1957.5.1

Collection type

Object

Description

Lee Enfield MK 1 cavalry carbine rifle with an attached magazine. The magazine would take a 303 cartridge. [MdeA 04/12/2008]

Long description

The receiver is stamped with several marks: a crown above 'V.R' (Victoria Regina), then 'Enfield 1898' and finally 'L.E.C' over an 'I', which stands for 'Lee Enfield Carbine, Mk.1' The stock bears a plaque recording the gun's recapture from the Boers and above it the metal letters 'FNG', the initials of the finder/owner Frederick Nicholas Griffin. DVH is scratched into the wood [HA 30/06/2009]

Geographical reference

South Africa

Africa > Southern Africa > South Africa

Cape Province (Northern Cape) Wagenaars Kraal

Cultural groups

Boer

Person

Field collector Frederick Nicholas Griffin

PRM source Ida Doyne

Date / Period

Date made: 1898

Date collected

18 February 1902

Acquisition information

Donated: 1957

Materials and processes

Material Wood Plant, Material Metal

Dimensions

Length 1015 mm approx

Object numbers

Accession number: 1957.5.1

Research and responses

This is a cavalry carbine rather than a standard rifle. It uses the same basic system as the 1895 MLE or 'Long Lee'. The marks suggest it was issued to the 9th Queen's Royal Lancers in Jan of 1900. They were involved in the relief of Kimberley in February 1900 and a couple of the other major battles of the earlier stages of the Boer War. it may have been in the hands of the Boers for a year or two before it was then re-taken from Judge Hugo, a well-known Boer leader, who was killed at a skirmish on February 20th 1902. British governed Cape Colony and Natal were invaded by the Boers in October 1899. By the spring of 1902, most of the rebels had been pushed back and order restored in the south and west of the Colony. Boer leaders such as Malan and Fouche were forced to seek refuge in the Camdeboo Mountains and the Boers surrendered not long after (May 1902). [HA 30/06/2009]

Search terms: Firearm Weapon, Firearm