TOPIC:

Joseph Gerrans in front of his workshops in Mafeking, seated on a galloping gun which uses one of Joseph's own carriages.

Fascinating.

This is B-P's single 1891 Hotchkiss 1-pounder Mountain Gun, which would have originally been mounted on the type of carriage shown below.

It seems the wheels needed replacing, repairs that Gerrans carried out in his workshop.




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Baden-Powell's list of the shells and shell fragments from Mafeking in his possession. Some he collected himself and others were donated to him.



Waterson was Trooper John Waterson, RHG. Weil was Benjamin Weil, Gerrans was the wagon maker and Ellitson was the town butcher.

After the attack by the Boers on Tuesday 31st October on Cannon Kopke (which BP referred to during the siege as Cannon Koppie), he did relate his in diary when he acquired this shell.

There are records of shell filled with sand being fired into to the town but the one containing a letter from Hoffman is not recorded.

Here is a photograph of Gerrans's work, including examples of the fourth item on BP's list above: "base of big shell, silver coins". The spittoons shown below are dated: Oct 27 1899 (x2), Nov 4 1899 and Nov 6 1899. The distinctive concave bases indicate that these are from shrapnel shells (Creusot 155 mm "Long Tom").


Otago Daily Times, 11th August 1900

MAFEKING AFTER THE SIEGE.
Mr Gerrans, of this town, took me into his dug-out, and showed me where he lived for months. It is a hole in the ground, 6ft deep, 12ft long, and 6ft wide; the roof is built of iron rails, sheets of iron, and heaps of earth. The walls and ceiling are lined with water-proof canvas, and there are two stairways built into the ground. This gentleman, who is a coachbuilder, also showed me a wonderful collection of bullets and shells that he had gathered together. Out of the bases of the 94-pounders he is making spittoons, with Kruger coins inserted in the concave, the idea being that of spitting on Kruger’s face.





Also included in this photograph are a 7-pdr Armstrong RML studded shell (left), a 75 mm Krupp QF shrapnel shell (right) and, in the bottom right-hand corner, the base of a 75 mm Krupp QF segment shell.

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