Who were original barrel makers for P53s ?

[Prodical Reb]

This is one for all the Enfield Guys! I bought an original Enfield Type II P53 today Here in Bagram. The lock is marked "Tower" and "1857". After I removed the barrel from the stock, there were a bunch of inspection/proof marks and a name. The name stamped underneath the barrel is " EZRA MILLWARD" . I was wondering if this was the original barrel makers name and can it be traced back to a contract and time frame? I'll post some pics when I have access to a digital camera. Thanks !

[Enfield]

Re: Who were original barrel makers for P53s ?

Yes, Ezra Millward was the name of the barrel maker. There were several of the Millward family who were period military barrel makers. I am in the process of deploying myself (not to Afghanistan and those P53s, alas) and can't look him up now, but the family operated in the Birmingham area for several years ca. 1850-1860s. Records that would indicate a specific contract probably no longer exist, but this barrel was likely made for a Government order.

Hope this helps,

Geoff Walden

[Craig L Barry]

Re: Who were original barrel makers for P53s ?

Good to read a post from you again, Geoff, glad all is well on your end. Let me jump in here and help you out if I may as some of the requested information is close at hand. There is a discussion of barrel making in The Civil War Musket (Watchdog 2006), and as the notes from that research are perused, I found some relevant information. Most of the arms of the period were produced from components manufactured seperately and then "set up" into complete arms. Some of the better known Birmingham contract barrel makers that supplied P-53 barrels to the Crown included Beasley & Farmer, John Clive, William Millward, Ezra Millward, William Deakin & Son, Joseph Turner and Henry Clive.

The first contracts were for 3,000 barrels from each and date from October 1853, Ordnance Department order O/411. These were essentially the same barrel makers who provided the P-51 barrels on earlier British government contracts, as well as subsequent government contracts. (From CH Roads, British Soldiers Firearms 1850-1864).

Ezra Millward was a commercial barrel maker who leased a facility called Benton's Mill during the early 19th century. Benton's Mill, also called Nechells Park or Park Mill, stood on the south side of Plume Street near its junction with Long Acre in Birmingham. The mill is believed to have been built by two men, Aston and Nechells, in 1532 but it changed hands and was known as Benton's Mill by 1758. During the early 19th century the Benton family leased the mill to Ezra Millward, who maintained a barrel making operation there though the US Civil War period. By 1900 the mill had apparently become part of the Plume Works' industrial premises. The remains of the mill were demolished in 1941. (From: 'Economic and Social History: A History of the County of Warwick: Volume 7 The City of Birmingham (1964), pp. 253-69)

[Huck]

Re: Who were original barrel makers for P53s ?

Just for anyone interest in this subject, here is a photo of Enfields in Kabul, Afghanistan.

[Craig L Barry]

Re: Who were original barrel makers for P53s ?

Nice picture...And in a related story the prices of P-53 "Enfield" rifle-muskets here in the US are at a modern historic low as the market continues to be flooded with British Government marked P-53s from the Khyber Pass.

A subject for another day...one of our national vanities is the presumption that the US and CS governments bought up the entire output of P-53s made by the Birmingham and London commercial gunmakers during the Civil War era. Au contraire...not by a long shot.