Dum Dum Arsenal
IndustryMunitions
Headquarters
Dum Dum in modern West Bengal
,
India
Key people
Captain Neville Bertie-Clay

The Dum Dum Arsenal was a British military facility located near the town of Dum Dum in modern West Bengal, India.[1]

The arsenal was at the centre of the Indian Rebellion of 1857, caused in part by rumours that the paper cartridges for their muzzle-loading rifles, which they were expected to bite open, were greased with pig lard (a problem for Muslims) or cow fat (a problem for Hindus).[2]

It was at this arsenal that Captain Neville Bertie-Clay developed the .303-inch Mark II Special cartridge, incorporating the original so-called "Dum-dum bullet", a soft-point bullet designed to mushroom on striking.[3][4] This was the first in a series of expanding bullets developed by the British for military use. They were later banned in warfare by the Hague Convention as being "too inhumane."

On 7 December 1908, a serious, accidental explosion occurred at the Dum Dum arsenal, resulting in the death or serious injury to about 50 workers.[5][6]

References

  1. ↑ "DUM-DUM CARTRIDGES" (PDF). The New York Times. 4 January 1886.
  2. ↑ Charles Henry H. Wright, John Lovering Cooke (1873). Memoir of John Lovering Cooke, with a sketch of the Indian mutiny of 1857-58. Oxford University. p. 29.
  3. ↑ Tony Edwards and Richard Tordoff. "British Military Small Arms Ammunition".
  4. ↑ Roy Tebbutt. "The .303 British Service Cartridge".
  5. ↑ "Dum Dum". Encyclopædia Britannica. 2009.
  6. ↑ One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Dum-Dum". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 8 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 661.

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