The Ordnance Society

There are two events highlighted on the ORDNANCE EVENTS page  which you might be interested in.  They are on the 3rd and 16th July, so if you want to participate you need to book quickly!

The Ordnance Society is now pleased to be able to almost DOUBLE THE SIZE OF ITS “NATIONAL ARTILLERY SURVEY” DATABASE with the addition of a large amount of valuable data from the Royal Artillery Collection, managed by the Royal Artillery Museum.  This UNIQUE DATABASE IS THE FIRST OF ITS KIND and includes most of the Breech-Loading (B.L.) and Quick-Firing (Q.F.) guns in the U.K.

There are now 566 guns in the database. Co-ordinated by the Friends of the Royal Artillery Collections the inclusion of this new data has been possible following significant research by members of RA Museum staff. It represents, for the first time, details of many guns in the RA Collection, available online and searchable by researchers. This is a significant move forward and we hope that in the future similar data on artillery equipment in the RA Collection and other museums and collections can be made available more widely on the internet. The Ordnance Society looks forward to working with all of its partners in making this information freely available.

With the imminent resignation of the current chairman, Trevor Parker, at the end of May, the Ordnance Society Board meeting on the 8th May discussed solutions to the impending vacancy.  Neil Grant volunteered to take on the role of Temporary Chairman until the AGM and this offer was gratefully accepted by the OS Board.

Neil is currently the excellent Ordnance Society Visits Secretary and also a Trustee of the Royal Armouries.

Please note that the above visit, which was T.B.A., has now been firmed up for Bank Holiday Monday, 2nd May.  It’s fairly short notice, so please let Neil Grant know if you want to join the visit ASAP – neilgrant2@yahoo.co.uk.

The Ordnance Society has launched the third version of its “WORLDWIDE SURVEY OF BRITISH ARTILLERY”.  The format is very similar to our NATIONAL ARTILLERY SURVEY, but with a different ‘page’ on the spreadsheet for each calibre/gun type.

There are now many guns with recorded data, and sometimes photos, included:-

15-inch, 10-inch, 9.2-inch, 8-inch, 7.5-inch, 5.5-inch (Naval), 5.25-inch, 5-inch (Naval), 5-inch (60-pr), 4.7-inch and 3-pr Hotchkiss guns, all with entries.  Additional smaller calibres will be added in the near future.

Some entries are very surprising, the main example being the British 15-inch Guns, where there are only two in the UK (and one breech), but thirteen are extant in Spain and the Spanish Islands.

There are many British guns in overseas countries that are still unrecorded and unknown, and the Ordnance Society welcomes Data Input Forms that are sent in.  These forms are available for download on the new WORLDWIDE SURVEY OF BRITISH ARTILLERY page.

Newsletter No. 137 is now available for download from the DOWNLOADS sub-page of the PUBLICATIONS page; and is available for members only.

Updated 4th April 2022:

The indices have again been updated by Alastair Fyfe, and are available on the PUBLICATIONS page and its DOWNLOADS sub-page.

The Ordnance Society now has a new much more informative ‘HOME PAGE’, and our News and Announcements ‘POSTS’ will continue under this page heading of ‘NEWS’.

The 26th Annual Conference of the NDS will be held on 9th-11th June 2022 at the National Museum of the Royal Navy, Portsmouth.  Full details and the booking form are on the ORDNANCE EVENTS webpage.

The original date of 9th October for the Pottery Day has been pulled forward to the 21st September; but the price has been reduced from £80 to £60!

The provisional date for the Imber Visit of Sunday 21st August has now been confirmed as Saturday 20th August.