Thomas Del Mar - Arms & Armour

457
THE PROPERTY OF A LADY
AN 18 BORE FIVE-SHOT PERCUSSION PEPPERBOX
REVOLVER BY JAMES WILKINSON & SON, LONDON,
DATED 1848
with 4I in fluted barrel group engraved with sprays of foliage
at the muzzles and stamped with London proof marks, scrollengraved
rounded action signed within an oval on the left,
fitted with sliding thumb-piece safety-catch, engraved nippleshield,
engraved bar hammer, finely chequered figured walnut
butt, engraved steel mounts comprising trigger-guard and
butt-cap with trap, silver escutcheon engraved with a
presentation inscription, and retaining traces of original finish:
in its brass-mounted fitted mahogany case lined in green
baize, the lid with flush-fitting carrying handle engraved ‘H.N.
Durand, Bengal Engineers’, and applied with trade label for 27
Pall Mall inside, the inside with trade label for 27 Pall Mall (light
wear), and retaining its nipple wrench (one compartments
loose)
26cm; 10D in
The inscription on the escutcheon reads:
‘Lord Ellenborough to his much valued friend CapTN Durand
Bengal Engineers, 4th July 1848.’
210
457
Major-General Sir Henry Marion Durand (1812-1871) was
orphaned at an early age and educated at the East India
Company’s school in Addiscombe. He received a commission
as second Lieutenant in the Bengal Engineers in 1828 landing
in Calcutta in 1830 having been shipwrecked off the Cape of
Good Hope. Durand played an important part in the capture of
Ghazni in 1839 where he headed a party of natives who laid
three hundred bags of powder at the Cabul gate. Despite
being under direct fire from the town, Durand and his
sergeant successfully detonated the explosion and the gates
were blown in; the town fell on 23rd July. The following year
Durand returned to England where he made the acquaintance
of Lord Ellenborough who became Governor General of India
shortly after and appointed Durand as his private secretary.
Durand married the following year and was promoted to
Captain. He accompanied the Governor General throughout
the Gwalior Campaign and was present with him at the battle
of Maharajpore, for which he was decorated. In 1844 he was
recalled by Ellenborough and he accepted the post of
commissioner of the Tenasserim provinces. His energy and
hatred of corruption led to his removal from this post in 1846
after which he returned to England where he started writing a
history of the Afghan War. He returned to India in 1848 arriving
at Calcutta shortly after the outbreak of the Sikh war. He was
present at the engagements of Chilianwallah and Gujerat
serving on the staff of Brigadier-General Colin Campbell. For
his services during the campaign he received the Punjab