Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research 99/397

214

ARMY HISTORICAL RESEARCH

2028 MUSKETS FOR YORKSHIRE AUXILIARIES, 1745 – Members who read the review of Rebellious Scots to Crush: the Military Response to the Jacobite ‘45 (JSAHR, Spring 2021, p.105) in which a chapter appears on the forces raised in Yorkshire, may be interested to hear that a brief, illustrated description of the non-Ordnance muskets that were made for those forces has appeared in the latest Arms and Armour Society Newsletter, Spring 2021. It appears to be based on the article ‘Muskets for the Blues of York, 1745’ by Ross Egles that appeared in Arms Collecting , Vol. 33, No. 1, February 1995. A NDREW C ORMACK 2029 REPLY TO BRITISH SMALL ARMS IN THE INDIAN MUTINY – In reply to Michael Hunting’s enquiry, Note 2024, Spring 2021, although not a firearms specialist I can offer a few suggestions for sources on this subject. A systematic search of the bi-annual inspection reports (The National Archives WO27) might help resolve which regiments were still using flintlock muskets and which percussion rifles, since the states of equipment list numbers of flints and/or caps in store. The Inspecting General’s remarks may also include references to new weapons. There may also be references in the TNA WO3 Regimental Letters series. The detailed published work of D. F. Harding is especially useful. Some regimental histories, especially those based directly on the regimental archives, record changes in weapons; others show remarkably little interest in the subject. There are, of course, a number of standard works on military weapons. Many published memoirs remark on the range of the Enfield rifle, as well as some of its drawbacks, without specifying which regiment is being referred to.

SharpÊs Carbine 1 st Dragoon Guards. Issued 1857 on embarkation. 1 7 th Dragoon Guards. Issued 1857 on embarkation. 2 6 th Dragoons. Issued 1858 on being warned for India. 3

7 th Hussars. 500 Sharp’s carbines and 21 rifled pistols issued from the Tower in 1857, on the regiment being warned for India, to replace Victoria carbines. The carbines were manufactured in Hartford, Connecticut. 4

1 Michael Mann. The Regimental History of 1 st Queen’s Dragoon Guards (Norwich, 1993) p. 237. 2 J M Brereton, A History of the 4 th /7 th Dragoon Guards and their predecessors 1685-1980 (Catterick, 1982), p. 244. 3 C.H. Roads, The British Soldier’s Firearm, 1850-1864. From Smooth-bore to Small-bore (London, 1964), p. 280. 4 C.R.B. Barrett, The 7 th (Queen’s Own) Hussars (London, 1914) Vol II pp. 35, 258, 260.