Guns & Ordnance — 19th century

About this collection

This collection covers 414 guns and ordnance objects from the 19th century, delivered across 3,626 images in 80 ZIP assets. Class XIX encompasses the full spectrum of heavy and crew-served weapons — from smooth-bore cannon inherited from the Napoleonic era to the rifled breech-loaders that transformed warfare by the century's end. The collection spans artillery pieces, carriage systems, mortars, and associated equipment from British and international manufacture.

Why it matters

The 19th century saw the most dramatic transformation in artillery technology in the weapon's 500-year history — from powder-and-ball to explosive shells, from cast iron to steel, from muzzle to breech loading. This collection is a primary visual record of that revolution, held by the institution with the deepest ordnance collection in the UK. The high image-to-object ratio reflects the museum's commitment to capturing complex multi-component pieces in full.

Use cases & time to value

• Military history research: Primary visual source for artillery development, ordnance technology, and siege warfare
• Game & film production design: Accurate cannon, mortar, and ordnance reference for period productions
• AI training: Large-format military hardware dataset for scale and morphology training models
• Publishing & editorial: Ready-to-license museum-quality imagery for works on artillery and ordnance history
• Heritage interpretation: High-quality imagery for exhibitions and publications on the technology of war

Data schema

Collection stats

80 assets · 414 objects · 3626 images · 19th century