Ruth's Blog

Upon hearing the word ‘gun’, one could think of a plethora of weapons; fast-firing machine guns, shredding shotguns, long range snipers, compact pistols and more.  But this gun is none of those things.  The Pattern 1853 Tower Enfield is a muzzle-loaded rifle musket from, you guessed it, 1853.  Production began in 1853, and you can see from the picture that this one is imprinted with the date 1856.  It was a staple of its time, the pinnacle of 1850s firearms, and it saw service across the world, through the British Empire, its subjects, and whoever else purchased the guns from them, like Germany, Belgium and the US.

Used all over the vast British Empire, it truly is unfathomable to properly comprehend the scale in which these guns witnessed.  Perhaps this rifle was a stay-at-home defence rifle, or perhaps it travelled among the expanses of colonial Africa, maybe even battled within the raging fires of the 1857 Indian uprising.  With so many firearms manufactured throughout history, and so many subtle markings to tell their histories, it truly is a marvel attempting to figure out the lives of these weapons of war.

What we can surmise from its markings is that this P1853 was a British rifle through and through, indicated by its British inspection markings, a broad arrow signifying ownership by the British Government, and ‘WD’ to show that it’s registered in the War Department.  The fact it has ‘Tower’ engraved into its side connotates that the gun was inspected or assembled within the Tower of London, possibly via a London contractor.  It also features the engravings of ‘YW4’ in its buttplate, which I am not sure the meaning of, but is presumably the initials of the regiment it found itself in.  Beneath this is its rack number, 204, revealing that this example was only the 204th rifle in this regiment.

Eventually, presumably after a healthy, but hopefully uneventful, service life, the rifle was defiled with the ‘S’ marking, assigned two opposing broad arrows, both signals of being sold-out-of-service, and then it was purchased.  I am unaware of who initially acquired this exquisite piece of history, or through which channels it passed through on its journey, but eventually, it wound up here, in this very museum.

An interesting fact about rifles of this era is that their cartridges were intentionally laced with pork/beef fat grease instead of vegetable oil.  This feature would make the cartridges tainted to those of Islamic or Hindu faith, and thus unable to be opened by the teeth as was common practice.  This was a notable driving factor in the Indian uprising, and a major reason for its failing.  With tainted cartridges, Indian soldiers would have to open cartridges with their hands, which was significantly slower and sloppier.

Whether or not this rifle saw use in this way or even left the British Isles at all is not known.  It is a neat if not minute novelty to imagine the adventures this exemplar of the past could have experienced, nonetheless.