New Service Colt Revolver with some providence... NOW WITH PICS OF THE HOLY BUGgER!

DANCESWITHEMPTIES

DANCESWITHEMPTIES

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I bought at auction, a match holstered Colt New Service revolver in .455 Eley. Serial number: 76***
On the back strap was stamped the original owner's name: Lieut. D.E.S. Wishart. With it also came a hand written letter stating that the gun was carried by Dr. D.E. Staunton Wishart of the Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps in World War I. In 1919 he carried it into Macedonia, when as the letter puts it: "The Turks were massacring the Macedonians."
Further online research tonight went on to find out that he participated in the retreat from Servia in Oct./ Nov. of 1915 and at that time was the rank of Captain.
After his military career he went on to work at the Toronto Sick Childrens Hospital and was the President of the American Otological Society for sometime.
His family lived in Madoc, Ontario and was the son of Dr. (also a Lt. Colonel) David James Gibb Wishart and Mrs. Sarah Staunton. He had two other siblings.
If my hasty research is correct Dr. Staunton Wishart lived from 1889 to his passing in 1958, with a great number of accomplishments in his field of medicine.
If anyone can collaborate or add to the military or civilian history of this gentleman or this revolver & date of manufacture and post it here, it would be greatly appreciated. I will try and post pictures later this week.
Thanks for reading this dribble -Dances;)
 
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Obviously, friend, you have had the Gun Fairy looking over your shoulder!

SUPER nice toy, and it's even one that you can turn out some ammo for and head off to the range.

BTW, we have some confusion here. 'Providence' obviously led you to this toy, but 'provenance' (ownership, chain of ownership to you, etc.) is likely a better word for what the gun itself has. Just thought I would mention this.

You can't go buy .455 Eley at your local hardware, the way you could when I was a kid, but you CAN thin the rims on .45 Auto Rim and you end up with a casing that is a perfect mimic for the old .455 Colt (which was same length as the .476 Enfield) and fills the chambers quite nicely, makes for nice, accurate shooting. Cheaper than buying brass that's actually too short for the relatively-long chambers of this old cannon.

.455 Eley was one of the preferred target cartridges of a century ago; you can turn in some really good scores with them. That big, heavy old bullet cruising downrange at 630 ft/sec stopped for nothing!

I have the mate to yours, but mine is a bit beat-up and it sure doesn't have the great history that yours has.

You have a real prize.

Congrats!
 
Thanks. Ask anyone one knows me, my spelling abilities suck... So for me to mean one thing & spell another word is common practice. Good thing I'm not writing a peace pact...
I'll leave the title up though, as maybe someone will think the Pope owns a Colt!
As for the revolver, The finish shows holster wear and a couple of freckles; but the grips are mint & mechanically it is in excellent shape. The gun was definitely carried more than it was shot. Working on pics tomorrow, if the weather is nice.
 
tactical870 said:
Congradulations on the nice find..... A very nice piece and I kicked myself for not bidding a little higher..... ;)
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I was there to see about the Union Switch & Signal 1911, but it went way over my head. So what did you pick up? Do you know who bought the 1918 MK VI Webley? I've probably got a little info for them...
 
.455 New Service. 2nd lt. J.P. Spowart Royal Engineers. He survived the War as he is listed post 1918.
little wear, probably carried more than fired.

Also have a .455 S&W shipped in 1915
 
Excuse my ignorance, but was it common practice for the officers to have their names stamped on the back strap? I did read somewhere on the net last night that some officers purchased their own New Service revolvers favoring it over the issued Webley's. Whether or not that it is true, I have no clue...
 
Most of the webley's went to Doug buying for Ellwood Epps. I was there to bid on (and I got outbid on) the colt 1911 British Contract and the 1911 with the target scope and European Theatre 1911. I ended up scooping the Llama 1911 knock off pretty cheap. Let me know if you need some ammo for that colt as I've got a box.
 
Officers in our Army, and the British, were not issued sidearms or swords. Being 'gentlemen' and therefore obviously knowing their weapons well, they were required to PURCHASE their own sword and revolver, for which they generally were given a special cash allowance. This allowance had a limit, of course (can't have everybody buying Webley-Fosberies, can we?) but it was sufficient for the purchase od a good, solid revolver and a good-quality sword. If he wanted "Best" grade stuff, he bought his own.

Officers generally were not issued rifles, rifles being beneath the dignity of a proper gentleman to carry about. The officer's batman, being of a much lower social order, WAS issued a rifle.

After all, we must maintain the social proprieties, what?

Only real requirement was that the revolver must chamber issue rounds.

Hope this helps.
 
Thanks smellie any info is much appreciated. I went to proofhouse.com and it shows my revolver as a 1915.
Tactical870: I only had a quick chance to look at the British contract 1911 & other than it being a 45 acp conversion & having the wrong sights. The gun appeared refinished to me at sometime. Did it appear that way to you as well?
 
I think they got engraved after the war. I bought a nice Colt 1911 Commercial Canadian contract engraved with 'G.E. Hudson, 49th Batt, CEF' on the slide. Was a Captain of the Transport Company during the war.

Anyhow, its nice that they did that, because otherwise we wouldn't have much, if any provenance on some of these old guns.

Just out of curiosity, what did those other 1911's go for about?
 
Tactical870: I only had a quick chance to look at the British contract 1911 & other than it being a 45 acp conversion & having the wrong sights. The gun appeared refinished to me at sometime. Did it appear that way to you as well?
Click to expand...

I highly doubt that was original finish. The barrel bushing was also way too tight for a military gun. It was a nice piece but was only a shooter as the conversion destroyed it's value. I was shocked at it's selling price. A couple of the dealers there figured it should retail in the $500 range......
 
Just noticed they screwed up on his date of birth on his paperwork. But at least that confirms his birth / death years from other resources I found.
 
Here's some pics:

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