TOPIC:

Here is a Pre-WW1 postcard showing the Halifax memorial with gun in-situ.

It could be a mix of different cannon parts, the wheels do look like cannons used in the Crimea, however the stock, cradle and firing platform differ. Will keep looking...I like a challenge.

You have set us quite a challenge, Berenice.

I too have been looking at field pieces. I noted that most (all?) of the Great War field guns used screens perpendicular to the barrel to give some protection to the men behind. Does anyone know when these screens became standard parts of the gun?

I think the standard screens were first used on the French canon de 75 modele around 1897. This canon was the first to contain all modern features.

David, Berenice and others interested
Dave is quite correct concerning gun shields on the French Mle 1897; basically a field gun with recoil controlled by hydraulics and capable of up to twenty rounds-per-minute. By 1900, the British army realised that it needed more up-to-date artillery and in 1901 placed a secret order with the German firm Ehrhardt for a number of 75mm guns with spring controlled recoil - Ordnance QF 15 Pdr. Gun Mk.1. However, the guns were not deployed to South Africa during the ABW. Illustrations show the Ehrhardt gun did not have a shield for the crew.
On line, there is a very interesting pdf entitled "The Royal Regiment of Artillery in the Boer War" - that being a Master of Arts thesis submitted to (and approved by) the faculty of the Graduate College of the Oklahoma State University on behalf of Joel Dallas Boyd in 7/1972. I became aware of this paper some time ago and docketed it away for reference. I would recommend it to any Forum member interested in ABW artillery. The author states that after the conclusion of the ABW, the RA examined many aspects of improvements in artillery; including gun shields, wheel diameters and the like. Doubtless, in the days of horse-drawn power, the additional weight of a steel gun shield was a consideration. One apparent result was that when the Ehrhardt guns were issued to the TF in 1908, they were fitted with gun shields.
While the French led the field with gun shields for the immediate gun crew -and the Royal Artillery belatedly followed - other Powers seemed slow to do so. For example, one of the books in my library contains a number of pics of both Russian and Japanese field guns in action during the Russo-Japanese war of 1904-05. None of them have gun shields. Could it be that the first employment of gun shields during the ABW was by the Boers; who fitted rudimentary and sketchy shields to some 37mm Pom Poms?
Regards to all
IL.

Maxim Pom Pom 37mm
I think Linneyl has solved the screen shield issue?
Regards
Dave F