Time Machines

PALACE intrigue and personal bravery provided the backdrop for a pair of compelling transactions under the hammer during the Holt’s December 2021 auction at the company’s facilities at Church Farm Barns, Wolferton, Norfolk.

The first was steeped in rivalry and thirst for power, as a ManuFrance 16-bore ‘Fusil Ideal Perfection’ Triggerplate-Action Ejector shotgun was offered. While the gun is, in itself, an interesting piece of history, its original owner, Amanullah Khan, was a central figure in the evolution of Afghanistan from a territory administered by the British Empire to an independent nation.

Selling at £4,500, well above the estimated £1,000-£1,500, the gun is serial numbered 38714, with 29-in Hercule Tremple steel barrels (five palm branches and Director’s mark), sunken matt rib ramped at the breech and muzzle and carved with foliate designs, the breech ends of the tubes with ornate deco bordered acanthus scroll detailing, the underside with matt sunken rib with laurel engraved sling eye mount (sling eye ground off), the sides of the tubes engraved ‘MANUFACTURE FRANÇAIS D’ARMES ET CYCLES. SAINT ETIENNE.’, ‘FUSIL IDEAL BREVETE DANS TOUS LES PAYS’, 2½-in chambers, bored approx. ½ and ¾ choke, rounded bar action ejectors at fault, right firing mechanism at fault, quadruple-grip action with rising bite and side-clips, the standing breech with serial numbered disc-mounted loaded indicators, triggerguard-mounted pull-back lever, the triggerplate with manual sliding safety bar, the fences carved in high relief with stylised leaf motifs on a finely stippled background, the action and furniture profusely engraved with fine acanthus scrollwork interspersed with stylised scrolling foliate art deco designs, bright finish, 14¼-in figured stock including horn buttplate, the right side inset with a gold oval escutcheon bearing the Tughra of Emir Amanullah Khan over a Persian calendar date of 1303 (1924).

Amanullah Khan

Manufactured circa 1912, the shotgun was the personal property of Amanullah Khan, ruler of Afghanistan as emir and then its king from 1919 to 1926. During the period, he successfully severed the British hold on his country as the Empire dealt with the astronomical cost of the recently concluded Great War.

Amanullah, the third son of Habibullah Khan, gained control of his country after the assassination of his father in early 1919. The assassination occurred during a hunting trip as Habibullah’s entourage travelled to the province of Laghman. On Amanullah’s orders, a young servant killed Habibullah, leaving another son, Nasrullah, as heir apparent. At first, Nasrullah was hesitant and declared support for the eldest son, Inayatullah.

The party continued its journey, reaching the city of Jalalabad, and with the support of Inayatullah, Nasrullah was proclaimed emir. Meanwhile, Amanullah had remained in Kabul. With the news of the assassination, he moved swiftly to usurp the authority of the new emir. Amanullah seized the royal treasury and staged a coup d’état against Nasrullah. Apparently, Amanullah counted on the fact that Nasrullah was a righteous and peaceful man in order to consolidate his hold on power.

Indeed, Nasrullah decided to go into exile in Saudi Arabia and informed Amanullah that he could take the kingdom. Treacherously, Amanullah assured Nasrullah that he could return to Kabul without fear and live a peaceful life.

The story goes that Amanullah swore an oath on the Holy Koran to this effect. Still, spurred by a lingering fear that supporters of Nasrullah would rise against him, Amanullah broke his pledge. By early March 1919, Nasrullah was arrested and in prison in the Afghan capital. A month later, Amanullah convened a formal court inquiry into the assassination of Habibullah. An army colonel was found guilty and executed, and conveniently manufactured evidence implicated Nasrullah, who was sentenced to life in prison and was later killed while in custody.

Afghan interests

After consolidating power, Amanullah successfully played Afghan interests against the emerging difficulties between Britain and the newly created Soviet Union. His invasion of British India ignited the Third Anglo-Afghan War, and when peace was declared in late 1919, Amanullah became the sovereign of an independent Afghanistan.

During his reign, Amanullah instituted numerous reforms in education, the role of women in society, and in the prevailing dress codes. He embarked on an extensive tour of Europe in late 1927, visiting Pope Pius XI in the Vatican City and meeting with Europe leaders, including King Victor Emmanuel III and his prime minister Benito Mussolini in Italy, German President Paul von Hindenburg, King Albert I and Queen Elisabeth of Belgium, and King George V and Queen Mary.

While on his extended journey, however, Amanullah’s hold on power in Afghanistan began to unravel. Islamic conservative and fundamentalist opposition forces, called Saqqawists, seized power, compelling his abdication in January 1929. Many of Amanullah’s reforms were reversed and he went into exile in Italy. Attempts to return to Afghanistan proved futile. By the 1940s, rumours spread that Amanullah was serving as a spy for Nazi Germany and hoped to return to power in the event of an Axis victory in World War II. Such was not to be. He died in 1960.

The subject of the Holt’s sale was presented under the trade name ManuFrance, which belonged to Manufacture Française d’Armes et Cycles de St Etienne, a French mail order company established in 1888 that specialised in firearms and bicycles. The company typically procured goods manufactured by third parties and labelled them ‘ManuFrance’ for resale. According to the vendor, the shotgun had been given to us uncle in the late 1960s by a member of the Afghan royal family.

Webley revolver

The second Holt’s selection involves a tale of adventure and sacrifice in wartime. A Webley .450/.455 six-shot target-revolver, model WG Target, serial numbered 21849, was sold for £600, within the expected range of £500-£1,000. While Webley revolvers are not, in and of themselves, so very uncommon, this particular revolver is accompanied by interesting provenance.

Lieutenant Cecil Mortimer Pitts-Tucker was born on 12 April 1890 in Barnstaple. According to records, he was educated at Ellerslie, Fremington, Devon, Charterhouse (House Lockites), and then the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. In April 1910, he was assigned to the Highland Light Infantry. From October 1912 to March 1913, he served as extra aide-de-camp to Colonel Sir James S Meston, lieutenant governor of the United Provinces of India, namely Agra and Oudh, and his promotion to lieutenant became official in December 1912.

While he was on duty in India, Pitts-Tucker was a member of the regimental polo team, and he also played in the final of the Amateur Golf Championship of India, in Calcutta. One source from the time reads, “He was beaten, but got the cup for the best stranger’s score.”

Until 1915, officers of the British Army were required to supply their own sidearms, and so on 18 August 1914, during his sojourn on the subcontinent and just over two weeks after the outbreak of World War I, Pitts-Tucker purchased the subject Webley revolver at the Bombay depot. It is described specifically as having blued 7½-in barrel, ramp and blade fore-sight, drift adjustable notch rear-sight, the top of barrel signed ‘ARMY & NAVY CSL LONDON’, blued break-open frame with quick-release fluted automatic ejecting cylinder, spurred hammer, chequered trigger, chequered walnut flared grips (left toe chipped) and lanyard swivel at heel, strong amount of blued finish remaining.

Webley & Scott is a prominent firearms manufacturer bound up with British military history. Founded in Birmingham, England, in 1790, the firm produced revolvers, pistols, and long arms for the British military from 1834 to 1979. In 1887, the Webley revolver became the standard British sidearm, and Pitts-Tucker’s purchase was probably his choice between the ‘Army’ and ‘Target’ versions of the WG (Webley Government) Model of 1889. The Target variant had a longer barrel than the Army along with adjustable sights and a flared squarebutt grip rather than the bird’s head grip and 6-in barrel of the Army variant.

A few days after his Webley purchase, Lieutenant Pitts-Tucker and the 1st Battalion, Highland Light Infantry sailed from Ambia, India, travelling via Egypt and landing at the port of Marseille, France, on December 1, as a component of the Sirhind Brigade, 3rd (Lahore) Division. Soon, the unit was in action during the defence of the city of Festubert in the Pas-de-Calais department of northern France.

The Great War was only four months along, and after early fighting a race to the Channel coast ensued, both sides trying to outflank one another. The result was the protracted, gut-wrenching trench warfare that has come to characterise World War I on the Western Front. Young Pitts-Tucker, however, saw only a small portion of the struggle before he lost his life.

Soon after Pitts-Tucker’s death, his parents, William Edwin and Violet Emily Pitts-Tucker of Crosslands, received a letter from their second son’s commanding officer. It reads in part: “Your son was killed on the 20th December after making a gallant charge to go to the aid of a brother officer with a few men he had gathered round him. All were shot down. He was as fine a soldier as one could wish to see, and a true and affectionate comrade; and he met his soldier’s death just in the manner all who knew him knew he would.”

Apparently, little is known about what happened to the Webley after the lieutenant’s death. It was probably on his person at the time of his “gallant charge” and recovered, possibly to be sent home with personal effects. The letter itself was, perhaps, only cold comfort to those who loved Cecil Mortimer Pitts-Tucker, but it must be considered that the commanding officer had many more to write that sombre day in 1914. GTN