Foster 981-1033

F981-1033

India Office Weapons. This collection contains guns, bayonets, swords, a sword bag and a medal. These 53 items were formerly kept in the India Office building in Whitehall. Some of the weapons in the collection were production pieces as made in quantity and used in India, while others are pattern pieces; when the East India Company required new weapons for its forces, the appropriate pattern piece was shown to the manufacturer to indicate the exact form and quality that was required. Pattern pieces are thus far more rare than production pieces. Some pattern pieces were bought for scrutiny or experimental trials, but were never put into production.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Harding, D.F., Smallarms of the East India Company 1600-1856 (4 Volumes). London: Foresight books, 1997-99; Roads, C.H., The British Soldier’s Firearm, 1850-1864. London: Herbert Jenkins, 1964; Robson, Brian, Swords of the British Army. London: National Army Museum, 1996.

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F982-989

Muskets. When the East India Company was first established, muskets were the most numerous smallarm sent to India. They remained the main weapon of the Company’s forces until 1857. The type of weapon defined by the term “musket” varied considerably over the years, but in the Company’s service from the late seventeenth century until 1856 it denoted a smoothbore infantry longarm with a barrel at least 39 inches long and of 11-bore (about .76in calibre). See Harding, D. Smallarms of the East India Company Vol.I, p.156 and Vol.II p.1.

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F982-987

East India Company’s “Pattern F” percussion muskets were manufactured from 1845 to 1851, for infantry use. They are muzzle-loaders with a 39 inch smoothbore barrel of 11-bore, percussion ignition and are characterised by an improved bayonet catch adopted only by the East India Company. Soldiers in India had experienced problems with the earlier Hanoverian (or “Pattern E”) bayonet catch, hence its replacement. Their standard length is 55 inches overall (72 inches with bayonet attached). Some 206,580 were made. See Harding, D. Smallarms of the East India Company Vol.II, p.119. These six specimens were all production pieces and have seen service in India.

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F990-996

Carbines. Carbines were longarms shorter and lighter than a musket, often intended for use by cavalry. They are often fitted with a bar and ring for attachment to a horseman’s crossbelt.

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F997-1004

Rifles. These firearms (customarily longarms) have spiral grooves in the bore which make the bullet spin about the axis of its flight. This stabilises the bullet gyroscopically, improving accuracy, also retention of kinetic energy and penetration (by allowing more efficient elongated shapes of projectile to be used).

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F1005-1006

Musketoons. The distinguishing feature of these firearms (in the East India Company’s definition) is their bore shape; about the first two-thirds of the bore is straight, then it flares towards the muzzle. East India Company musketoons fired either a single large ball or several smaller pistol balls.

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F1007-1008

Blunderbusses. In the East India Company’s definition, blunderbusses had flared muzzles like musketoons, but internally the bore is flared throughout its length. This bore design allows it to fire many small pieces of lead shot.

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F1009-1012

East India Company sea service (or naval) pistols. Muzzle-loading, smoothbore, 28-bore, flintlock ignition. This pattern of pistol was made c.1819-36, for use by the Bombay Marine/Indian Navy or on the East India Company's own East Indiamen. The inspection marks on these four production pieces suggest they were probably made in the mid-1820s. The stocks have been cut away at the forend to facilitate mounting in a wall display. Each piece measures about 19.5 inches long. See Harding, D.F., Smallarms of the East India Company Volume II, p.313.

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F1013-1014

Wall guns or wallpieces. These are oversized muskets designed to be mounted on a wall, stockade, field carriage or the side or bows of a boat (by means of a large iron swivel and peg, similar to the rowlock of a rowing boat). East India Company wallpieces were generally made in 5-bore (approx .95in calibre).

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F1015-1019

These five bayonets are all production pieces, made for the War Department. The same designs were also used by the British-Indian Army.

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F1017-1019

These three sword bayonets are similar, having a yataghan (double-curved) blade and a steel sword-type hilt characterised by a ring to fit over the rifle’s muzzle and a mortise slot on the pommel to fit a “bayonet bar” on the side of the rifle’s muzzle (or upper barrel band). Leather grips. The exact shape and dimensions of the slot and ring indicate each bayonet’s precise pattern.

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F1024-1025

East India Company swords, pattern pieces No.323a and 323b.

These two swords are very similar, but differ from each other in the size of the hilt. The Company’s archives indicate that pattern No.323 was procured for issue to staff sergeants and native officers of the infantry from the 1830s to the 1850s. These two actual pattern pieces further suggest that No.323a, which has a larger hilt, was for European staff sergeants, while No.323b, which has a smaller hilt, was for native officers (Indian troops were found to have smaller hands than their European colleagues). In both cases the maker’s mark at the base of the blade is a knight's helmet, for Weyersberg of Solingen (indicating German manufacture). Swords of pattern No.323 were sometimes procured complete with a “bag”, and the sword bag in this collection (F1033) may be associated with F1024 or F1025.