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The Royal Armouries and the University of Huddersfield launch the Arms and Armour Research Group

EVERY sword blade and every gun barrel has a story to tell.  But it might have nothing to do with war and slaughter…

As part of the new partnership between the Royal Armouries and the University of Huddersfield, an Arms and Armour Research Group is to be set up, consisting of leading experts in a variety of fields.

One of the group is the Rev Paul Wilcock, who in addition to being Director of Student Services at the University, is also a respected military historian, specialising in edged weapons from the period 1750-1900.

Paul (pictured below) explained that one of his fields of research is the use of weapons as historical 'documents' that can be read like a book.  "We generally see weapons as being tools used to kill – and often they are just that, of course – but in many cases they are highly decorative items representing the latest fashion.

"For example, a lavishly engraved and hugely costly sword or pistol might have been carried by its owner purely for prestige and the way that it reinforced his high status. Such weapons can tell historians a lot about the society in which they were produced."

The other members of the Arms and Armour Research Group include two University of Huddersfield history professors – Tim Thornton, an expert on Henry VIII and Tudor politics and warfare, and David Taylor, who specialises in crime and policing. Also in the group is Professor Liam Blunt, of the University's Centre for Precision Technology, who is a leading authority on ballistics.

The Royal Armouries has contributed its Academic Director, Graeme Rimer.  Graeme is regarded as an internationally-recognised authority on a variety of aspects of arms and armour, including early firearms particularly on the weapons of John Jacobs commander of the Scinde Irregular Horse.  He has been appointed a Visiting Professor at the University.

Also joining the research group are two Royal Armouries experts – its senior curator of firearms, Peter Smithurst, and Martin Pegler, a specialist in historic rifles.

Paul Wilcock explained that he and Graeme Rimer had been working together on research projects for a number of years.  "It became obvious that there were more and more areas in which the University and the Royal Armouries could collaborate."

In fact, the University of Huddersfield was uniquely well equipped to team up with the Royal Armouries.

For example, the University's Canalside Studios, part of the School of Computing and Engineering, have been working on upgrades to the computer games that are part of the displays in the Royal Armouries museum in Leeds. And the university’s precision engineers can help to interpret the processes that revolutionised the manufacture of weapons in the nineteenth century.

Also, students at the University will be able to gain access to the enormous collections of the Royal Armouries, to aid their research.

Says Paul: "The Armouries can bring the past alive in a variety of ways – whether it is a display of the armour actually worn by Henry VIII – soon to be on show at the Tower of London – or even an insight into world of fictional super-soldier Richard Sharpe, who always carried the deadly Baker rifle. There are books about the Baker rifle, and you can look at pictures, but at the Royal Armouries we can go into the stores and bring out half a dozen of the actual weapons. That sort of thing is a unique experience."