Craigdarroch Castle : Object : pouch, cartridge [2011.005.001]

Object

Accession Number

2011.005.001

Description

A hallmarked silver, gilt brass and leather cavalry officer's cartridge pouch, the front face rectangular in shape, ornately chased around the edge, the hallmarks on the front denoting Birmingham, England manufacture in 1899 by Bent and Parker, military ornament makers of Northwood Street. Attached to the front is the gilt brass royal cypher 'VR' (Victoria Regina) with a gilt brass crown above it. On the back is the leather pouch which fastens closed with a leather strap into a silver stud. On either side of the pouch are sterling silver belt loops attached to the pouch by a sterling silver piece the full length of the pouch. The belt loops are also hallmarked by the same manufacturer but dated 1898.

Narrative

This object is among the effects that Robert James Harvey (1927-2013) told Craigdarroch Curator Bruce Davies were sent by Lt. Robert Dunsmuir Harvey’s regiment to his Grandmother Dunsmuir and sister Elizabeth Georgina Harvey at Craigdarroch in 1901 following his death in India at age 21. The attending physician recorded that he died from "absess of liver". The vendor’s father’s father, James Swan Harvey (1872-1832), was brother to Robert Dunsmuir Harvey. The vendor previously donated to The Castle Society, four of Lt. R.D. Harvey’s sporting trophies, his cavalry sabretache, and his ceremonial dress gilt cavalry riding spurs. He also sold a gouache and watercolour painting of Lt. Harvey on horseback.

History of Use

This sterling silver and leather cavalry officer’s pouch was worn by Lt. Robert Dunsmuir Harvey (1878-1901) whilst serving in the 4th (Queen’s Own) Hussars regiment in India. Following his death in 1901, his regiment sent the pouch and other personal effects to his sister Elizabeth Georgina Harvey and his grandmother Joan Olive Dunsmuir at Craigdarroch. Sometime later, the pouch and other effects came into possession of R.D. Harvey's brother, Col. James Swan Harvey, who kept them at his residence on Knapp Island, B.C. The pouch and other items were next inherited by J.S. Harvey's son, Robert Oliver Dunsmuir Harvey of Victoria, B.C., and then by his son, the late Robert James Harvey who lived in Victoria, Nanaimo, and before his death in 2013, on Denman Island, B.C.