John Bright's Regiment of Foote

Part of the Roundhead Association in the English  Civil War Society
 

Being an ARTILLERYMAN

A Brief History of the Regimental Artillery piece

In the beginning were the words, "Gosh, but we seem to have a lot of spare wonga! What ever can we spend it on!"
and lo! In the fullness of time, Bright's found themselves proud possessors of what can only be described as a dog-eared and less than sturdy cannon.
"It needs a little work done on it," was one of the kinder comments. To be fair it was considerably cheaper than commissioning a new gun, and the tools were thrown in free.

Of course the first problem we encountered was what name to give our little baby. After eschewing "Debra" (coined from an obscure biblical text) and "Dougal", (suggested because when draped in a sheepskin cover it looked like the Magic Roundabout character), we finally decided to call it "Thor". A pragmatic choice given that it had the name cast just above the touch hole.

Like most second hand vehicles, Thor had a few teething problems, notably when one of the wheels nearly fell off at the Battle of Hull. But the wheels have since been replaced, a limber built to aid movement and after a general refreshment, Thor has resumed her position as the regiment's pride and joy; with an ever increasing fan base.
 

The Technical Stuff

Thor is a "Minion". This means she can chuck a lead ball or stone shot weighing aroud 3 1/2 pounds a fair old distance. Her barrel is 6 1/2 feet long and s**ding heavy. Oddly enough, her bore is marginally bigger than a beer can which means we always have plenty of formers at hand to use as templates for cartridges. Her wheels come up to chest height, perfect for leaning on during drill or those quieter moments in battle.
Thor; we estimate weighs in at over half a ton and, with her new limber, can be moved around the battlefield (but woe betide the officer that asks, as we try to move her around as little as possible). Although we never actually fire any kind of projectile we do use 8 to 12 ounces of Black powder depending on how much of the stuff we have, how many shots we're likely to get off and if there's a chance of setting off a nearby car alarm!

The Crew

Thor should ideally have a crew of five, though we can manage with three. Every member of the crew is expected to help make the cartridges unless they've foolishly volunteered to collect grass for wadding or they have a note from their Mum. We don't worry to much about assembling or disassembling the gun as there are always plenty of unwilling Pikemen about.
First (and he'll tell you foremost) is the gun captain. Generally he'll stand to one side and give orders. He also tends to nick the best jobs of pricking, priming and firing.
Next you need a Rammer, someone to fetch the cartridge and wads, a Wormer and a little Swabber.
The Wormer swings into action first, removing a bits left down the barrel with what can only be described as a rather large corkscrew. Then the Swabber armed, with an oversized Q-tip, slops a load of mucky water down and tries to squirt the Gun Captain. Upon reversing his tool he then vainly tries to soak up the excess water. This process is intended to extinguish any glowing coals.
Once the cartridge has been placed down the barrel, the Rammer pushes the charge to the bottom and proceeds to give it some welly. When the Captain is happy that it is sufficiently compacted (or he can gain the Rammer's attention) a wad of twisted grass is inserted into the barrel and the Rammer starts again.
The Captain pierces the charge by prodding it with a metal spike through the touch hole and primes the hole with fine black powder. Then waving the linstock aloft he signals the Battery Commander that his gun is ready. Upon the order 'Give Fire!' the captain attempts to bring the end of the burning match within the vicinity of the touch hole, resulting in a very satisfying bang
 

.So if you think you might like to make a lot of noise and smoke and are willing to take on a job that can be tiring and dirty; talk to one of our gun crew and consider joining the ranks of the "Mad and Deaf" Gunners.