FC marking on No.4 buttstock
This marking will most likely a contractors stamp, not an armourers mark. It may well be post-WW2. To research it, go through the list of No.4 rifle contractors on pages 223-224 of the new 'Lee-Enfield' book, search for furniture makers. There is a comprehensive list in 'British Small Arms of WW2' of wartime codes and contracts. In the L-E book, furniture contracts are listed: John Curtis & Sons, LM&S Railway, H.Morris & Co., William Sykes, Wilkinsons. But FC does not fit any of these. Could FC be a successor of John Curtis? Check business registers for Curtis in Leeds, West Yorkshire, post war, that may well bring up an answer for you.
Similar research is helping us find out much more on Sparrow Force too. Searching post-war records is adding more detail. We found a full list of 1,200+ men including reinforcements who arrived on Timor in January 1942. Annoted where they were kia, missing presumed dead, executed by Japanese; even listing men by platoons and companies, supporting units and those who died as p-o-w's or drowned on hellships sunk by submarines. Check links on Milsurps as the project grows and we draw closer to funding Fred Smith's visit to the Timor battlefield next month.
More detail on the Patt.14 sniper rifle (.303 No.3 Mk I*(T) is emerging too, photos of Sparrow Force with these rifles have been posted. Lithgow set up to produce this model, we found unfinished ERA and RE rifles while cataloguing the museum inventory. That explains why the old Patt. 1918 scope was made by the Australian Optical Co. in Victoria and used on its successor No.1 Mk III* H.T. rifles, rather than a more current scope like the No.32.
Contributors helping us to take Fred, a member of the 1942 bayonet charge, back to Usau (Ouisow) Ridge, will be gratefully acknowledged in the DVD production too.
Life would be boring if one knew everything, would it not?
Ian Skennerton
