilson Gunmakers I started with British military and sporting arms, as they were available, especially those with colonial markings. But I became fascinated with the art of the gunmaker and the complexity and culture of Islamic and Javanese weapons. Working with metal.

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