[
    {
        "id": 214467,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
        "series_use_hku_proxy": false,
        "document_key": "RAS-1998",
        "page_number": 325,
        "title": "RAS-1998",
        "content_text": "293\n\nSIR RALPH MOOR AND THE \"BENIN CANNON OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM AND THE ROYAL ARMOURIES\n\nRonald Bishop Smith\n\n(D\n\nIf might be of interest to the members of the society and to readers of the Journal to know from unpublished sources how four old cannon recovered in Benin City (in modern Nigeria) at the time of the British expedition of 1897 arrived at their present locations, that is a Portuguese swivel-gun of about 1540 in the British Museum and three rather archaic looking pieces of various precedences found in the Royal Armouries.(2) One of the Royal Armouries' cannon, curiously to note, has writing in Chinese on it. These four cannon are the only \"Benin\" cannon presently known to exist in England. Another is found in the Museum für Völkerkunde in Berlin and more may exist.\n\nIn the central Archives of the British Museum there is a document in the \"Book of Presents\" for 1899 which throws much light on the four \"Benin\" cannon in England. It is dated 30 May 1899.\n\nMr Read has the honour to report that he has received from Sir Ralph Moor H.M. Commissioner and Consul General for the Niger Coast Protectorate, through Major Gallwey D.S.O., a consignment of Benin antiquities consisting of three cannon, two of iron and one of bronze; and, in addition, a second bronze gun and a bronze plaque also from Sir Ralph Moor, through the Crown Agents for the Colonies.\n\nMr Read was somewhat doubtful whether all of the three objects in the first consignment were appropriate to the Museum, and whether they would not be more fittingly placed in the armoury of the Tower of London. He therefore consulted Lord Dillon, who confirmed his opinion that the bronze guns were not made in Europe, and are probably, therefore, of Benin manufacture; while of the two iron guns, one is doubtless of European make, and the other a copy made in Africa.",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1998.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794",
        "rank": 0
    },
    {
        "id": 214468,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
        "series_use_hku_proxy": false,
        "document_key": "RAS-1998",
        "page_number": 326,
        "title": "RAS-1998",
        "content_text": "294\n\nMr Read is therefore of opinion that as the two bronze guns are practically identical, and as the iron ones are of more interest as ordnance than from the ethnographical point of view, the three objects forming the first consignment might be more appropriately deposited at the Tower.\n\nHe has consulted Major Gallwey who agrees to this disposal of the guns, but he (Mr Read) would propose to write to Sir Ralph Moor to explain what has been done.\n\nFrom the above we see that the four cannon were offered by Sir Ralph Moor, at that time Commissioner and Consul-General of the Niger Coast Protectorate, to the British Museum in 1899, and that Charles H. Read (then Keeper of the Department of British and Mediaeval Antiquities and Ethnography) in consultation with Lord Dillion (then Keeper of the Armouries of the Tower of London) proposed to keep one of the cannon for the ethnographical collection of the British Museum, and to pass the other three cannons to the Tower of London.\n\nIn the Central Archives of the British Museum, in the \"Report of Donations\" (of the cited department) there is a register of Charles H. Read dated 9 June 1899 stating that Sir Ralph Moor, K.C.M.G., H.M. Commissioner for the Niger Coast Protectorate, donated to the Museum a bronze gun and a modern bronze plaque. It reads as follows.\n\nA bronze gun with the arms of Portugal probably made in Benin, and a bronze plaque, a specimen of modern Benin casting.\n\n(The accession numbers of the two objects, by which they are identified today, are respectively 1899, 6-10, 1 and 1899, 6-10, 2.)\n\nThe two documents from which I quote above have been located for me by Christopher Date, Assistant Museum Archivist, at the Central Archives of the British Museum. To Mr Date I heartily extend my thanks.\n\nAt my request Mr Date has also located for me what I believe is the only published reference to the British Museum cannon before 1995.",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1998.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794",
        "rank": 0
    },
    {
        "id": 214469,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
        "series_use_hku_proxy": false,
        "document_key": "RAS-1998",
        "page_number": 327,
        "title": "RAS-1998",
        "content_text": "295\n\nIf is found in the Annual Report containing an account or statement of objects added to the British Museum in 1899, and other Particulars \"Ordered, by The House of Commons, to be Printed, 5 March 1900\", at p.77. This publication is of very scarce circulation. The entry reads as follows.\n\nBronze cannon with the arms of Portugal and modern cast bronze plaque from Benin city; given by Sir Ralph Moor, K.C.M.G., H.M. Commissioner and Consul-General, Niger Coast Protectorate.\n\nChristopher Date, through help of colleagues in the Department of Medieval and Later Antiquities, has also kindly supplied to me a number of photocopies of letters, to and from Sir Ralph Moor, on various matters, found in the departmental archives. To Mr Date and his colleagues again I extend my thanks. One of these letters is a copy sent to Sir Ralph by Charles H. Read on the cannon. I quote the part referring to the cannons, roughly the first half of the letter. It is dated 13 June 1899.\n\nThe two bronze and two iron cannon that you have been good to send have duly arrived, and Major Gallwey has called here about them, though I unfortunately missed him. I do not know whether you saw all the guns before they came: but they really form two pairs, those of bronze being quite the same in size and general character while the iron ones have differences which are of interest as ordnance, but less from my point of view. I consulted my friend Lord Dillon, who is one of our Trustees, and also Keeper of the Tower Armoury, and he thought that the bronze guns and one of the iron ones were made in Benin, while one iron gun was made in Europe and ...ted. (4) The interest of the pieces being thus chiefly from the point of view of ordnance. I asked Major Gallwey if he thought you would mind some of the guns going to the Tower, in place of remaining here, and he authorized me to do this. Thus you will receive from here only an acknowledgment for one gun and the tablet.\n\nBy letter of Sir Ralph Moor to Charles H. Read dated 29 July 1899",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1998.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794",
        "rank": 0
    },
    {
        "id": 214470,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
        "series_use_hku_proxy": false,
        "document_key": "RAS-1998",
        "page_number": 328,
        "title": "RAS-1998",
        "content_text": "296\n\nOld Calabar. Niger Coast Protectorate. Sir Ralph concurred with Mr Read's division of the cannon. By letter of 8 September 1899 Mr Read informed Sir Ralph that three of the cannon had gone to the Tower. The Department of Medieval and Later Antiquities possesses an acknowledgement from the ordnance office of the Tower of London to the Director and Principal Librarian of the British Museum, dated 17 July 1899, that three guns from Benin City had been received.\n\nNOTES\n\n(1) Upon which cf. Robert D. Smith's \"A 16th century Portuguese bronze breech-loading swivel gun,\" Militaria. Revista de Cultura Militar N.o 7, Madrid, 1995, pp.197-205 and my \"A 16th century Portuguese swivel gun in the British Museum,\" Lisbon, 1995, where I identified what the writing on this piece means.\n\n(2) Upon these cf. Howard L. Blackmore, The Armouries of the Tower of London. I. Ordnance, London, 1976, pp. 154, 170 and 171 (entries Nos 204, 238 and 239)\n\n(3) cf. page 154; No.204 of Howard L. Blackmore's catalogue (XIX.114 in the Royal Armouries). Mr. Blackmore states that it is an iron gun 3 feet 3 inches long. He portrays it in the catalogue and believes it was made in China in the 18th or early 19th century. He notes: \"An inscription in Chinese characters engraved by the trunnions refers to the weight of the gun and probably gives the names of the officials who supervised its manufacture; it is, however, too worn for accurate translation.” Often judgements of what can be read in old inscriptions are too hastily made. I do not know if that would be the case here. How this piece arrived in Benin City, and when, is presently anybody's guess.\n\n(4) A verb in the past tense, some four letters of which I cannot read, appears to be written here.",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1998.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794",
        "rank": 0
    }
]