Snider Enfield 1864 Question
- Thread starter jpc
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The London Armoury Company was a London arms manufactory that existed from 1856 until 1866. It was the major arms supplier to the Confederacy during the U.S. Civil War.
The company was founded on February 9, 1856, with its factory established on the former site of the South-Eastern Railway Company in the Bermondsey section of London. The principal shareholder was Robert Adams, inventor of the Adams revolver. Another important stockholder was Adams' cousin, James Kerr, who later invented the Kerrs Patent Revolver.
Adams had had a falling out with his former partners, the Deane brothers, and intended that the Armoury manufacture his popular revolver. However the company obtained a British government contract for infantry rifles and in 1859 the company's board of directors decided to expand rifle production, for which there was greater demand. Revolver production was decreased and Adams, disagreeing with the decision, sold his stock and left the company. Kerr then became the Armoury's dominant figure.
Kerr, a former foreman at Deane Brothers, made improvements to the Enfield 1853 pattern rifled musket which the Armoury was manufacturing under contract. When Adams left the company he had taken his revolver patents with him, and Kerr therefore designed a new revolver in .36 and .44 (54 bore) caliber.
Production of the new revolver began in April 1859, but the company was not able to obtain a contract for it from the British government and civilian sales were modest.
However the following year the U.S. Civil War began and the governments of both the United States and the Confederacy began purchasing arms in Britain. In November 1861 buyers for the Union army purchased 16 Kerr revolvers for $18.00 apiece. Two years later Confederate arms buyers Major Caleb Huse and Captain James Bulloch contracted for all the rifles and revolvers the Armoury could produce. The british company Willoughbe, Willoughbe & Ponsonby played a prominent role in the blockade running of these shipments to the south.
The Confederacy was now the London Armoury Company's principal client and it manufactured and shipped more than 70,000 rifles and about 7,000 revolvers (out of a total production run of about 10,000) to the South. However these weapons had to pass through the Union blockade and the number that actually reached the Confederate army is unknown. Confederates acclaimed the Armoury's guns as the best weapons made in Britain.
The London Armoury Company was almost completely dependent on sales to the Confederacy and survived for only a year after the end of the war, dissolving in the Spring of 1866- however, most of the gunsmiths and staff of the London Armoury Company went on to form London Small Arms Co. Ltd in that same year.
That was interesting Pblatzz!
You've seen pics of my DC marked Snider before, I'd appreciate if you could try to fill in the blanks on it a bit. Looks like a new stock from London Armoury Company, Enfield 1860 lock though?
Looks like a London Small Arms stamp on top of the receiver?
I wonder if they had a contract doing the Snider Conversion for an order for Canada?
You've seen pics of my DC marked Snider before, I'd appreciate if you could try to fill in the blanks on it a bit. Looks like a new stock from London Armoury Company, Enfield 1860 lock though?
Looks like a London Small Arms stamp on top of the receiver?
I wonder if they had a contract doing the Snider Conversion for an order for Canada?
That is the LSA logo on the breechblock, but I doubt LSA did the conversion. I have a Snider Mk.III long rifle, that was converted back to a II** using the same LSA action. I was reading that John Grainger and Son were converting 1853 muskets into Sniders in Toronto as early as 1867, and it would make sense that they would buy actions from BSA, LSA, etc. Looks like no WD on that one, so it could be one converted in Canada. I wonder if some Quebec firm built lock parts, too. I had a DC Snider with a Fleur-de-lis stamped on the sear. ??? A friend of mine has also seen that mark on other lock parts.
Hmmm, seems like a big coincidence though, having London Armory on the buttstock and LSA on the action...
Not really, LSA actions turn up on both BSA and Enfield Sniders. I suspect that they were one of the largest manufacturers of Snider actions. What is the barrel date on that Snider? Does it match the stock? The last two digits of the year will be stamped on the bottom of the barrel, near the breech. Also, is the London Bow inspector's mark on the barrel? (Crown over "x" etc.) It could be a P1853 that London Armoury didn't sell, and was converted for sale to Canada via Britain. Remember, many muskets were converted to Sniders without ever being used as ML muskets, and also, Canada was sent Sniders very early. Indeed, Canada had Snider rifles even before they saw their first action with the British army. To supply Canada with the latest wonder weapon in such a short time, I would imagine that they must have been converting almost every available musket, including commercial ones. I believe some were even taken from British soldiers for shipment to Canada. Just about anything could turn up among Canadian Sniders. Over 60,000 of which saw service in Canada, by the way! That explains why we have more quality Sniders here than anywhere in the world.
