Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post - After the Anglo-Sikh wars

Jim McDougall · 27th November 2016, 08:24 PM

In 1884, Egerton in his introduction to his 'handbook' on Indian arms, noted that there were no works of reference in order to learn about the many forms of weapons they (the British) had been exposed to while there other than scattered notes in 'Oriental' magazines etc.
He proposed to remedy this with his study, begun in 1855, and hoped to instill interest and encourage further investigation into the history, character and uses of these arms,

That interest and enthusiasm, did not evolve as he had hoped, aside from occasional articles and papers and a few references here and there, and though certain attention given in works of Oldman and Stone, it was pretty much a century before any serious study really received notice.

The important work by Rawson, Pant, Haider, Elgood and sundry other articles have been the core of study for any collector or scholar intrepid enough to venture into this fascinating and complex field of arms.
Jens has now added his most important catalog to the corpus of key published material, and as Egerton a century and a half before, has implored students of arms to continue moving ahead in the study of these arms.

I wanted to add more to my previous post, by referring to the writing of Walhouse in 1878 concerning the state of arms in one of these armouries, and presuming that others may have been in similar state.

"...the armoury consisted of great heaps of old weapons of all conceivable descriptions, lying on the floor of the Sangita Mahal (=music hall)."
The bottom of what seems like a huge swimming pool was "...long occupied by many tons of rusty arms and weapons, in confused heaps, coated and caked together with thick rust."

The long and detailed descriptions by Walhouse presented a wonderous visual perception of what this panorama of Indian arms must have looked like, and as he notes, he was personally viewing this in 1863!

This multitude of Indian arms was "....removed to Trichinapalli, and deposited in the arsenal there, and after a committee of officers had sat upon the multifarious collection and solemnly reported the ancient arms unfit for use in modern warfare, the government after selecting the best for the museum, ordered the residue to be broken up and sold as old iron."

27th November 2016, 08:24 PM	#3
Jim McDougall Arms Historian Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Route 66 Posts: 9,745	In 1884, Egerton in his introduction to his 'handbook' on Indian arms, noted that there were no works of reference in order to learn about the many forms of weapons they (the British) had been exposed to while there other than scattered notes in 'Oriental' magazines etc. He proposed to remedy this with his study, begun in 1855, and hoped to instill interest and encourage further investigation into the history, character and uses of these arms, That interest and enthusiasm, did not evolve as he had hoped, aside from occasional articles and papers and a few references here and there, and though certain attention given in works of Oldman and Stone, it was pretty much a century before any serious study really received notice. The important work by Rawson, Pant, Haider, Elgood and sundry other articles have been the core of study for any collector or scholar intrepid enough to venture into this fascinating and complex field of arms. Jens has now added his most important catalog to the corpus of key published material, and as Egerton a century and a half before, has implored students of arms to continue moving ahead in the study of these arms. I wanted to add more to my previous post, by referring to the writing of Walhouse in 1878 concerning the state of arms in one of these armouries, and presuming that others may have been in similar state. "...the armoury consisted of great heaps of old weapons of all conceivable descriptions, lying on the floor of the Sangita Mahal (=music hall)." The bottom of what seems like a huge swimming pool was "...long occupied by many tons of rusty arms and weapons, in confused heaps, coated and caked together with thick rust." The long and detailed descriptions by Walhouse presented a wonderous visual perception of what this panorama of Indian arms must have looked like, and as he notes, he was personally viewing this in 1863! This multitude of Indian arms was "....removed to Trichinapalli, and deposited in the arsenal there, and after a committee of officers had sat upon the multifarious collection and solemnly reported the ancient arms unfit for use in modern warfare, the government after selecting the best for the museum, ordered the residue to be broken up and sold as old iron."