[Jim McDougall]

Thank you Mercenary, and as you note, that is written by Lord Egerton in his book .
It does seem that Lord Wilbrahim Egerton (1832-1909) was a conservative politician in England and in the House of Commons 1858-1883.
As noted he did assemble his collection from 1855 through 1880, and it is now apparently in the Queens Park Art Gallery in Manchester.

As also noted, the situation for the collection and study of Indian arms and antiquities was dire in the 19th century, The museum (as it were) was primarily artifacts and various arms and curiosities crammed into areas and rooms next to East India House and library on Leadenhall St in South Kensington. It was more a warehouse accepting gifts and bequests and more stored than displayed. There was no particular order and a guidebook to London in 1851 described the place as squalid and crammed.

Coincidentally, the Great Exhibition of 1851 in London stirred new interest in India's culture in aspects such as material culture and ethnographica beyond the exotica seen in the old 'museum' which had been regarded as macabre and vulgar.

The holdings of the museum became essentially 'homeless' when East India House was demolished in 1863, and finally were placed in cramped quarters in the India office and by 1875 housed in rooms in South Kensington (now Victoria & Albert Museum). There had been misgivings however as England had become disenchanted with India, and the India office wished to dispose
of its collections, finally dissolving them and dispersing in 1879.*
* He notes this his introduction.


Robert Elgood (2004, p.11) notes the dearth of information on Indian arms in these times except the article by Walhouse ("The Old Tanjore Armoury" M.J.Walhouse, 'The Indian Antiquary' Aug. 1879, pp192-96) and that Walhouse had observed the removal of items there in 1863. He notes further that later arms writers such as Egerton (1880) and Holstein (1931) drew their information from this single source .

In the Egerton reprint of 1968, curiously the introduction written by the oriental armour sage H. Russell Robinson is the source in which it is stated , "...while in India", noting Egerton's enthusiasm and observation.
However, in the same publication, notes by Col. Yule describe his editing of the spellings and transliterations at the request of Lord Egerton, reveal that the Egerton's entries describing names of weapons and places they were from came from entries in the records of the INDIA MUSEUM.
Egerton himself notes that he was relying on collections in England in his study in his introduction.


When looking into Richard Burton's "Book of the Sword" (1884) I was surprised to find little mention of weapons of India, nor of Egerton, Walhouse other than some notes on metallurgy.

It would appear that Egerton's interest in Indian arms was more anomalous than realized, and at the time he compiled his venerable work, he indeed took from sources in the diminished and dispersing collections from this 'museum'. He also apparently relied on the Walhouse material and probably other items from journals such as The Indian Antiquary.

While he seems not to have actually gone to India, it does seem he had considerable contact with many who had, and it would seem accurately described notations in his sources. His compiled classifications and notes certainly have for the most part stood the test of time and profound new research over a century since.