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Described as: Armoured train with Sailors and Marines from HMS Forte with 7 Pounder aboard.

Source: Edwards, The Anglo-Boer War Album, 1899-1900

Thank you David

The Dennis Edwards description of the gun as a "7 pounder" is, like so many captions of the time, incorrect. It is in fact a 3-pdr QF Hotchkiss.

Below is an original print of the Dennis Edwards image and a photograph showing the gun on board the same armoured train at Durban,
The third image is of a Hotchkiss 3-pdr in the collection of the Royal Armouries, London. The cone mounting is similar to those used on the Cape armament prior to the guns being redeployed for use on the armoured trains.

The second image depicts the train in Durban shortly after completion in the workshops, when it was manned by men from HMS Philomel. The gun shield has not yet been fitted, allowing for a better view of the pair of hydro-pneumatic recoil presses, one on each side of the barrel.

"These guns were originally on cone mountings on the Cape armament and were removed and fitted to armoured trains" (Lionel Crook 2003, p. 297).








Royal Armouries description:
Gun - 3-pounder Quick-Firing Hotchkiss on a pedestal mounting (1893)
Built under licence from Hotchkiss & Cie in the Royal Gun Factory, Woolwich, dated 1893. Steel rifled barrel fitted with quick firing (QF) dropping-block breech mechanism, for use with QF ammunition. The pedestal has a 360 degree training; elevation directly by hand, but locked by quadrant lever. The pedestal could be bolted down onto the deck of a warship, or be bolted to a prepared ground platform in the coast defence role.
The barrel bears the engraved cipher of Queen Victoria and is fitted with trunnions. These are supported by the bearings of the non-ferrous recoil mounting, consiting of a pair of hydro-pneumatic recoil presses, one each side. These obscure the ends of the trunnions, but on the left 'HOTCHKISS' can be discerned and on the right '3 Pr'. The top of each recoil press bears a plate giving detials and instructions.

3-pounder QF Hotchkiss on a pedestal mounting

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Below is a photograph of a 3-pdr QF shell case brought home by Captain G. MORPHEW, C.O. Volunteer Active Service Company, 2nd Bn. Royal West Kent Regiment.

Plaque inscribed: "3 PR NORD'T Q.F. / FIRED AT NORVAL'S PONT, SOUTH AFRICA / WHILE THE 1ST VOL. ACTIVE SERVICE COY WERE THERE / IN 1901. / PRESENTED BY CAPTAIN G. MORPHEW / TO THE OFFICERS' MESS, / 2ND V.B. THE QUEEN'S OWN / (ROYAL WEST KENT REGT)".

With headstamps: "N" [Naval] over "/|\" [Broad Arrow], "CF" [Cordite Full] "F" [second filling]

Although this is correctly described as a Nordenfelt round, Nordenfelt and Hotchkiss shells were essentially identical and were thus interchangeable, being used in both types of gun.
A groove around the primer of the Nordenfelt shell is the only feature that allows for identification of the two types.

To date, I have found no evidence that Nordenfelt 3-pdrs were deployed in South Africa. Indeed, by the time of the ABW, the British Army had discarded the Nordenfelt in favour of the Hotchkiss. Assuming no Nordenfelts were used, the shell below must have been fired by one of the Hotchkiss 3-pdr QF guns, of which there were at least nine (seven from the Cape armament; two supplied by the Royal Navy).


The second image shows the 6-pdr equivalent which was "similar to the corresponding 3-pdr cartridge" (Treatise on Ammunition 1897, pp. 302 - 307).





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Two castings picked up after the Begbie Foundry explosion on 22 Apr 1900. Both were converted into table lighters by silversmiths Child & Child of London, and are inscribed: "Begbie's explosion, Johannesburg. BOER WAR 1900". With London hallmarks for 1900.


60 mm Krupp mountain gun casting (?)

The smaller of the two projectiles has a maximum diameter of 55 mm, which does not match any calibre of gun used by the Transvaal. The nearest equivalent is the 60 mm Krupp mountain gun, an example of which saw action at Mafeking.
However, to be utilized with this calibre the casting in question would need to be augmented by some form of sleeve or coating.
Given that the second projectile, produced for the 66 mm Broadwell guns, relied on such a system, this solution is not entirely implausible. However, it still seems odd that the ZAR authorities would have opted for a method that had not been utilised with 60 mm Krupp mountain guns previously. Indeed, they could not have been sure that such a system would work. If this casting was made for the 60 mm Krupp – and there is no other obvious contender – it would have been an experimental round, and possibly never used.

It may be significant that the shell in question is threaded to take the same fuze as the 60 mm Krupp (see below). This adds weight to the theory that the two projectiles were intended for use with the same gun. It also shows that the production process had moved on beyond the creation of simple blank castings.

Finally, it should be mentioned that by the time of the ABW both the 60 mm Krupp and 66 mm Broadwell guns were obsolete. It seems strange, therefore, that the authorities thought it worthwhile casting shells in these two outdated calibres.




The two shells, showing the identical fuze sockets (60 mm Krupp on left)



The Broadwell shells used the lead-coated system. The figure below shows how a similar sleeve could have been added to the 55 mm Begbie casting, thus increasing its diameter to the 60 mm required for use with the Krupp mountain guns.




Figure showing how a 5.5 mm lead jacket (cream) could have been added to the casting to bring it up to the required 60 mm calibre. A standard 60 mm Krupp shell is shown on the left for comparison.






Four 60 mm Krupp shells, photographed at Mafeking (the projectiles with two copper bands)





One of the Staatsartillerie 60 mm Krupp mountain guns at Mafeking. With thanks to Tinus le Roux.



60mm Krupp BL

MC Heunis, O.V.S.A.C. Study No. 11, Jan-Mar 2005.

In April 1887 Commdt-Gen. Piet Joubert suggested that a battery of mountain guns should be ordered from Krupp, but unlike the previous four 65mm guns, they should be able to be taken apart for transportation on mule back. Exactly when the four were ordered and delivered is still uncertain, but they probably arrived around 1888.

In appearance the 60mm mountain guns were similar to the earlier Batterij Dingaan examples, but had a smaller calibre and were equipped with side mounted tangent sights. The guns were originally mounted on light steel mountain carriages, but during the Boer War one example was also photographed on the larger wooden field carriage of the 65mm guns.

With a calibre of 60mm the Boer guns were probably examples of one of Krupp’s “6cm Gebirgskanone” designs of the 1870s and would have been equipped with a steel ring in the breech end of the chamber and a steel removable plate on the face of the breech block. Unlike the earlier 65mm, the 60mm gun made use of Vavasseur’s copper driving band on the base of its shell as well as a second stabilizing band just below the nose cone.

In the Transvaal the 60mm mountain guns saw service during the 1894 Malaboch campaign. SPE Trichard, last CO of the Staatsartillerie, indicated that four 65mm guns were used during this expedition, but a photograph taken inside the Boer laager shows a 60mm gun. On 21 June 1894 a Boer patrol, supported by a 60mm gun, was surprised by a large group of Ganawa warriors. During the skirmish the gun became unserviceable, and lacking proper cover, the Gunners buried the breech block and ammo before abandoning the gun to the advancing tribesmen. After seeing the gun falling into the natives’ hands a section of the Waterberg Commando launched a counterattack and re-captured the gun. During the Jameson Raid a 60mm gun was transported to Krugersdorp and was the only Boer artillery piece used against the raiders.

In his September 1899 survey Capt. Kroon of the Staatsartillerie reported that three of the small mountain guns were at the Artillery Camp in Pretoria while a fourth gun stood in the Johannesburg Fort. British Forces found one gun abandoned in the Fort on 31 May 1900 and Gen. Marshall’s list describes it as follows: “One 3 pdr Krupp gun with iron carriage + limber, marked No.11 on the top of the breech, but with no other mark.” A series of photographs of this gun taken after its capture show it being used as a noon gun firing from one of the parapets of the fort. A second 60mm gun was found abandoned at Pretoria on 5 July 1900.

At least one 60mm gun saw action during the Boer War; namely during the siege of Mafeking where it was normally stationed at the Brickfields. Due to the gun’s light shell weight, the British referred to it as “Gentle Annie”. On 17 May 1900 the gun was used to cover the Boer retreat when the town was relieved and was captured from the retreating Boers, minus its breech block. War Office lists referred to the gun as a 3-pr BL and states that it was left in the care of the Cape Police.



Taylor 1900, Plate 31, “Group of Cape Police, Div II., with 5-pounder [sic] Gun, captured from the Boers on the 17th of May, the date of the Relief of Mafeking. This body of men was successful in driving the Boers from their position in the Brickfields, after a long period of entrenching and counter-entrenching work”.


The war history of the fourth 60mm Krupp is unknown, but WO32/505 lists another “3-pr BL” with the Mafeking gun that was captured at the occupation of Bloemfontein on 13 March 1900, indicating that it might have seen service on the Western (Kimberley) or Southern (Colesberg) Front.

The gun captured at Pretoria was sent to Victoria, Australia aboard the Orient in June 1901, while two more “Krupp light, about 5-pr” guns were shipped to Woolwich from Cape Town aboard the SS Avondale Castle on 30 December 1903. After the war one 60mm gun, with the number 1107, ended up with the General Commanding Officer of the 5th Division at Dover. To date none of these could be traced.

The gun captured outside Mafeking remained in South Africa and until a few years ago it could still be viewed at the Mafeking Museum. The gun was on loan from the local MOTHs, but was later returned. Unfortunately, the Mafeking branch of the MOTHs came to an end some years ago and the gun went missing during the same time. Enquiries at the museum and other MOTH branches have left more questions than answers, but it is hoped that the gun will someday be discovered in someone’s backyard. Today the Siege Room of the Mafeking Museum and the Green Magazine in Pretoria still display examples of the shells fired by the four guns.



The 60 mm Krupp gun captured at Mafeking, photographed in the Mafeking Museum, while on loan from the local branch of MOTHs. The whereabouts of this gun is now unknown. (Courtesy of MC Heunis)






66 mm Broadwell gun casting

The identification of this casting is less contentious in that it conforms with a known design used with Broadwell guns. Below is a photograph showing the Begbie casting next to an example with its lead coating intact (with thanks to MC Heunis).


"Begbie's explosion" table lighter and extant 66 mm Broadwell shell, with lead coating intact. The cream colour represents the approximate extent of the jacket, c. 4.5 mm deep between the ribs.





Figure showing ammunition for the 8cm Krupp C/73 (1873), with a similarly designed shell on the left.





One of the Broadwell guns at Mafeking.



Burger’s Broadwell Guns

MC Heunis

Few artillery pieces in South African history can claim that they served in the Sekukuni, Anglo-Zulu, Transvaal and the Anglo-Boer Wars. Even fewer can claim that they saw action on both the Boer and British side. This is the story of four such guns.

Until the late 1860s the artillery arsenal of the Boer republic of the Transvaal was still reminiscent of the Great Trek and consisted of a couple of small antique smooth bore muzzle loading naval guns mounted on improvised ox wagon carriages. In 1872, under the progressive leadership of Dominee (reverend) turned President, Thomas Burgers, the Transvaal Volksraad decided to import better arms. Trouble with some of the local tribes as well as the gold discovered in the Eastern Transvaal gave Burgers enough moral and material support. After attempts to buy weapons from the Natal failed, the Volksraad in February 1873 decided to approach the German Kaiser for assistance. As the Kaiser was away on a state visit to Austria and Russia at that stage, Albert Kossel, the Transvaal’s representative in Germany, made enquiries at the Imperial Arsenal. The arsenal was too busy to assist the Transvaal and Kossel was referred to Krupp, the famous “Cannon King” of Essen. Originally the Transvaal, probably still woefully unaware of the latest artillery developments in Europe, requested muzzle loading guns, but with Krupp’s assistance four rifled breech loading (RBL) guns were purchased. Very little is known about the actual transaction, but on 15 July 1873 the four guns and some other equipment were ready for shipment at Hamburg. On return from his diplomatic trip the Kaizer also donated a mitrailleuse machine gun, captured from the French during the recent Franco-Prussian War, to the Boer cause.

Although Krupp was involved in the transaction, the guns were not manufactured by his company, who probably was swamped at that stage with production of the new Model 1873 field gun for the German Army. The guns were rather supplied by Broadwell & Co. of Karlsruhe. Broadwell & Co. was founded by the inventor of the Broadwell ring, Lewis Wells Broadwell, in Karlsruhe in 1866 to manufacture breech loading artillery with his own patented expanding ring gas check. As Krupp also used the same type of breech blocks and gas ring in his guns, and it is assumed that Krupp supplied the steel for the guns, the guns were often thereafter incorrectly referred to as “Krupp guns”. The four guns were the first rifled breech loading guns imported by the Transvaal and they formed the backbone of its first official artillery unit, the Batterij Dingaan.

Conflicting evidence exist on the exact calibre of the four Transvaal Broadwell guns. British sources describe them as 65mm and 70mm guns as well as 4, 4½, 5 or 6-pounders, while a contemporary Engineering journal described similar Broadwell guns as 2.5-inch (63.5mm) or 5-pounder guns. Transvaal archival documents identify them as 65mm or 6.5cm guns, while a drawing of the rifling made in 1886 by Adolph Zboril, Administrator of the Transvaal Police and Artillery, identified the calibre as 66mm, which is taken as the most accurate.

The guns were equipped with rectangular, horizontal sliding breech blocks, which opened to the left. The guns made use of a Broadwell ring, probably manufactured from copper, to affect gas sealing. Ammunition consisted of lead coated shells (in other words no copper driving bands), with bagged black powder cartridges and friction tubes to fire the gun. A centre mounted rear sight and a raised front sight at the muzzle were used to lay the guns and this feature sets it apart from similar Krupp mountain guns of the era.

The guns were imported mounted on light steel mountain carriages with small wooden wheels, possibly for transport on the backs of mules. These soon proved to be insufficient. De Volksstem newspaper of 22 May 1875 reported that during a shooting exercise and demonstration with two of the “Broadwells 4 pounder mountain guns” outside Pretoria one gun’s wheel axle broke in halve with the first shot and the gun fell on the ground. The same happened to the second gun during the fifth shot, fortunately without damage to either of the guns. The axle and construction of the carriage was described as flimsy. On 29 May 1875 the same newspaper reported that Andrews, a local blacksmith, had repaired the broken carriages.

The new guns would soon see action. Stock theft by Chief Sekukuni’s Bapedi tribe in the Steelpoort area from neighbouring groups as well as border disputes led to continuous friction, which culminated in the Transvaal Volksraad declaring war in May 1876. By July that year the Dominee turned President now turned Military Commander had moved up with a force of about 2,000 Transvalers, a strong force of Swazi warriors and the four Broadwell guns. A photo taken during this campaign shows one of the Broadwell guns mounted on what seems to be a locally made wooden field carriage, probably to give the gun a higher mounting as tall grass often restricted the use of mountain guns in South Africa. After a few successful engagement the combined Transvaal/Swazi forces attacked the main Bapedi stronghold of Thaba Mosega on 31 July 1876. Captain Otto Riedel of the Batterij Dingaan bombarded Sekukuni’s stad with the four Broadwell guns, while two assault parties stormed the hill from opposite sides. One group reached the summit and even set fire to the stad, but were forced to withdraw owing to lack of support from the second group. As a result the attack failed and since many burghers distrusted both the military and religious capacities of President Burgers, they dispersed to their homes and the campaign became known as 'die huis-toe oorlog' (the go home war). Burgers had no choice but to set up a series of forts manned by paid volunteers, often miners, to guard the border and harass the Bapedi by raiding their cattle and preventing them from sowing crops. This tactic worked and peace was negotiated in February 1877. Peace however would not reign in the Transvaal.

By 1877 Burgers was very unpopular and his government was insolvent. Britain, always keen on expanding their empire, stepped in and annexed the Transvaal on 12 April during a friendly state visit to Pretoria. Dejected Burgers retired from political life, moved back to the Cape where the man, who once had his face embossed on his own gold currency, died in poverty in 1881, only forty-seven years old. When Britain annexed the Transvaal all four Broadwell guns were confiscated. Under British rule Sekukuni was soon up to his old raiding antics and a Second Sekukuni War broke out. In British hands at least two of the Broadwell guns were back in action in Sekukuniland in 1878. However, before this campaign could be concluded the Anglo-Zulu War broke out in 1879. At the beginning of this war Colonel Rowland had one of the Broadwell guns in his No.5 column, but it does not appear to have seen any action. After the Zulu War was concluded a second British campaign against Sekukuni was conducted late in 1879. Again the Broadwell guns seem to have been in action and were described as “the four mountain guns of the Transvaal Artillery”. In December 1879 Sekukuni was captured, ending the campaign, but not bringing peace in the Transvaal.

In the meantime the Transvaal burghers, tried to regain their independence through peaceful means. By late 1880 it was clear that their efforts were fruitless and emotions boiled over with the first shot were fired between Boer and Brit in Potchefstroom on 16 December. During the ensuing 1880-81 Transvaal War the four Broadwell guns were used against the Transvaal Boers in defence of the British garrison besieged in Pretoria. One gun, mounted on a wooden carriage, was stationed at Fort Tullichewan, while the remaining three guns were used by other sections of the garrison to defend the Convent Redoubt, Fort Commeline and Fort Royal.

After the Boer victory at Majuba and the capitulation of British colonial interest in the Tranvaal the four guns were handed back to the Transvaal Government where they would again soon see action. Ammunition listed in the magazine book of the 1882-1883 Nyabela/Mapoch campaign indicates that some of the Broadwell guns were present in the Boer laager during this campaign. During this time it seems the guns were being drawn by oxen. In March 1887, Zboril therefore proposed that the guns should be converted to faster moving field guns by the addition of horse harnesses. Mounted on their small steel carriages they would have been liable to overturn when towed at higher speeds and after this period they appear of large-wheeled wooden field carriages. Annual defence reports of the 1890s stated that the republic still had the four guns and that common shells with percussion fuzes, shrapnel with time fuzes, incendiary shells and canister shot were still in stock. After the Jameson Raid in 1896 two of the guns were stationed in Krugersdorp for use by the Krugersdorp Volunteer Corps.

A few weeks before the outbreak of the Boer War Captain Thomas Kroon of the Staatsartillerie had reported that two of the “old 65mm Krupp guns” were standing in the Johannesburg Fort (probably the two from Krugersdorp as the volunteer units had been disbanded in 1898). On 31 May 1900 British forces advanced into the abandoned city and found the two guns still standing in the fort. A list of “Guns, ammunition etc. in the Fort Johannesburg” compiled by General Marshall of the Royal Artillery in June 1900, identified them as: “Two 65mm (about 6 pdr) Krupp guns with old wooden carriages + limbers. Both guns are marked Patent Broadwell, Carlsruhe, 1873 on the face of the breech, and 1 and 3 respectively on the chase”. There were also “about 500 shells in very bad order for these”. British War Office lists further mention that a similar “70mm” gun was surrendered at Lourenco Marques, Mozambique. This suggests that one of the Broadwell guns followed the Boer retreat through the Eastern Transvaal and was with the group of Boers who crossed the border to surrender to the Portuguese authorities.

After their capture the two Johannesburg guns (No.1 & 3) were shipped to Woolwich, England in May 1901 aboard the SS Templemore. Another gun, No.4 was shipped from Durban aboard the SS Inyati on 10 October 1903, suggesting this was the gun surrendered at Lourenco Marques. In 1904 No.1, then identified as a 70mm, was donated to the Superintendent of Parks, Queens Park, Glasgow, while No.4 went to the Chief Ordnance Officer in Belfast. No.3 was allotted to the “Minister of Militia + Defence” in Ottawa, Canada. What became of No.2 during the war is unknown.

Unfortunately, most of the Boer guns that were sent to Britain as war trophies were melted down during WW2, but fortunately the Broadwell gun sent to Canada survived. No. 3, today mounted on a 3-pr Nordenfelt gun’s carriage, was displayed until recently at the Kingston Canadian Forces Base in Canada. After the author identified the gun for them it was moved to the Royal Canadian Artillery Museum in Shilo, Manitoba.







One question remains unanswered - why did the Transvaal think it worth spending time and money on the manufacture of shells for two obsolete guns that saw limited service during the war?

Perhaps there is a clue in the report that, on entering Fort Johannesburg, the British forces found “about 500 [Broadwell] shells in very bad order for these”. Were the Transvaal authorities attempting to produce a new stock of serviceable rounds, which would allow the guns to play a more active roll in the campaign?



SEE ALSO: Begbie's Foundry Explosion - April 1900



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The answer to your question could be found if the shells were dated; if not dated, they may have been left over castings from an earlier contract. Thomas Begbie started engineering on the Witwatersrand goldfields in 1887, and established a general engineering workshop and foundry in Commissioner street, Johannesburg, in 1890. The simplified story of the years after 1890 is that Begbie was making machinery for the mines until the Transvaal govt. commandeered the engineering works in 1899 and thereafter used them to make munitions. But it is possible that, in the years between 1890 and 1899, the Transvaal govt. was already obtaining shells from Begbie - at which time the 60mm Krupp was not yet obsolete.
Does that make sense?

Thanks Rob,

Certainly a possibility, though I have found no evidence that Thomas Begbie made munitions for the Transvaal Government before his factory was commandeered. The fact that he shut up shop, laid off all staff, and fled south to Cape Town after the Ultimatum, rather suggests he wouldn't have voluntarily helped arm the ZAR.....
MC Heunis has noted the poor quality of the casting of the "Begbie" projectiles. This porosity sets them apart from extant Broadwell shells from the 1880's, and suggests a different or less-refined method of production.

Neville



With thanks to MC Heunis


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