Boer Maxim (No. 649)

The Transvaal was the first Boer republic to import a Maxim. From Pretoria Archive sources and the original MNG&ACL order book, today preserved at Ministry of Defence (MOD) SATIC in Leeds, this gun was identified as No. 649. It was ordered in 1890 through MNG&ACL’s Dutch agent J van Zwieten and was dispatched to Pretoria on 31 January 1891. During March it arrived in Delagoa Bay, but since transport between Lorenzo Marques and Pretoria was infrequent in the days before the railway line was built, the gun was shipped to Port Natal where it arrived in June 1891 before being transported to the Transvaal.

According to the specification sheet this gun was mounted on a wheeled infantry carriage (Mk I, serial no. 1208) of the “Government Service pattern” complete with adjusting arrangement for levelling the gun. The carriage was equipped with a small shield and two shafts designed for one horse, a mule or man-haulage. When mounted on the carriage, the gun stood 3 ft 6-ins above the ground. The order also included a spare mechanism, 16 Deal ammunition boxes with belts to hold 150 rounds each, a cleaning rod and a Teak tool case with a standard set of spare parts and tools. Ammunition consisted of M-H Ball cartridges, some loaded with black powder and some with smokeless powder.

In the Transvaal No. 649 saw service during various tribal campaigns. In his biography SPE Trichard, later CO of the Transvaal Staatsartillerie, recalls the use of two M-H calibre guns during the 1894 war against Malaboch. As the Transvaal had only one Maxim gun in its armoury at that stage this statement is probably incorrect.

Its use and date of capture during the Anglo-Boer War is not known. The use of black powder ammunition would also have made it obsolete during the war as the smoke drew fire.