In the photographs above the Machine Gun Section of the 8th Royal Scots (The Royal Regiment) pose with their machine guns. In the first photograph the Machine Gun, Maxim, Mk.I is mounted on a carriage while in the second it is mounted on a tripod and deployed in a trench during a field exercise. Following experiences during the Second Boer War the use of carriages to mount machine guns quickly fell from favour. Both tripods and carriages hadbeen used during the Boer war but by the 1910s the British Army solely used tripods. The Maxim’s tripod can clearly be seen in the third photograph which features both of the Machine Gun Section’s guns set up side by side.
The 8th Royal Scots were a Territorial Force battalion. The Territorial Force was a part-time volunteer reserve branch of the British Army formed in 1908. The 8th Scots was formed in 1908, they would later become the first Scottish territorial unit to mobilise and arrived in France in November 1914.
The Maxim still made extensive use of brass for their spring housings, spade grips and barrel jacket. In the field these were frequently painted. The photographs above were probably taken some time between 1908 and 1912, the troops in the first photograph also appear to have Magazine Lee–Enfield’s slung.
British battalions at the beginning of the war each had a Machine Gun Section, commanded by a lieutenant, made up of two six-man squads operating the battalions' two machine guns. During the First World War the number of machine guns per battalion increased rapidly.
The Maxim guns first saw limited use with the British Army during the First Matabele War in 1893 but it officially entered British Service in 1896, seeing action during the First Boer War. The improved Vickers-Maxim Machine Gun MkI, also chambered in .303, replaced it in British Service in 1912. But when the British Expeditionary Force departed for France in August 1914, many battalions took their older Maxim Gun Mk.I and Mk.IIs, these were finally withdrawn from service in 1917.
Images: 1-3 are courtesy of www.newbattleatwar.com whose focus is on commemorating the men of Midlothian, Scotland who fought during the Great War. The site’s owner curates a collection of photographs, those above were given to him by George Souness, nephew of George Souness one of the men in the third photograph, who was sadly killed in 1918.
Image 4 is courtesy of the Imperial War Museum
My thanks to Jonathan Ferguson, Curator of Firearms at the Royal Armouries, for his note on correct Maxim Gun designations.
Vickers-Maxim Machine Gun, M. Peeler, (2013)
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