96 
G.B. Trotter 
Figure 25 The Martini-Enfield rifle, Mark I W.A. Pattern. This arm is one of 1150 Mark I and II rifles shinned from 
the Tower of London between 1898 - 1901. (Photo D. Elford). stnpped from 
fact, in an attempt to have the vacant position of 
Military Adviser filled, the Agent General's Report 
of 1899 stated: 
"The passing of military stores is something that can 
only be described as chaotic. A Military Adviser could 
assess the difference between MK I, II, III which is of 
considerable importance to the military but which is 
of no importance to a civilian " 167 
These Martini-Metford arms were all issued to 
the Volunteers initially and many were later taken 
to South Africa by the Boer War Contingents. It is 
thought that the Mark IIs were modified to fix the 
Pattern 1876 socket bayonet of the retired Martini- 
Henrys, now in store. 168 No specimen of the Mark 
II is known to have survived but it is thought 
probable that the simple "W A over number" mark 
was continued, and they were numbered 701 - 900. 
Following close upon this acquisition came a 
quantity of Martini-Enfield Mark I rifles, W.A. 
Pattern, obtained from the War Office in England.. 
These rifles were essentially the same as the 
Martini-Metford Mark Is of 1895 except for a three 
inch shorter barrel made with Enfield rifling to 
accomodate the new smokeless cordite powder, 
rather than Metford rifling which was adapted to 
the earlier black powder cartridges. As W.A. still 
had considerable stocks of black powder 
cartridges, these Martini-Enfields were sighted for 
these rather than the cordite type. The W.A. 
Pattern Martini-Enfield, in common with the 
Martini-Metford Mark l, had a Rigby type nose cap 
fitted which allowed the fixing of the Pattern 1888 
sword bayonet (see Figure 16). 169 No 
documentation was found for this 1898 shipment 
other than records for 200 Martini-Enfield Mark Is 
(presented by the author in a previous paper), 170 
but an undated, unsourced list showing that "900 
Converted Rifles" were issued to W.A. from the 
Tower in May 1898 "on ordinary repayment" 171 has 
been determined to refer to a considerably larger 
shipment of Martini-Enfields than previously 
thought. The list indicates that 900 Martini-Enfields 
(which may include Mark II W.A. Pattern arms) 
arrived here in 1898. The list also shows "200 
Converted rifles" sent to W.A. in May 1900, "on 
special repayment" with another "50 Converted 
rifles" issued in October 1901 "on ordinary 
repayment". There is no doubt that the description 
"Converted rifles" refers to Martini-Enfields as 
these arms were conversions of Martini-Henrys, 
while the Martini-Metfords previously mentioned 
were all new-made arms. These revised figures 
increase the previously known total from 400 M-Es 
received between 1898 - 1900 to 1150 received 
between 1898 — 1901. Examination of surviving 
arms has revealed that all were converted at the 
Royal Small Arms Factory at Enfield in England, 
all were W.A. Pattern fixing the Pattern 1888 sword 
bayonet, and both Mark I and Mark II types were 
included. Butt stand numbers support the larger 
1150 total being correct as the highest stand 
number noted was 1057. 
The first Martini-Enfields arrived in 1898 and a 
small number, 89, were issued immediately to the 
Geraldton Rifle Volunteers, the only volunteer 
corps known to have received them. An estimated 
30 were also issued to the W.A. Artillery company 
of the Permanent Force at Albany. The volunteer 
force being fully equipped with Martini-Metfords, 
the remainder of the Martini-Enfields were issued 
in response to the huge demand to equip the 
escalating enrolments in the W.A. Mounted 
Infantry and the Boer War W.A.M.I. Contingents 
between 1899 - 1901. At this time the demand for 
arms became so great that many of the Martini- 
Metfords of the volunteers were withdrawn and, 
with these Martini-Enfields, were issued to the 
mounted contingents. The Martini-Enfields used by 
these units were stamped on the right side of the 
butt "W A over number over D" (see Figure 15). 
Butt numbers noted indicate that the arms were 
numbered from 1 - 1100 D. Many of the Martini- 
Metfords and these Martini-Enfields went with the 
Contingents to South Africa and possibly never 
returned. 177 
In addition to these imported Martini-Enfields a 
quantity of W.A. Defence Force Martini-Henrys 
were converted locally in Perth into Martini- 
Enfield Mark I W.A. Pattern rifles from parts 
supplied from England in 1899 - 1900 (see Figure 
19). The exact number is uncertain but is around 
251 - 284. 173 These arms were pressed into service 
with the Metropolitan Civil Service Rifle 
Volunteers as soon as they could be converted and 
