Object of the week

[The Tank Museum]

A little pistol with an interesting past.

 

 

Possibly the smallest item in the Museum small arms collection is a single shot Derringer style pistol, formerly the property of Lance Corporal Charles Nye, Machine Gun Corps.

 

Chambered to fire a short .22 inch rim fire cartridge, this odd little weapon is of a type produced in huge quantities by the Belgian gun factories around Liege in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. These weapons were cheaply and shoddily made and were ineffective at anything but point blank range, but had the advantage of being easily concealed.

 

It was this aspect of the weapon which proved useful to two generations of the Nye family; firstly Corporal Nye’s grandmother, who apparently carried it in her stocking top for self-protection when out on her rounds as a midwife in the rough Wood Green area of London and secondly Charles Nye himself, who was given the pistol by his redoubtable grandmother on going to war in 1914.

 

Corporal Nye was taken unfortunate enough to be taken prisoner, but managed to conceal the pistol in the liner of his helmet. Picking his moment, he later shot a guard and escaped together with another prisoner. After escaping, he was wounded in both legs and was invalided back to Netley Military Hospital near Southampton.

 

 

[Enigma]

A onject is so much more interesting with a story behind it like this.

Thanks for sharing.

[TrevorLarkum]

Agreed!