Originally Posted by
Roger Payne
I don't know precisely how this rifle would have come to acquire its 'England' stamp, but I don't think any TP rifles were ever on issue to British units; it would have represented a most unwelcome logistical situation. I've always been under the impression that they, along with the CNo67 bearing rifles, were set up for specifically Canadian requirements, there being a shortfall in the production of the correct optical glass to make the lenses for regular No32 scopes. This was not a problem in the UK. Many Lee Enfield rifles that turn up nowadays, including rifles photographed & shown on this forum, bear British civvy proofs & the 'England' stamp, but before the days of political correctness, huge quantities of firearms were surplussed & travelled through the UK on their way to wherever (mostly the US market). Interarms alone must have accounted for an awful lot......
Addendum - & the late Pete Bloom turned up 30 TP scopes with their mounts (rings not bases) from the Dutch surplus market in the 1990's. Sadly the Dutch destroyed the rifles.