Product Details
* FORMERLY THE PROPERTY OF BRIGADIER-GENERAL SIR DUNCAN MCKENZIE
A .455 (CF) SIX-SHOT DOUBLE-ACTION SERVICE REVOLVER SIGNED P WEBLEY, MODEL 'MKIII', serial no. 1144,
for circa 1895, with 4in barrel signed 'P. WEBLEY & SON, LONDON & BIRMINGHAM, fluted cylinder, hammer with wide spur, plain frame marked 'WEBLEY PATENTS' together with the 'winged bullet' trademark, birds-head grip with hard-rubber chequered grip plates, lanyard ring to heel (traces of finish but much surface corrosion inside and out) TOGETHER WITH a period full-flap leather holster for a 6in. model and a copy of the book 'A MAN OF HIS TIME'
Provenance: An extract from the forward of the accompaning book reads:-
"Over the past 100 years Duncan McKenzie has, either deliberately or through ignorance, been written out of many histories of the period, enabling brief extracts from his life to be used to paint a distorted picture of this extraordinary man. One hopes the book will correct these misapprehensions.
He lived in a time when South Africa was beset with wars. He took no interest in politics and, like many, believed it was the duty of the army to defend the country regardless of the political persuasion of its rulers. For the army to act as the agent of one or another political party would have been repugnant to this way of thinking, as interference by the army in politics would have been seen as walking along the path to military dictatorship.
As a young man he joined the Natal Carbineers. When the Boer war broke out, he cut short a business trip to England, and returned to South Africa, to take command of the one squadron of Carbineers not shut up in Ladysmith. Though hampered by having to operate under British officers, his intelligent disposition of his men and their effectiveness against the Boers was soon noticed and led to wiser heads among the British top brass looking to McKenzie for guidance and in the end to a gradual change in British strategy. After the invading Boers had been driven out of Natal, McKenzie was placed in command of the 2nd Regiment of the Imperial Light Horse. In engagement after engagement he defeated Boer Commandos without suffering a single reverse.
In 1906 he was given the task of putting down a rebellion which was done quickly and efficiently. The rebels, like the British a few years before, failed to pay due regard to the killing power of the modern rifle, and as a result suffered a disproportionately high number of casualties.
Knighted, and now a Brigadier General, in the First World War he again displayed his ability as a master tactician in a successful campaign against the Germans in South West Africa. This campaign was the first really successful operation by the Allies in that war - some think it was the only one!
Throughout his military career one characteristic of Sir Duncan stands out; this was his great concern for those under his command. He was never one to buy glory with the lives of his men.
Lieutenant General Sir Hubert Gough, on of Britain's senior Generals in the First World War, and never one to deflect glory away from himself, had this to say about Sir Duncan, "As a soldier no one had so quick an eye or appreciation of a situation and of a country, a more courageous and resolute will, but he was the most balanced, and prudent - Many a time has he checked and wisely guided my youthful ardour in those days around Ladysmith"
The revolver has been submitted by Sir Duncan McKenzies grandson, who also wrote one of the chapters in the book.
Estimate £100-200
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