If a rifle could talk..

As reenactors we often hear and use the phrase "imagine if objects could talk" in reference to some of the many original WW2 pieces of kit on our display. And indeed it would be amazing to know where these things have been or to know the stories of the people who's hands they have passed through. Our favourite item for illustrating this thought is our P14 rifle.

The story is that these rifles were made and issued during WW1 and then pretty much mothballed during the inter war years. During the scramble to re-arm after Dunkirk, the P14s were brought out of storage, upgraded to the "Weedon Standard" and then issued to non front line and training units.

We have one on our display because a surviving RN commando veteran maintains that when they were issued with new Lee Enfields they found that the old P14s were more accurate. Consequently some of the better marksmen would take a P14 to theatre to give a couple of hundred extra yards of accuracy.

A few seasons ago an eagle eyed punter at a show pointed out that what I thought was battle damage on the butt was actually a crudely carved Hammer and Sickle. Once you've seen it you can't unsee it! A little investigation taught us that once the supply of Lee Enfields was restored the British sent lots of old P14s to Russia under Lend-lease. We also learned that although the Russians really needed the aid, it somewhat bruised their national pride to accept it. It seems there were lots of case where items were "Russianised" to make them more acceptable!

Our P14 also has the name "Miss Geerneart" engraved on the bolt. It is common practice at shooting clubs to store the bolts separately to rifles and to put an identifying mark on them.

So the story we have been telling until recently is that our P14 could have seen service in WW1. It then might have been used by a British serviceman early in WW2. At some stage it seems likely that it was shipped to somewhere like Murmansk where once issued, it was "russianised" by some crazy carving Ivan with a knife.

We know that the Russians gave much of their Lend-lease kit back at the end of WW2 and at some stage our P14 was obtained by Miss Geerneart.

And this is where we got to on the Saturday of "We Have Ways Fest" when a chap piped up "I knew Miss Geerneart!" Well, once we'd picked ourselves up from the floor we had a long chat with a nice fellow called Guy.

It seems that Guy is a long time member of the South London Rifle Club and knew Miss Geerneart in his early days when she was ladies shooting captain. The Club is based at Bisley next to gunsmiths Fulton & Son. Sure enough, the barrel of our P14 has a Fulton & Son stamp on it. Guy promised to find out more about Miss Geerneart and get back to us.

Soon afterwards I received a flurry of emails from the club secretary which included a potted history of the former lady captain.

She was a member of the Women's Home Defence (ladies home guard?)in WW2. As a founder member of the Women's Rifle Association she shot for England in 1944. She is recorded as taking great pride in shooting with a P14 that she purchased for one penny from....wait for it..... Admiral Hutton!

As far as we can tell, after a couple of false leads, our P14 was owned by the the man who was commander of HMS Hermes in 1939-40 and HMS Warspite in 1942-43 in the Mediterranean. Fitzroy Hutton was president of Colchester Rifle Club during his retirement and this is where he met Marjorie Geerneart.

Which takes me back to the original idea, imagine the stories to be told by the people who had used our old P14!