Bhurtpore Gun

This large bronze gun is thought to have been cast in Jaipur, India. The bronze barrel weighs 18,035 kg, has a bore of 203 mm (8 inches) and is 4.98 m (16 feet 4 inches) in length. According to inscriptions on the barrel it fired a projectile weighing around 60 pounds and was manufactured in 1677 on the orders of Aurang-zeb, the 6th Mughal Emperor. The barrel would originally have been mounted on a simple wooden carriage. 

This gun was captured at the siege of Bhurtpore (Bharatpur, now part of Rajasthan, India) in January 1826. The fort at Bhurtpore had previously been considered impregnable and had successfully resisted British advances in 1805. However, following the death of the Maharaja Baldeo Singh, a dispute over his successor led the British to take action. Around 35,000 British and Indian troops under Lord Combermere eventually captured the fort. To this day, 57 Battery Royal Artillery, which at the time formed part of the Bengal Artillery, bears the honour title “Bhurtpore”.

The Bhurtpore gun was later transported to Britain and presented to King George IV. An ornate cast-iron carriage was constructed by the Royal Carriage Department, and in 1828 the gun was displayed outside the Royal Artillery barracks in Woolwich. In 2007 it was moved to Larkhill, Wiltshire, where it is displayed outside the main Royal Artillery Officers’ Mess.