Product Details
MAUSER
A SCARCE .250-3000 SAVAGE 'KURZ' ACTION BOLT-MAGAZINE SPORTING RIFLE, serial no. 95697,
21 3/4in. nitro barrel with block-mounted open sights and ramp-mounted bead fore-sight, receiver (with thumb cutout) engraved 'WAFFENFABRIK MAUSER - OBERNDORF A/N', hinged floorplate with lever release and engraved 'GERMANY', pistolgrip stock with cheekpiece, steel pistolgrip-cap, sling eyes, horn buttplate, white metal oval escutcheon engraved 'F.W. FROM BROCK 1926', 14 1/4in. pull, repair at toe, weight 6lb. 8oz.
Provenance: Previous research indicates that the rifle was a gift to Harold Frank Wallace from his friend Lt. Col. H.C. Brocklehurst (Brock).
Harold Frank Wallace was born on 21st March 1881 and died 16th September 1962. During his lifetime he was a well-known and admired figure in the world of hunting and stalking and a noted writer, author and wildlife artist.
Educated at Eton and Christchurch College, Cambridge it was during his reading for the bar that he made his first excursions into combining hunting trips with travel writing. A two year sojourn bore fruit in the form of his first book, written and illustrated by him 'Stalks Abroad - Being Some Account of the Sport Obtained During a Two Years' Tour of the World', recounting his adventures in mostly in East Africa, but also New Zealand, Yellowstone, Tetons, British Columbia, Japan and India.
After becoming a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society in 1911, a hunting trip to China spawned a second book 'Big Game of Central and Western China - Being an Account of a Journey from Shanghai to London overland across the Gobi Desert' and over his lifetime he wrote several further books, though increasingly illustration and painting became his principle pastime, frequently commissioned by eminent sportsmen including the Duke of Portland. He was also a regular contributor of illustrations and articles to the sporting press, including 'The Field' and 'Country Life'.
In 1937, in his role of Honourable Secretary of the Shikar Club, it fell to him to organise the British Section of the Second International Hunting Exhibition in Berlin at the last minute (the first being held in Austria in 1910).
Great Britain had initially refused to be represented, but at the behest of Sir Nevile Henderson, Ambassador to Berlin at the time, who wrote in his memoirs that as "Hunting is of all sports the least calculated to arouse national jealousies and ill feeling; and it seemed to me, therefore, and particularly in view of Britain's recognised role in the world of sport, unfortunate that we should not participate" and he successfully appealed to the Foreign Office to secure a contribution from His Majesty's Government.
He continues "Thanks to their good offices as small sum was forthcoming, and the invaluable assistance of Mr Frank Wallace enlisted with a view to organising a British section. Mr Wallace had but three or four months at his disposal; but by means of boundless energy and zeal he succeeded in getting together a highly satisfactory collection of African, North American, and Asiatic trophies, including heads shot by Their Majesties the King and Queen and H.R.H. the Duke of Gloucester. A stuffed giant panda was, incidentally, among the notable exhibits. It is not out of place to mention here that in the final adjudication Poland received the first prize for the European section and Britain the first prize for its overseas collection".
Inevitably this brought him into direct contact with avid hunter and Reichjaegermeister, Hermann Goering, for whom he had little truck, likening him in his memoirs to a little boy in costume.
During the war, Wallace was appointed as Deer Control Officer for Scotland.
The Third International Hunting Exhibition was held in Dusseldorf in 1954 (the second time a World War had disrupted the calendar) and once again Wallace was involved in the organisation, this time as the Honourary Vice Conseil International de la Chasse.
He passed away in 1962 and was buried on Corrimony moor in Scotland.
Lt. Col. Henry Courtney Brocklehurst was born in 1888 at Swythamley Park, second son of Sir Philip Lancaster Brocklehurst and brother to Philip Lee Brocklehurst (explorer and member of Shackleton's 1907-9 Antarctic Expedition). During the Great War, from 1916 he was a pilot in the Royal Flying Corps. Like Wallace, Lt. Col. Brocklehurst was a keen naturalist and author and spent many years travelling Africa where for a period he was a Game Warden in the Sudan. His highly regarded 1931 book 'Game Animals of the Sudan' was partially illustrated by Wallace.
In 1936 he set up a zoo at Swythamley with the help of Whipsnade, although a huge undertaking it did not quell his adventurous spirit and he continued with his travels. The outbreak of the Second World War forced his return from China and a return to active service.
Undoubtedly due to his familiarity with China and the surrounding areas, by 1941 he was involved with The Bush Warfare School in Burma, a centre dedicated to training troops for British Mission 204 to China, the objective to provide 15 squads of guerrilla warfare instructors to aid the Chinese in their fight against the Japanese invaders. He commanded the 2nd Special Service Detachment (SSD2). His unit was operating west of the Salween river and became cut off from British and Chinese forces when the Japanese broke through to Lashio. In their attempt to reach sanctuary across the Irrawaddy Plain and through the Chaukan Pass to Assam, most of SSD2 were killed or died on the trek northwards, including Brocklehurst himself.
A memorial inscription can be found on The Hanging Stone, a rocky outcrop on Black Forest Ridge overlooking Swythamley Hall, together with a poem inscribed in his brother Philip's hand and dated 1949, which reads:
LT COL HENRY COURTNEY BROCKLEHURST 10TH ROYAL HUSSARS
AND PILOT IN THE ROYAL FLYING CORPS 1916-1918
GAME WARDEN OF THE SUDAN
BORN AT SWYTHAMLEY MAY 27TH 1888
KILLED ON ACTIVE SERVICE IN BURMA ON COMMANDO JUNE 1942
"Horses he loved and laughter, the sun, with spaces and the open air.
The trust of all dumb living things he won and never knew the luck too good to share.
His were the simple heart and open hand and honest faults he never strove to hide.
Problems of life he could not understand but as a man would wish to die, he died.
Now though he will not ride with us again, his merry spirit seems our comrade yet,
Freed from the power of weariness and pain, forbidding us to mourn or forget"
Exhibited: Ex Lot 52 from the 'H. Frank Wallace Collection' sold by Gavin Gardiner Limited, April 2007
Other Notes: Please see Lot 6 for a copy of Wallace and Edwards 'HUNTING AND STALKING THE DEER'
Please click HERE to view Terms & Conditions.
Estimate £3,000-5,000 € 3,329-5,548
S1 - Sold as a Section 1 Firearm under the 1968 Firearms Act