North cannon
Photographed on 30 April 2003
Located beside the War Memorial on the Parade,
South Street at Central Street
GPS location: 44°32'11"N 64°14'33"W
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Two Bronze Cannons Chester, Lunenburg County, Nova Scotia March 2004 positions on the cannons' barrels. These reflect the differing hierarchies of ownership and responsibility for the issue and manufacture of the cannon and can be separately described and reported on, as follows: |
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Because Henry and Cornelius King were Master Founder and Assistant Founder at the Royal Brass Foundry between 1813 and 1818, and because Henry Phipps, as Earl of Mulgrave, was Master General of the Ordnance at the same time, all cannon cast at Woolwich between 1813 and 1818 should bear the same combination of markings as those demonstrated on these two examples. These two cannon at Chester in Nova Scotia, and especially that cast in 1813, will be among the earliest cannon cast by the partnership of Henry and Cornelius King. It must be remembered that during the War of 1812-1814 with the United States of America, Britain was also fully engaged in a war with Napoleonic France: thus, the outbreak of war with the USA in 1812 would have necessitated the casting of additional cannon. It is probable that these two cannon were cast for the war in North America in 1812-1814. — Research report by Stephen Wood, 1 March 2004 Stephen Wood Research, 24 Stanley Street Southsea, Hampshire PO5 2DS, United Kingdom References: Blackmore, H.D., The Armouries of the Tower of London: The Ordnance. (London, 1976) Hogg, O.F.G., Forerunners of the Army Council, in Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research volume XI (1932) pages 101-148 Thorne, R.G., The House of Commons 1790-1820, volume IV (London, 1986) |
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Thanks to Mr. Peter Finer Ilmington, Warwickshire, England |
BronzeBronze is an alloy of copper and tin commonly used in18th and 19th century artillery. Often mistakenly called brass. |
Brass versus BronzeBRASS: An alloy composed of copper and zincand not suitable for ordnance. BRONZE: An alloy composed of copper and tin and definitely suitable for ordnance. |
BronzeA metal made of two or more pure metals (pure chemical elements),mixed and melted together, is called an alloy. Any alloy, or mixture, of copper and tin is called bronze. Many bronze alloys also contain small amounts of other materials. Bronze was one of the first alloys developed by metal workers in ancient times. The Mesopotamians ushered in the Age of Bronze about 4500 years ago. In the earliest fortified towns bronze was used for shields, helmets, and battle axes. 4000 years ago the Chinese made early coins of bronze. Bronze melts at a lower temperature than iron, reducing the manufacturing cost. Bronze is softer and weaker than iron, but bronze resists corrosion (especially seawater corrosion) and metal fatigue better than iron. Because it does not rust, bronze was preferred aboard ship or in seacoast forts. Originally "bronze" was a term for copper alloys having tin as the only or principal alloying element. In modern usage the name "Bronze" is seldom used alone, and a term such as "Phosphor Bronze" or "Aluminum Bronze" is used for identifying alloys of copper and tin with small amounts of other elements added to produce special characteristics. |
Brass or Bronze?As we prepare almost every issue of The Artilleryman Magazinethe confusion of "brass" and "bronze" comes up in things written in an earlier time period when the terminology was incorrect, or by modern writers who don't know the difference. We recently came across this in Harold L. Peterson's Round Shot and Rammers (Bonanza Books, 1969): "In almost all the contemporary [18th and early 19th centuries] references the term used is brass. Bronze is almost never mentioned. Yet the alloy itself sometimes consisted only of copper and tin, which would make it bronze according to a modern definition..." The only brass guns were those made by the uninformed. All surviving antique cannon of a copper-based alloy are in fact "bronze." The actual definition of "gun metal" was 90 percent copper and 10 percent tin, which was the strongest of the various bronze alloys. — Submitted by Bill Anderson, 1st Continental Artillery Online source: Brass or Bronze?The NWTA Spy, Spring 2000 http://www.nwta.com/Spy/spring00/brass.html |
Links to Relevant WebsitesThe story of copper and its principal alloys, bronze and brass... http://64.90.169.191/education/60centuries/middle_ages/mediaeval.html Cast Bronze Muzzle-Loaders A first-class bronze cannon of 1500 differed hardly at all in essential technology and ballistic performance from a cannon of 1850 designed to shoot a ball of the same weight... http://www.sportshooter.com/reloading/earlyweapons.htm Cannon History and Technology Gunfounding 101 by the Mel Fisher Maritime Heritage Museum, Key West, Florida http://www.melfisher.org/cannonsurvey/gunfounding101.htm Manufacturing a Cast-Iron or Cast-Bronze Cannon by the Mel Fisher Maritime Heritage Museum, Key West, Florida http://www.melfisher.org/cannonsurvey/castguns.htm Governor's Cannon by Turks and Caicos National Museum Bronze cannons are relatively rare, perhaps because bronze retains considerable value as scrap metal and is frequently recycled, particularly during times of war. Those guns that have survived often provide a wealth of historical information... http://www.tcmuseum.org/projects/governors_cannon/ Appendix 3: The Design and Construction of Bronze Cannon in the 16th Century ...Sixteenth-century cannon founders, at least the good ones, made a serious and largely successful effort to standardize their production methods. When we consider the primitive conditions under which they worked of necessity and the almost total lack of any direct means of measuring the quality of their product except by destructive testing, either intentional or inadvertent, this level of standardization is nothing short of amazing... http://www.angelfire.com/ga4/guilmartin.com/Appendix3.html Gunfounding in the Late XVIIIth Century http://home.europa.com/~bessel/Naval/Forge.html Chapter 2: Why Bronze Came Before Iron and Steel http://www.usgennet.org/usa/topic/preservation/science/inventions/chpt2.htm History of the Rifled Cannon http://home.earthlink.net/~turnerbrigade/modemrif.htm |
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Art of Gunfounding: The Casting of Bronze Cannon in the Late 18th Century edited by Carel de Beer published 1991 by Jean Boudriot Publications Crowborough, United Kingdom ISBN 0948864079 232 pages with tables, 102 b/w figures, 2 b/w photos, 50 watercolours and 34 b/w full-page plates Story of the Woolwich Brass Foundry and its refurbishment and modernisation between 1770 and 1774 by the Verbruggens, gunfounders from the Hague. First UK edition limited to 1000 copies Round Shot and Rammers by Harold L. Peterson Illustrated by Peter F. Copeland, Donald W. Holst, and Robert L. Klinger Published 1969 by Bonanza Books, New York ISBN 051711948X, 128 pages This is an introduction to muzzle-loading land artillery in the United States. Hundreds of specially developed drawings and construction plans of the cannon and their carriages. English Artillery 1326 - 1716 by Oliver F.G. Hogg published 1963 by the Royal Artillery Institution, London 310 pages with 8 illustrations An Illustrated History of Artillery by Joseph Jose published 1971 by Crescent Books, New York 217 pages with 24 color plates, 281 b/w illustrations Traces the history and technology of artillery from its beginnings in the 14th century to the 20th century. Report on the Manufacture of Bronze Cannon 1850-1851 by W. Wade, published 1856 reprinted 1982 by Antique Ordnance Publishers, Port Huron, Michigan Cast For War: A History of Muzzle-Loading Artillery by Joseph Thatcher, published 1985 New York State Bureau of Historic Sites Waterford, New York Ordnance and Gunnery by Brevet-Col.J.G. Benton published 1867, 107 pages |
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Two Bronze Cannons Chester, Lunenburg County, Nova Scotia Royal Cypher of King George III 
This denotes the cannon as being the property of the British Crown, symbolised in the person of the King as Head of State. Markings such as this have been used to denote the ownership of cannons in Britain since the sixteenth century. The crown that surmounts the Garter symbolises the monarchy, the Royal Cypher GR stands for Georgius Rex ("King George" in Latin, the formal language traditionally used in the Royal Style and Titles of the monarch) and the Garter is used to denote the fact that King George III was both the Sovereign of The Most Noble Order of the Garter and the Principal Knight Companion of the Order, the senior Order of Chivalry in the British honours system. — Research report by Stephen Wood, 1 March 2004 Stephen Wood Research, 24 Stanley Street Southsea, Hampshire PO5 2DS, United Kingdom More about these bronze cannons |
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Two Bronze Cannons Chester, Lunenburg County, Nova Scotia Earl of Mulgrave Master General of Ordnance 
This symbol denotes The Honourable Henry Phipps, 1st Earl of Mulgrave (1755-1831). At the time of these cannons being cast, he was Master General of the Ordnance, having been appointed to that post on 1 May 1810 and created Earl of Mulgrave on 7 September 1812; he remained Master General of the Ordnance until 1818. The post of Master General of the Ordnance was a Cabinet post always held by retired or semi-retired soldiers of senior rank. The office of "Master of The King's Ordnance" was created in 1414 and had assumed the title "Master General of the Ordnance" by the end of the sixteenth century. The Master General held senior responsibility for the Board of Ordnance (created in 1518 and abolished in 1855), the Civil Department of State that was charged with the procurement, issue, repair and recovery of all warlike stores used by the British Army and Royal Navy: this covered all forms of weaponry, from bayonets to cannon, and included their ammunition too. The Master General was also, in his military capacity, commander of the Royal Regiment of Artillery and the Corps of Royal Engineers. Whereas the manufacture of small arms tended, especially in time of war, to be contracted out to private contractors, the manufacture of cannon was, by the early nineteenth century, a carefully controlled and monitored process undertaken at the Royal Brass Foundry at Woolwich (the basis of the famous Woolwich Arsenal). From the early sixteenth century some reference to the Master (or Master General) of the Ordnance usually appeared on cannon barrels cast for the British Army and, by the seventeenth century, it had become standard practice, when casting cannon barrels, to use some of the Master General's personal heraldry to symbolise his responsibility for the production and provision of the cannon. Sometimes, Master Generals decided to use their full armorial achievement ("coat of arms") but more usually, and certainly by the early nineteenth century, the Master General was symbolised by the initial letter of his title surmounted by the coronet appropriate to his rank in the peerage. Thus, for The Honourable Henry Phipps as Earl of Mulgrave and Master General (1812-1818), the letter M was used and surmounted by the coronet of an earl. During his time as Master General but prior to his elevation in the peerage from the rank of baron to the rank of earl (1810-1812), Lord Mulgrave's cannon would have cast into them the letter M surmounted by the coronet of a baron, which is different in its form from that of an earl. The wreath of laurel that encloses the letter M signifies the fact that Lord Mulgrave was a distinguished soldier – laurel wreaths having been used since the time of the Roman Empire to symbolise and recognise military prowess. The Honourable Henry Phipps was the third son of the 1st Baron Mulgrave (in the peerage of Ireland) and was educated at Eton College between 1767 and 1771. In 1775 he entered the British Army as an ensign (2nd lieutenant) in the 1st Regiment of Foot Guards. He was promoted lieutenant in his regiment, and captain in the army, in 1778 and purchased the rank of major in the 85th Regiment of Foot in 1779, purchasing promotion to lieutenant-colonel in the 88th Regiment of Foot in 1780, transferring to the 45th Regiment of Foot in 1782 and transferring back to the 1st Regiment of Foot Guards in 1783. He served in America during the War for Independence, as well as in the Caribbean. Remaining in the army for the rest of his life, he was able to combine a military career with that of a politician: he was elected to represent the borough of Totnes in Devon in 1784 and then to represent that of Scarborough in Yorkshire in 1790. Promoted colonel in the army in 1790, he became a brigadier-general in 1793 and was also briefly governor of Toulon in the south of France during the British occupation of that port in that year. He was appointed honourary colonel of the 31st Regiment of Foot in 1793 and promoted to major general in 1794, being advanced to lieutenant-general in 1801 and to general in 1809. He retained an affection for the army throughout his life and vigourously supported it, its officers' welfare and all military affairs in both Houses of the British Parliament. Succeeding his brother as 3rd Baron Mulgrave (in the peerage of Ireland) in 1792, he was created 1st Baron Mulgrave (in the peerage of Great Britain) in 1794 and so had to relinquish his seat in the House of Commons, exchanging it for one in the House of Lords. He was appointed a Privy Counsellor in 1804 and sat in successive British Cabinets from 1804 until 1818, holding the offices of Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (1804-1805), Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (1805-1806), 1st Lord of the Admiralty (1807-1810) and Master General of the Ordnance (1810-1818). He was advanced in the peerage to the rank of an earl, with the title Earl of Mulgrave (and the secondary title Viscount Normanby) on 7 September 1812 and was created a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath (GCB) on 20 May 1820. Lord Mulgrave married Martha Sophia Maling on 20 October 1795 and their marriage produced four sons and five daughters. He aged prematurely and was widely recognised as being, through mental and physical infirmiry, unfit for future public office by 1820. Lord Mulgrave died on 7 April 1831. — Research report by Stephen Wood, 1 March 2004 Stephen Wood Research, 24 Stanley Street Southsea, Hampshire PO5 2DS, United Kingdom More about these bronze cannons |
Mulgrave, Nova ScotiaNova Scotia, was named for George Augustus Constantine Phipps (1819-1890), Earl of Mulgrave, Governor of Nova Scotia 1858-1863. George Augustus Constantine Phipps (1819-1890) was the son of Constantine Henry Phipps (1797-1863), first Marquess of Normanby. Constantine Henry Phipps succeeded his father as Earl of Mulgrave in 1831. George Augustus Constantine Phipps (1819-1890) was the grandson of Henry Phipps (1755-1831), the 1st Earl of Mulgrave and Master General of the Ordnance (1810-1818). George Augustus Constantine Phipps, second Marquis of Normanby, born 23 July 1819, entered the Scots Fusilier Guards in 1838, and was comptroller, and subsequently treasurer, of the Queen's household from 1853 till 1858. He was Governor of the British Colony of Nova Scotia Feb 1858 - Sep 1863. He was Governor of Queensland, Australia, 1871-1874; Governor of New Zealand 1874-1879; and Governor of Victoria, Australia, 1879-1884. Marquesses of Normanby, Second Creation (1838) Constantine Henry Phipps (1797-1863), 1st Marquess of Normanby George Augustus Constantine Phipps (1819-1890), 2nd Marquess of Normanby Constantine Charles Henry Phipps (1846-1932), 3rd Marquess of Normanby Oswald Constantine John Phipps (1912-1994), 4th Marquess of Normanby Constantine Edmund Walter Phipps (1954- ), 5th Marquess of Normanby |
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General The Earl of Mulgrave GCB 1793-1831 Henry Phipps
http://www.queensroyalsurreys.org.uk/colonels/054.html Mulgrave, Earldom of Encyclopaedia Britannica 1911 http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Earldom_Of_Mulgrave Constantine Henry Phipps, 1st Marquess of Normanby Encyc. Britannica 1911 http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Constantine_Henry_Phipps%2C_1st_contess_of_Normanby George Augustus Constantin Phipps (1816-1890) Earl of Mulgrave http://lt.gov.ns.ca/inner/frames/honourable/content/past/Mulgrave.htm This webpage has disappeared from the WWW, but archived copies are available in the Wayback Machine: |
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Henry Phipps, 1st Earl of Mulgrave Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Phipps%2C_1st_Earl_of_Mulgrave Constantine Henry Phipps, 1st Marquess of Normanby Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Constantine_Henry_Phipps%2C_1st_Marquess_of_Normanby Master-General of the Ordnance Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master-General_of_the_Ordnance Constantine John Phipps Mulgrave Appletons Encyclopedia http://www.famousamericans.net/constantinejohnphippsmulgrave/ Obituary: Oswald Constantine John Phipps (1912-1994), 4th Marquis of Normanby http://www.rnib.org.uk/xpedio/groups/public/documents/ visugate/public_nbjun94.hcsp |
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Two Bronze Cannons Chester, Lunenburg County, Nova Scotia Henry & Cornelius King Royal Brass Foundry, Woolwich 
From the sixteenth century, British cannon began to be cast bearing the names of the men who were ultimately responsible for their casting. Such men were highly skilled and trained artisans. The practice of placing the founders' names on objects cast by them predates the casting of cannon, medieval church bells in England also often bearing the names of the men who cast them. Henry and Cornelius King are believed to have been uncle and nephew. The brothers Henry and John King were first employed at the Royal Brass Foundry at Woolwich prior to 1770, when Andrew Schalch (1692-1776) was Master Founder there. Schalch retired in 1770 and was replaced by John (1712-1782) and Peter (1734-1786) Verbruggen, a father-and-son partnership from the United Provinces of the Netherlands who were joint Master Founders at Woolwich and who are believed to have thought highly of the skills of Henry and John King. Although the Royal Brass Foundry had been exceptionally busy with the production of cannon during the American War for Independence (1775-1783), work almost ceased in 1784 and it was only through petitions, supported by Peter Verbruggen, that the brothers King were able to remain employed at Woolwich. On Peter Verbruggen's death in 1786, the Mastership of the Royal Brass Foundry notionally passed to Frederick Groves but, in Groves' absence, control was exercised over the Foundry by John King. In 1789, John King was appointed Foreman of the Foundry and his brother, Henry, appointed Assistant Foreman. At the same time, John King is believed to have successfully applied for his son, Cornelius, to be appointed to the post of Assistant Moulder (moulders were responsible for the artistic, and often heraldic, decoration cast into cannon barrels). The outbreak of Britain's war with Revolutionary France in 1793 galvanised production at Woolwich and the production of cannon increased considerably. In 1797, John King was promoted to Master Founder and Henry King appointed Assistant Founder; in 1805, Cornelius King was appointed Foreman. John King died in office in 1813 and his brother Henry was promoted to Master Founder, with Cornelius being promoted to Assistant Founder simultaneously. The partnership of Henry and Cornelius King continued at the Royal Brass Foundry until Henry's retirement in 1818 (coincidentally, the same year that Lord Mulgrave retired as Master General); Cornelius continued at Woolwich as Assistant Founder until retiring in 1822. Henry King died in 1825 and Cornelius died in 1835. — Research report by Stephen Wood, 1 March 2004 Stephen Wood Research, 24 Stanley Street Southsea, Hampshire PO5 2DS, United Kingdom More about these bronze cannons |
Woolwich Churchyardaged 53. Mrs. Mary King his wife died 16 May 1828 aged 40. http://www.kentarchaeology.org.uk/Research/Libr/MIs/ MIsWoolwich/MIsWoolwich001-450.htm |
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