We are fortunate in this country, to be able to go about or daily lives without much chance of being caught up in a gun battle. There are obviously exceptions, thankfully rare, where criminals have acquired firearms and used them with devastating results, usually against one another, but sometimes, tragically hitting the wrong people. Most of those, who hold weapons of this kind, apart from the military, are either gamekeepers or club shooters whose casualties are clay pigeons or paper targets. The only time most of us have fired a gun is at the funfair whilst trying to win a prize by potting metal ducks.
Having said all that, I admit to sleeping with a loaded shotgun at the side of my bed one night in 1982. My wife and I had a friend who was a gamekeeper and we would spend weekends with him and his wife as they were looking after our dog whilst we were between houses, our prospective purchase having fallen through. His cottage was obviously deep in the countryside in East Yorkshire and, in July of that year, a chap called Barry Prudom was on the loose having shot dead three people and wounded others. He was ex-SAS and a survivalist avoiding capture by living off the land and rumoured to be in the vicinity of where we were staying. My friend bid us goodnight and handed me a weapon just in case we were paid a visit during the darkest hours. Thankfully we weren’t as I doubt I would have been able to bring myself to use it on a human being, but, in a life or death situation, who knows. Thankfully he was cornered, although uncomfortably close to my friend’s cottage, and took his own life before our next rural sojourn. He was buried in an unmarked grave in Harehills Cemetery, ironically only a short walk from my wife’s pre-marital home.
Anyway, back to the launch of the exhibition, which was hosted by Nat Edwards, The Director General and Master of the Armouries, looking resplendent in gold jacket, to echo the theme of the installation, the decoration of weapons throughout the years.
Nat Edwards
He gave us a potted history of the Royal Armouries, which was originally set up in the Tower of London, where there is still a museum, complimented by another in Fort Nelson, Hampshire and the purpose-built one here in Leeds. It started life in 1631 as the national collection of firearms by Charles I and assembled by the British Army.
Not only does the institution keep and display weaponry and armour, but, over the years has helped in their development and refinement. Tonight, however, we were more concerned with the embellishment of them, rather than the practicalities of using them.
The exhibition was split into four sections: Status Symbols, Decorating For Desire, Gifting and Decorating To Disarm.
Status Symbols
As with any possession, there is always a section of society who wants to show off and display their wealth and taste, or lack thereof, by pimping everyday objects. Nowadays it seems to be vehicles, which have undergone years of R&D by professional designers and engineers, only to be ruined by after market spoilers and skirts. There are some examples where the purchaser has worked in conjunction with the manufacturer for a more subtle look, but you need real money and refinement for that. Thankfully, most of the examples here fall into that latter category.
Here we have,at the top, a Scottish flintlock long gun, probably made by William Low for Charles I in about 1618 when he was Prince of Wales. Only two other examples of this genre are known to have survived. It has an adjustable butt to allow it to be used by people of different sizes.
The next one down is The Doomed King’s Gun, a flintlock sporting gun by Nicolas Boutet, gunmaker to Louis XVI, the last King of France, before the French Revolution ended his reign, and his life. It was made in about 1788 and bears the royal coat of arms.
Under the barrel of this is a pair of Flintlock Pistols made by Pierre Monlong, the Royal Gunmaker, for William III, in about 1695. They depict various figures such as Apollo driving the sun chariot and Diana, goddess of the hunt, with her hounds.
The two smaller pistols on the right are flintlock double-barrels, under and over, from 1813 by Ezekiel Baker, in the UK. The grips are decorated with the Prince of Wales feathers.
Finally we have a Sterling sub-machine gun as used by the British armed forces from about 1982. The Sterling Armament Company made special editions in both gold and chrome-plated versions for customers in the Arab world, including Qatar and Kuwait. The Saudi Arabian royal family bought the chrome ones for their palace guard and golden ones for gifting. The ivory grips bear the Saudi national emblem of a palm tree over crossed swords.
Decorating For Desire
The weapons in this section are limited editions produced to mark specific events and are aimed, pardon the expression, at collectors.
The selection in this cabinet is dwarfed by the enormous 2 bore Millennium Gun, commissioned by the Royal Armouries to celebrate, you guessed it, The Millennium. It is the largest sporting rifle constructed in the UK since the 19th century and was made by Giles Whittome. The decoration is more subtle than the rest, even if the size isn’t. There is an etching of a Royal Armouries exhibit, The Horned Helmet of Henry VIII in the metal. Even the bullet is impressive being larger than some of the pistols on display!
Beneath the stock of the behemoth is a nickel-plated military pattern 1911 Colt made in 1970 to commemorate the US presence in the Pacific theatre in the Second World War. The names of key battles are etched into it.
Under that is another Colt, Model 1873 revolver made by Franklin Mint in 1982 and honours John Wayne, ‘The Duke’, a portrait of whom is on the cylinder and his name is on the barrel. It was nicknamed The Peacemaker and was the model used by him in most of his cowboy films.
Under the huge bullet is a Colt .45 automatic ‘Government’ Model Pistol made in USA in 1968. The first of the model was issued the previous year to mark the 50th Anniversary of the entry of the USA into the First World War. There was a series of special editions each commemorating a battle in that conflict. This one is for the Battle of Belleau Wood in June 1918.
Finally there is the Colt Model 1873, a Long Colt .45, made by the company in 1982 to honour its founder in 1855, Samuel Colt. It is one of their most iconic weapons, being an Army Revolver. It has an image of Colonel Samuel Colt on the cylinder with a legend on the barrel reflecting the low cost, mass production. God created man….Col. Colt made them equal.
Gifting
This section includes arms intended as gifts, although not all of them were actually presented.
The weapon at the top is a Silver-barrelled Flintlock Sporting Gun by Bertrand Piraube made in about 1685 as a gift from Louis XIV of France to Charles Lennox, 1st Duke of Richmond and Lennox, his illegitimate son with Louise de Keroualle, Duchess of Portsmouth. It is decorated with silver scrollwork and engraved silver plates showing ancient Roman themes, a bit of a thing in the 1600s
The submachine gun beneath is a Heckler & Koch MP5A2 made by Pakistan Ordnance Factories to be presented to General Sir Nick Carter, then Chief of Defence Staff. The model was made famous in the 1980 Iranian Embassy Siege in London and became popular with special forces and police all over the world.
The top pistol in the case is another Heckler & Koch, this time a P7M13. It was designed for use by police detectives and has an unusual squeeze-cocking mechanism. It was made in Germany in 1988 and refinished by Saudi Arabia’s Military Industries Corporation to be presented in the early 2000s to the British Embassy in Riyadh by Saudi Prince Sultan Bin Abdulaziz.
The bottom pistol is a Tranter Percussion Revolver made in London circa 1869 and decorated for Albert Edward, Prince of Wales who became King Edward VII. It is believed he presented it to Ottoman Prince Abdulhamid on a state visit to Constantinople in April 1869. The decoration includes an ebony grip in a gold cage and the crown cypher with the initials AE for Albert Edwardian the crystal butt cap.
Decorating To Disarm
This section comprised three Kalashnikov AKM Assault Rifles which are artworks created by Bran Symondson from weapons decommissioned from war zones. In conjunction with the items on display there was an interview of the artist by Laura Bell, Director of Collections at the Royal Armouries. I must say that I was shocked to hear some of the stories told by Mr Symondson about his time serving as a reservist in Afghanistan and Sierra Leone during the respective wars there.
Laura Bell and Bran Symondson
His purpose was to reflect their use in the killing of people, to send a message about the users. He began by relating the fate of Chai Boys who served in units of the Afghanistan National Police. Not only did they fulfil their jobs providing the officers with tea, they were also used as sexual playthings by them. The first gun was named Lost Innocence and not only reflected the lot of the Chai Boys but also the boy soldiers of Sierra Leone. It is estimated that between 1991 and 2002, about 14,000 were, in effect, abducted to bolster the army numbers. They were forcibly taken from their parents who were killed, raped, or badly beaten should they object. Again, the boy soldiers were used for other purposes than fighting by the officers and adult soldiers. They were besotted with their AKs and decorated in a childlike way. The most chilling thing was that they did this to personalise them because their weapon was the only possession they were allowed.
Bran Symondson illustrated this by covering one of the decommissioned guns in Love Heart sweets but had had the messages on them changed from things like Be Mine, Love Me and other romantic sentiments into more relevant legends such as Help Me, Kill Kid, Die4U and AK Childs Play.
Another exhibit was called Brutal To Beautiful which raises questions about the value we place on human existence. It is a gold-plated example captured from a war zone. The open magazine reveals glass cartridges containing precious stones, over which human life is gambled. The butterflies symbolise nature taking control over this killing machine. Butterflies are also a Mayan symbol of the soul.
The evening was brought to a close by John Proctor, Chairman of the Board of Trustees, who thanked all of those concerned with financing, curating and presenting the exhibition.
John Proctor
The Royal Armouries is situated at Leeds Dock and is open 10.00am until 5.00pm Tuesday to Sunday during school term time and the same times all week during school holidays.
Re:Loaded runs until 30th June, 2024.
For more details of all events at Royal Armouries please go to https://royalarmouries.org/leeds
All photographs by Stan Graham
Tyke It To The Limit 