Kerr's patent revolver, 5-shot, 54 bore (approx. .44 caliber) single-action revolver. London: London Armoury Company, n.d. Engraved "London Armoury" on lock and stamped in oval on left frame. "Kerr's Patent 1730." engraved on right frame. Serial number 1669-Y. Stamped with J.S. and Anchor.

Confederate blockade-run Kerr revolver referenced by serial number in William A. Albaugh's seminal reference book "Confederate Handguns: Concerning the Guns, the Men who Made Them, and the Times of Their Use" (Philadelphia: Riling & Lentz, 1963). The example offered here is listed on page 132, "List of London Armoury Kerr Revolvers Known to the Author."

Kerr revolvers were a particular favorite of Confederate cavarlymen. This is an excellent and early-documented example that is mechanically functional. A significant portion of its original finish is retained, ~20%.

At the very start of the war on April 15, 1861, Captain Caleb Huse was ordered to Europe to purchase ordnance and arms for the newly formed Confederate army. By May, House had contracted with the London Armoury Company for 10,000 rifles, causing the company to cancel their contract with the United States federal government. The Union's purchasing agent, Colonel Schuyler, wrote that by August 1861: "No Enfield rifles [or other guns] can be procured in England. All private plants in London and Birmingham are working for Ohio, Connecticut, and Massachusetts, except the London Armoury Co., whose product is supposed to be for the South."

At the outset of the Civil War, the London Armoury Company became the unofficial London headquarters for the Confederate Army and Navy officers. While the company continued to fulfill contracts for the British Government, many of the firearms they produced were exported to the Confederacy. Albaugh notes that the Kerr revolver, a single-action five-shot revolver with a distinctive side-mounted hammer, "[was] well-made and excellently finished and [was] looked upon with great favor by Confederate soldiers."

The example here conforms to other exported examples, with "London Armoury" engraved (not stamped) on the lock, and "Kerr's Patent No. ###" engraved on the frame, with the number engraved on the cylinder. The left side of the frame is die-stamped "London Armoury" in an oval. The barrel is also die-stamped LAC. Additionally, the face of the cylinder and the inside bow of the trigger guard are stamped with the "true" serial number.

Notably, this revolver also bears the initials "J.S." above a small anchor that is found on the wood of the stock below the strap of the trigger-guard. Although Albaugh and other scholars did not know the meaning of "J.S." in 1963 when "Confederate Handguns..." was published, recent scholarship strongly suggests it was the mark of inspector John Southgate. It is the universal consensus that the "J.S" and anchor stamp was only applied on guns intended for export, not domestic use. (Albaugh, pp. 128-132).

[Civil War, Union, Confederate, Naval History, Navy, Munitions, Guns, Arms, Armaments, Revolvers, Blockade, Accoutrements, Militaria]