A real piece of history

After exhausting my google fu I have found out that 2582 Trooper RH Shirley didn't have a long visit to South Africa.

He embarked in Sydney on March 15 1901 as a re enforcement, posted to the 3rd New South Wales Imperial Bushmen when that unit was raised on May 4 1901 and was repatriated home February 6 1902.

The bit that has me confused is from what I can gather is they embarked without arms and yet "MARCH 1901" is carved into the LH side of the butt of the rifle.

Taking into account time taken to sail from Sydney to South Africa, it is unlikely he was issued his rifle in March.

Carved Boer War rifles are quite abundant, and have been documented in 3 volumes of "Carvings from the Veldt" by Dave George, who lives in Australia. The original trend for carving started among the Boers. They owned their kit, and named it to prevent it getting mixed up or swiped. Soon the names and carvings became very elaborate, and the practice was encouraged by Gen. Louis Botha, who holds his densely carved Boer Mauser carbine in photos from Natal taken in Dec 1899. Australians began to mimic the practice on the troop ships home. It's very unusual to find a British or Canadian rifle carved, though Australian and NZ ones are well known. Among Boer rifles it is possible to recognise certain hands who were expert carvers and did several rifles in the same style. What I like about carved Boer rifles is that they sometimes enable the owner to be identified, and can be matched to their service record or medal.

I would hazard a guess that it was struck on the lower front face/bottom of the magazine by a bullet travelling almost parallel with the bore.

His unit, the New South Wales Imperial Bushmen wore these "unofficial" titles on their slouch hats [left side turned up]. Image copied from the British military badge forum.
By the time he saw action in South Africa [March 1901] the Boers no longer had artillery, so I expect this would most likely have been a bullet strike...

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Originally Posted by Roy

The back to back RR is the mark for a condemned piece of equipment isn't it?

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You are quite correct the back to back RR is a sign that the rifle was condemned but when? This is a British military rifle that has the British condemned mark on it, I am certain that any British soldier found defacing his rifle would have been in serious trouble so it begs the question if the British army had condemned it how did it get into either Boer or Australian hands???

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Originally Posted by Lithy

After exhausting my google fu I have found out that 2582 Trooper RH Shirley didn't have a long visit to South Africa.

He embarked in Sydney on March 15 1901 as a re enforcement, posted to the 3rd New South Wales Imperial Bushmen when that unit was raised on May 4 1901 and was repatriated home February 6 1902.

The bit that has me confused is from what I can gather is they embarked without arms and yet "MARCH 1901" is carved into the LH side of the butt of the rifle.

Taking into account time taken to sail from Sydney to South Africa, it is unlikely he was issued his rifle in March.

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I think you might have found our man, as I said in my opening post the two sides appear to had been done by two separate people so it is quite possible that Trooper 2582 RH Shirley was given this rifle when he arrived in South Africa when it had already been inscribed with March 1901 before he got it. Of course there is no guarantee that the rifle left South Africa when he did so the damage caused to it could had occurred when not in his possession.
Looking at the damage and where it has occurred if some was actually holding the rifle when it was hit I doubt if they could have survived especially if it was being held in the shoulder.

Buccaneer, you don't think perhaps that the worn appearance of the bore is just Metford rifling?

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Originally Posted by RobD

Buccaneer, you don't think perhaps that the worn appearance of the bore is just Metford rifling?

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Hi Rob, you are quite right it is if fact worn Metford rifling, still rather dirty but hopefully it will be good enough to pass proof should I ever manage to get that far once Phil has had a chance to check it over for me.

I wonder if Trooper Shirley carried it when it was damaged, and possibly did the carving while wounded? In any event I don't think he completed it - the carving has been pricked out in preparation, but compared to the many carved rifles documented by Dave George, I don't expect this was the final effect he was after. Then I expect he parted company with the rifle and the rifle was condemned as unserviceable. Another soldier, this time British, brought it back to Britain. Tommies liked to bring back stuff that fitted into a duffle bag, so single stock Boer rifles are often duffle cut under the barrel band. A Lee Metford would come apart and fit into a duffle bag. So, incidentally, does the little Boer Mauser carbine, which is quite common in UK despite being a rare rifle.

The other confusing part of the story is that the men posted to these units were actual bushmen.

They were recruited from the Western districts of NSW in a targeted campaign to find men that could ride, shoot, find their way about the bush and act independently in order to fight the Boers on their own terms.

A bloke from the inner Sydney suburb of Balmain with these attributes would be a rare specimen indeed.

Once again we go back to the Lee Enfield mantra. Never say never.