The Grogan Rifle
it was cheap to make – appeared: engravings on (usually) polisheddown copper and bronze coins. These were often made as tokens from departing sailors or gifts from convicts about to be dispatched to the colonies, although some are of much higher quality than others. St James’s auctioned a huge collection on 27 June. One was
IN the collections of the Royal Armouries is one of the largest game rifles made in Britain, in this case a four-bore double rifle by the great London gunmakers Holland & Holland (H&H). The rifle is extraordinary in its own way, especially for its size and weight, but the owner was as interesting. It is also rare to find a rifle, or indeed any firearm, that has a romantic story attached to it, as this does.
This story concerns a young man in love, Ewart Scott Grogan, one of the most swashbuckling and colourful figures of African colonial history, and his pursuit of a young women, Gertrude Watt. A gentleman adventurer in the Elizabethan tradition, born in 1874 and one of 21 children of William Grogan, the surveyorgeneral of the Duchy of Lancaster, by the age of 21 he had already been elected the youngest-ever member of the Alpine Club, been sent down from the Napoleonic Wars: on one side is an English and French soldier fighting, with the splendid legend: IN FURY JONNY BULL SEIZ’D BONEY’S SNOUT AND QUICKLY PUT THE BRAVOS TO ROUT. On the reverse is what looks to be a celebration dinner. This little cracker beat its top estimate £450 to sell for £600. from Cambridge for his predilection for practical jokes and walked out of the Slade School of Art. Later, he took part in the Second Matabele War of 1896, during which he served in Cecil Rhodes’ personal escort.
In order to recover from his war experiences, he embarked on a long sea voyage to New Zealand, where he quickly met and fell in love with Watt, a New Zealand beauty and heiress. But her stepfather was not impressed by Grogan’s credentials and told him that if he wanted her hand in marriage he had better prove himself. Grogan took up the challenge with characteristic flamboyance, declaring that he intended to be the first man to trek from Cape
Another demonstrated that even back then bankers were not exactly popular: engraved FAUNTLEROY The Robber of Widows and Orphans, Executed at Newgate… Such be the fate of all Insolvent Bilking Bankers & Agents. Fauntleroy was accused of embezzling stock worth £250,000 and “squandering the lot on debauchery and high Town to Cairo. Now aged 24 and determined to fulfil this quest, he set about equipping himself and his fiancée’s uncle, Arthur “Harry” Sharp, who was to accompany him, with guns and equipment suitable for the joint pursuit of safari and exploration.
In early 1898 he visited H&H, where he purchased a large, double-barrelled rifle, called the Royal model, chambered for the enormous four-bore cartridge, originally made in 1888 for a Mr HCW Hunter. Though weighing in excess of 15lb, it was to accompany him on his trek, along with a double .303 rifle.
In 1898 he set out and after many adventures, close shaves and near-death experiences, including one occasion where he living, property and mistresses”. This fine fellow was shown no mercy and a crowd of 100,000 turned up to watch his hanging on 30 November 1824. It more than doubled its top estimate £250 to sell for £550.
At Woolley & Wallis on 6 July a couple of John Speed handcoloured, engraved maps, printed in 1610, further proved my “business as usual” – at least for the time being – point. The decorative and attractive THE COUNTIE OF LEINSTER with THE CITIE DUBLIN would enhance any wall and was not expensive for what it is – an interesting, colourful, 400-yearold map – at £280, just under its £300 top estimate. However, and with the same estimate, THE KINGDOME OF IRLAND, with drawings of six costumed figures was, simply, a whole lot better to look at and sold for £580. had to use the four-bore to dispatch a charging rhino (describing it as one of most frightening incidents he had to face), he returned to London in early 1900 as a hero.
He became the youngest man ever to address the Royal Geographical Society, writing up his experiences in From Cape to Cairo, published in 1902, and before leaving on a lecture tour of America he finally wed Watt, with the blessing of her stepfather. In 1904 they moved to the East African Protectorate (later Kenya), where they spent the rest of their lives together, and where Grogan acquired a reputation as a “bad” boy. He died in 1967.
The Grogan Rifle is among 630 items on display in the Hunting Gallery at the Royal Armouries Museum, Leeds, the National Museum of Arms and Armour; open daily, 10am to 5pm. Entry is free. www.royalarmouries.org