Thoughts on UK made No9 bayonets

[Peter Laidler]

Some thoughts about UK production of the No9 bayonet. This was brought about over several years and comments in the previous thread about those bayonets said to have been made by:
M48/Buggins & Co, Redditch,
M49/Francis Barnett motor cycle makers, Coventry and
M50/Byfords Ltd, West Bromwich.

Here’s the thing……… None of these manufacturers appear to have NEVER been involved in bayonet or sword or indeed, any other even similar manufacturing process during the war period. But they were(?) seemingly chosen post war to make….. bayonets of all things! They weren’t even making parts such as catches, springs or plungers for the zillions of No4 bayonets made locally. Butts and sears for Sten guns was as close as it gets…… And while we’re here, why would these 3x manufacturers selected over the several LOCAL manufacturers who were engaged in the manufacture of the mechanically similar No4 ‘spike’ socket part?

Is it just me - or has anyone else wondered about the IDENTICAL format of the M-48, 49 and 50 marking/impressed stamp of these bayonets? That simple fact and the fact that this was a post war design from 1949, long after the need for the secrecy of code letters. Forget the Enfield DE logo for the moment as it’s been there since pre-war and up until it closed!

And here’s another thing……. Can you think of any reason why the Nation would give these small orders to THREE relatively small engineering firms instead of its own government Ordnance factories that were desperately looking for post war work to keep them occupied and busy. Or give this knife work to any of those known for this type of work, such as Wilkinson or Sanderson locally….. or those that had and were already geared up to make the sockets.…… Nope, nor can I

So who did make these enigmatic M-48, 49, & 50 bayonets? I don’t even profess to know but if I was a betting man – or a guessing man – I’d say that those M-48, 49 and 50 marks are NOT manufacturers marks as such but a coincidental red-herring. The pragmatic part of me yells out ‘……it’s bleedin obvious…..’. What they are is a factory mark followed by the year mark. How does MALTBY 1948 sound? If it sounds far fetched I would argue that this small bayonet contract was handed to Maltby (?) in late 1948, when manufacture commenced there and hence the scarcity of M48 marked bayonets. Series production followed into ’49 and “50 at which point the old ROF Maltby factory closed for good after several years struggling to survive against the demand for its skilled mining workforce to return to the pits where coal was a strategic and vitally important commodity. Thereafter, No9 bayonet production went to Enfield.

And THAT is the very reason why the logo format is IDENTICAL except for the year change.
It’s also the probable reason why ’48 is scarce.
The reason why the consecutive numbers don’t or are HIGHLY unlikely to indicate three totally unlikely manufacturers
The reason why you can find No9 bayonets with two M- codes (M49 and 50 seen…..)

Just an afterthought now. The cost of the No9 bayonet (if you lost one…..) in 1965 was £2:20p. plus 90p for the scabbard. After that, it dropped off the Army VAOS list. (Mind you, the No5 turned in at £2:80p !)

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