Colonel F.L. Morrison's Colt New Service

[VesiMelanie]

Hello everyone

I've had this Colt New Service with old markings on the bottom of the grip "COL. F.L. MORRISON 5TH H.L.I" for a rather long time. I've since read a lot about 5th Highland's Light Infantry's movement during the war and a lot about Col. Morrison too. Fascinating stuff, and it really would be awesome to own the Colonel's personal revolver.

So, intrigued by the possibility, about a year ago I sent an inquiry to Colt Archives to get the shipping details of this gun, and it indeed was shipped to London Armoury Company on 26th of February 1915 along with 326 other revolvers in the same shipment. Interesting enough, Morrison's battalion mobilized from Scotland in late May 1915, heading to Africa. All this info is available online without copyrights or anything but I don't dare link it here (no URL links on the forum?)

I'll put couple of pictures of the Colt here and also the man in question. Do you have any idea if some museum would like to get it? I reckon this item maybe belongs to someone who actually collects these, or maybe even dor display purposes.

 

[VesiMelanie]

Here's a picture of the bossman himself, I forgot to put it to the original post.

[kenf48]

58 minutes ago, VesiMelanie said:

I forgot to put it to the original post.

He'd tell you off for that 

Welcome to the GWF great picture never seen a more Scottish Colonel

[DisasterDog]

What wonderful provenance!  

[JMB1943]

I am sure that the HLI Regimental museum would love to have this, given its previous, provable ownership.

Better on display for all to see, rather than tucked away in a collector's box, IMHO.

Thanks for posting this very nice-looking example.

Regards,

JMB

[trajan]

 

On 20/01/2024 at 21:31, JMB1943 said:

I am sure that the HLI Regimental museum would love to have this, given its previous, provable ownership.

Better on display for all to see, rather than tucked away in a collector's box, IMHO.

Thanks for posting this very nice-looking example.

 

Indeed, as Indiana Jones would say - 'It belongs in a Museum!'

[VesiMelanie]

Unfortunately the HLI museum doesn't reply.

I think I'll just keep it, although I also think this belongs to a museum...

[reese williams]

Sadly, unless the individual a piece belonged to is an extremely well known celebrity, i.e. T.E. Lawrence, Jesse James, etc. most museums don't give a rat's rear end. Most items you donate, sell or will to a museum will never be displayed and will simply sit in a box on a shelf in a storage room. While we all like to think of our possessions as special and rare, to the museum staff it's just another rifle, pistol, uniform, whatever and we've already got a dozen of those. Museum staff at best are educated in museum practices and have little knowledge or interest in specific items unless it falls in their personal area of interest. From what I understand, in the UK any firearm, if accepted,  would be deactivated lest it escape from its case and go on a rampage. Wasn't Lawrence's rifle deactivated by the IWM not many years ago?  Far better to offer it up to another interested collector who will appreciate it for what it is and cherish it until they pass it along to another temporary custodian. 

[Joolz]

On 23/02/2024 at 11:08, reese williams said:

From what I understand, in the UK any firearm, if accepted,  would be deactivated lest it escape from its case and go on a rampage.

Many UK museums, even small, regional ones, benefit from a Section 5 Museum Licence (assuming they satisfy the security conditions and have someone to do the paperwork) and can keep and display such firearms without having to deactivate them. It's usually only the stuff they loan out to other museums that they deactivate. There's a small museum not far from me that has a large collection of WW1 handguns, all live and held on a Museum Licence, that they occasionally display.

There are also plenty of UK collectors of these things, as provision is made under Section 7.1/7.3 to own (and even shoot) such handguns, on a standard firearms licence.

[new3.2]

The informed collector is a better steward then almost all museums.  Pass it on to the next collector generation!