TOPIC:

Base of "Long Tom" 155 mm Creusot shrapnel shell set into the wall of the porch of All Saints' Anglican Church, Murchison Street, Ladysmith.

“THIS PORCH AND S.E. CORNER / OF THE CHURCH / WERE DESTROYED / DURING THE SIEGE, / BY BOER SHELL / FIRED FROM / PEPWORTH’S HILL, 20TH NOV. 1899”








Photograph taken by resident photographer Henry Kisch during the siege, and the same scene as it appeared in 1978.

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Lists of Captured Boer and British Guns

Below are copies of War Office papers regarding the capture of Boer and British guns during the war.








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Allocation of Trophy Guns (UK)

[WO 32/8111]

Type	Serial No.	Allotted to	Issued	Carriage	Limber
120mm Krupp QF	–	O.C. Rifle Depot, Winchester	02/01/1905	Yes	Yes
85mm Krupp BL	–	C.O.O. Aldershot	30/06/1904	Yes	No
75mm Creusot QF	420	Royal Artillery	–	Yes	Yes
75mm Creusot QF	421	Commandant, Brompton Barracks, Chatham	04/07/1904	Yes	Yes
75mm Creusot QF	423	RA Mess, Wellington Lines, Aldershot	31/12/1905	Yes	Yes
75mm (12½-pr) Maxim-Nordenfelt QF	4381	O.C. 11th Reg. District Exeter (Devon Regt)	15/07/1904	Yes	No
75mm Skoda QF	7	C.O.O. Aldershot	30/06/1904	Yes	No
75mm Krupp QF	–	G.O.C. IVth Division, Tidworth	22/06/1904	Yes	Yes
75mm Krupp QF	–	C.O.O. Cork	29/06/1904	Yes	Yes
75mm Krupp BL	9	Town Clerk, Castle Grounds, Guildford	02/09/1904	Yes	Yes
75mm Krupp BL	11	Town Clerk, York	08/07/1904	Yes	No
75mm Krupp BL	12	Supdt. of Parks, East Princess Street Gardens, Edinburgh	05/07/1904	Yes	Yes
70mm Krupp BL	1	Supdt. Of Parks, Queens Park, Glasgow	22/07/1904	Yes	Yes
65mm Krupp BL	4	C.O.O. Belfast	06/07/1904	Yes	Yes
60mm Krupp BL	1107	G.O.C. 5th Division, Dover	12/07/1904	Yes	No
37mm Single Load QF (Krupp or Gruson)	–	Town Clerk, Rochester	04/07/1904	Yes	–
37mm Pom-pom	–	Royal Navy	02/07/1903	–	–
9-pr Armstrong RML	–	G.O.C. Chester	24/06/1904	Yes	–
6-pr SBML	165	Town Clerk, Colchester	22/07/1904	Yes	Yes
2-pr Bronze	–	G.O.C. 6th Division, Davenport	21/07/1904	Yes	–
2-pr	133	C.O.O. Dublin	30/07/1904	Yes	–
SBML Carronade	–	The Rotunda, Woolwich	08/12/1905	No	No
8-in SBML Mortar	16	G.O.C. Manchester	11/08/1904	Mortar	Bed
1-in Pneumatic	–	C.O.O. Aldershot	07/07/1904	Yes	No
.450-in Maxim	468	C.O.O. Jersey	29/07/1904	Tripod	–
.450-in Maxim	–	States Supervisor, Guernsey	16/05/1904	Tripod	–
28 lb. Maxim (Extra Light)	5449	O.C. 107 Coy (ST) RGA, Dover (10th Mountain Battery)	12/07/1904	Tripod	–
28 lb. Maxim (Extra Light)	5435 & 5436	Royal Military School of Music, Kneller Hall	03/11/1906	–	Tripod

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Allocation of Trophy Guns (Canada)

[WO 32/8111]

Type	Serial No. . ...	Allotted to	Issued	Carriage	Limber
75mm Krupp BL	3	Minister of Militia & Defence, Ottawa	17/09/1904	Yes	Yes
65mm Krupp BL [66mm Broadwell RBL]	3	Minister of Militia & Defence, Ottawa	17/09/1904	Yes	No
37mm Single Load QF (Krupp or Gruson)	41001	Minister of Militia & Defence, Ottawa	17/09/1904	Yes	–
9-pr Armstrong RML	2540	Minister of Militia & Defence, Ottawa (Canadian Dragoons)	17/09/1904	Yes	No
28 lb. Maxim Gun(Extra Light)	–	Minister of Militia & Defence, Ottawa	17/09/1904	Yes	–

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Allocation of Trophy Guns (India & Ceylon)

[WO 32/8111]

Type ......... ....... .... .... .. .... .... .... .... ...	Serial No. . ..	Allotted to	Issued	Carriage	Limber
75mm Krupp BL	8	Secretary to the Government, Military Dept., Calcutta	02/08/1904	Yes	Yes
37mm Pom-pom	2336	Secretary to the Government, Military Dept., Calcutta	02/08/1904	Yes	–
9-pr SBML (Bronze)	–	Secretary to the Government, Military Dept., Calcutta	02/08/1904	Yes	No
.303-in Maxim (British gun)	6161	O.C. 1st Battalion Royal Irish Regiment, Bombay	18/10/1904	Tripod	–
28 lb. Maxim Gun (Extra Light)	–	Ceylon	20/08/1904	Yes	–

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With thanks to MC Heunis

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Surviving Boer Guns in Australia and New Zealand

Type	Serial No.	Current Location
75mm Krupp QF	2	NSW Memorial, Observatory Park, Sydney
75mm Krupp BL	6	Australian War Memorial "Mitchell Annex"
75mm Krupp BL	7	Kings Park, Perth
75mm Krupp BL	10	Australian War Memorial Museum, Canberra
75mm Krupp BL	13	Australian War Memorial Museum, Canberra
75mm Krupp BL	14	Queensland Museum - not original carriage
75mm Krupp BL	4	Whanganui Regional Museum, New Zealand
37mm Pom-pom	2125	Christchurch - in process of restoration (2003)
37mm Pom-pom	3428?	Queensland Museum - possibly not a Boer gun
37mm Krupp/Gruson Single Load QF	2	Tasmania (in storage)
0.450-in Maxim	5309	QEII Army Memorial Museum, Waiouru, NZ
0.303-in Maxim	5431	QEII Army Memorial Museum, Waiouru, NZ
0.303-in Maxim	5438	In storage, West Australia Museum, Perth

Boer Guns in Australia and New Zealand still unaccounted for

Type	Serial No.	Dispatched to	Notes
75mm Krupp QF	–	New Zealand
75mm Krupp BL	1	Victoria	Scrapped 1948?
75mm Krupp BL	2	New Zealand	Buried/scrapped?
60mm Krupp BL	–	Victoria
37mm Pom-pom	–	West Australia
37mm Pom-pom	3428?	Queensland
2-in (6-pr) Whitworth RBL	–	South Australia
0.450-in Maxim	473	South Australia

With thanks to MC Heunis

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Kitchener’s composite “Long Tom”, photographed at Woolwich, before being presented to the Corporation of London. The Corporation loaned the gun to the Crystal Palace, where it remained until April 1905. It was then transferred to Alexandra Palace, and stood in the central hall there until December 1936. In September 1936 a request was made to the Corporation, asking that the Alexandra Park Trustees be allowed to sell the gun. Permission being granted, the “Long Tom” was offered for sale, and was eventually sold as scrap to Messrs Thomas W. Ward Ltd., Sheffield, in October 1937 for £11. Unfortunately there was a belief in South Africa that this could not possibly be a "Long Tom", as all of the 155 mm Creusots had been destroyed during the war. Unaware that a composite Long Tom had been constructed from the fragments of two guns (see below), no attempt was made to save the gun for the South African nation.






Kitchener’s composite gun was constructed from the remains of two destroyed Long Toms. Top: "Klapperkop Tom" (a.k.a. "The Meddler" or "Fiddling Jimmy"), destroyed 16 Apr 1901, on Rietfontein Farm, Lydenburg (photograph taken by Colonel Jacson, Devon Regt.); bottom: “The Jew”, destroyed 18 Oct 1900, on Ronderbult Farm, Cheerio, Haernertsburg (After Pretoria, p. 444). See Louis Changuion's "Silence of the Guns", Chapter 5.







"Wonderboom Tom" (a.k.a. "Puffing Billy", of Umbulwana fame) photographed outside Glasgow Art Gallery, where it stood for the duration of the Glasgow International Exhibition (2nd May to 9th November 1901).
The description on the plaque reads: "GUN CAPTURED from the BOERS / Loaned by Field Marshal Earl ROBERTS / This “Long Tom” was one of the four 95 pounders used by / the Boers against us from the commencement of the War. / It was first brought to bear on the 11th Division at / Pienaars Poort to the East of Pretoria two days / before the fight at Donker Hoek (now called / Diamond Hill) and subsequently at Belfast. / Its remains were taken on Sept 24th 1900 by the / 11th Division on the hill to the East of Komati Poort".
Image courtesy of MC Heunis.




"Wonderboom Tom", photographed at Komati Poort (from the album of Lieutenant Alexander, Scots Guards).
Destroyed by the Boers at Komati Poort on 22nd September 1900, Lord Roberts claimed the remains of “Wonderboom Tom” for his own private collection. After being loaned to the Glasgow Exhibition, the gun eventually found its way to Lord Roberts’s new residence, Englemere, in 1906. Here it remained until the dark days of WWII, when Countess Roberts offered her father’s entire collection of trophies to the country as part of the salvage scheme. All the guns, including the Creusot, were smelted to make armaments in June 1940.






120mm Howitzer, made in Pretoria to replace the one destroyed during the Surprise Hill Sortie on the night of 10-11 December 1899. Mounted on the original Krupp carriage, the gun stood outside Winchester Barracks until WWII, when it is believed to have been smelted.








75 mm Creusot QF (No. 421), before and after restoration. Now on display at The Royal Armouries, Fort Nelson, Hampshire. According to Mr David Moore of the Palmerston Forts Society, this was the piece discovered at Piet Retief during February 1901. As with the 120mm Krupp howitzer, it was discovered taken apart and buried to hide it from British troops (see below). The same gun is said to have stood at the Tower of London for some time before being relocated to Fort Nelson (with thanks to MC Heunis).




The 75 mm Creusot QF gun being recovered at Piet Retief (After Pretoria, p. 373)






75 mm Krupp BL (No. 11), standing in front of the Alexandra Princess of Wales's Own (Yorkshire Regiment) South African War Memorial, Tower Street, just to the east of Skeldergate Bridge, York (Gildea 1911, p. 239). Believed to have been removed and smelted in 1941. Captured at Tierbank on 23 Mar 1902.



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75mm (12½-pr) Maxim-Nordenfelt QF (No. 4408) on display at "FIREPOWER", Royal Artillery Museum, Woolwich. Described as "one of two captured from the Transvaal army at the Battle of Elandslaagte, South Africa on 21 October 1899. It was subsequently used by the British against the Boers during the Siege of Ladysmith".




75 mm (12½-pr) Maxim-Nordenfelt QF (No. 4381) on display at Higher Barracks, Exeter. This is one of the two guns captured at Elandslaagte on 21st October 1899. It survives and in 2005 was at Catterick Garrison, North Yorkshire.







75 mm Krupp QF (No. 2), incorporated into the New South Wales South African War Memorial, Observatory Park, Sydney. The second photograph depicts this gun shortly after its capture at Paardeberg on 27 Feb 1900 (with thanks to MC Heunis). This is believed to be the only surviving Staatsartillerie 75 mm Krupp QF gun.






75 mm Krupp BL (No. 3), now on display in the Canadian War Museum, Ottawa (photograph: Harrold A. Skaarup). Captured at Bothaville on 6 Nov 1900.






75 mm Krupp BL (No. 10), now on display in the Australian War Memorial Museum, Canberra (photograph: Jim Hoffman). Captured at Rensburg Drift on 27 Oct 1900.







75 mm Krupp BL (No. 4), before and after restoration. Now on display in the Wanganui Museum, New Zealand (photographs: Detlef Klein). Captured at Paardeberg on 27 Feb 1900.





75 mm Krupp BL (No. 11), displayed as part of the Green Howards' South African War Memorial, Tower Street, near Skeldergate Bridge, York. Believed to have been smelted during WWII (1941). The memorial (without the gun) is now in the middle of a roundabout. Captured at Tierbank on 23 Mar 1902.





75 mm Krupp BL (No. 9), while mounted in the Castle Grounds, Guildford. At the end of WWI it was suggested that the piece should be replaced by the German trophy gun that had just been donated to the town. Strong feelings had already been voiced in 1918 about the inappropriateness of displaying a Boer gun, which had been captured during a war against a country that was now a close ally. It was probably smelted soon after the end of WWI. Captured at Heilbron/Sodas, May/Jun 1902.


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