‘Sporterized’ Lee Enfield .303 in Mk I magazine carbine, 1899

Lee Enfield .303 in Mk I magazine carbine, ‘sporterized’ with front stock cut down, 1899. Manufactured by Royal Small Arms Factory, Enfield. This rifle was used by Lieutenant Gerald Vere Webster who joined the 18th Hussars in October 1899. He served throughout the Boer War (1899-1902), participating in the engagements of Belfast and Laing's Nek, until June 1902. He left the Army immediately afterwards. One of the ways in which British Army officers learned from their adversaries in the Boer War was in the ‘sporterization’ of carbines. Normally, officers carried only a sword and revolver, but neither of these were of much use in the campaign conditions of the Boer War. Many officers found longarms to be more useful weapons, Webster among them.