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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4 Eiffel Towers

During the siege of Sebastopol the British fired about 10,000 tonnes of iron shot; the French fired 510,000 round shot, 236,000 howitzer shells and 350,000 mortar shells – a total of around 43,000 tonnes of iron! About the same weight as 4 Eiffel Towers.

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