Composite photograph showing Baron de Cosson, Harold Arthur Lee-Dillon, and Sir Guy Laking

Early Scholars

The origins of the study of arms and armour lie in the efforts of a small group of 19th and early 20th century gentlemen scholars. Today the field has grown wide in its appeal, from the university trained academic, to the enthusiastic re-enactor.

Within these pages you can gain an insight both to the scholarship and the lives of those early scholars and from our Online Object Catalogue order copies of many of their works.

Scary Horned Helmet

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Earliest known galvanising

On the 30 Sept 1999 the Royal Armouries discovered the world’s earliest known galvanising of iron on some 17th Century Indian armour.

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