Upcoming Book on Lee-Enfield RIC Carbine
Posted: Tue Feb 10, 2026 7:32 pm
Folks,
I’m thrilled announce that last week I submitted to Headstamp Publishing the completed manuscript for my upcoming book, Arming the Peelers: The Production, Distribution, Theft and Survival of the Lee-Enfield Royal Irish Constabulary Carbine.
Attached is a pic of the manuscript as of that day. That’s about 600 pages there, including manuscript, endnotes, bibliography, index, tables (29), and photo and map captions. This pile does not include the 399 photos and 13 maps themselves.
The book details the carbines from their initial iteration as Boer War-era cavalry carbines, through their use by the RIC, then the Ulster Special Constabulary and finally the Ulster Home Guard during WWII.
There is an entire chapter devoted to the history of the Birmingham Repair Facility, the now long defunct government workshop where most of the carbines were converted to the police pattern. That I’m aware of, there has been no previous scholarship in detail devoted to the BRF, an unglamorous institution always overshadowed by RSAF Enfield.
From period newspapers, I have been able to document the issue dates and counties of about two-thirds of the carbines, 1904-05.
There is also an enumeration and analysis of all the carbines stolen by the IRA and others, 1908-21. From olddocuments and newspaper articles, it appears that between about 270-450 were stolen (though some were later recovered by the police).
Headstamp Publishing’s books are exquisitely and painstakingly produced (https://www.headstamppublishing.com), so I do not know how long publication will take. As soon as I have an idea, I’ll post again to this forum.
Coggo
(Doug Munro)
Author: D.P. Munro, “Early Martini Carbine Conversions: Multiple Models or One?” Sabretache: Journal and Proceedings of the Military Historical Society of Australia, Vol. 64, No. 3, September 2023.
Author: D.P. Munro, A Full Accounting of New Zealand Pattern Carbine Production: LEC 88 (NZ) Revisited (Whangarei, N.Z.: New Zealand Antique and Historical Arms Association, Northland Branch, 2020).
Author: D.P. Munro, J. Milligan and N.W. Taylor, LEC 88 (NZC): A Study of the Unique New Zealand Issue Lee-Enfield Carbine (Whangarei, N.Z.: New Zealand Antique and Historical Arms Association, Northland Branch, 2014).
Author: D.P. Munro, J. Milligan and N.W. Taylor, “The Last of the Dustcover Enfields: The New Zealand Pattern Carbine Reconsidered,” International Arms & Militaria Collector, No. 30 Annual, August 2012.
Author: D.P. Munro, “Trials Martini-Henry Rifle Found in a Garden Shed: The 1869, 7th Pattern Martini-Henry Trials Rifle.” International Arms & Militaria Collector, No. 28 Annual, June 2010.
I’m thrilled announce that last week I submitted to Headstamp Publishing the completed manuscript for my upcoming book, Arming the Peelers: The Production, Distribution, Theft and Survival of the Lee-Enfield Royal Irish Constabulary Carbine.
Attached is a pic of the manuscript as of that day. That’s about 600 pages there, including manuscript, endnotes, bibliography, index, tables (29), and photo and map captions. This pile does not include the 399 photos and 13 maps themselves.
The book details the carbines from their initial iteration as Boer War-era cavalry carbines, through their use by the RIC, then the Ulster Special Constabulary and finally the Ulster Home Guard during WWII.
There is an entire chapter devoted to the history of the Birmingham Repair Facility, the now long defunct government workshop where most of the carbines were converted to the police pattern. That I’m aware of, there has been no previous scholarship in detail devoted to the BRF, an unglamorous institution always overshadowed by RSAF Enfield.
From period newspapers, I have been able to document the issue dates and counties of about two-thirds of the carbines, 1904-05.
There is also an enumeration and analysis of all the carbines stolen by the IRA and others, 1908-21. From olddocuments and newspaper articles, it appears that between about 270-450 were stolen (though some were later recovered by the police).
Headstamp Publishing’s books are exquisitely and painstakingly produced (https://www.headstamppublishing.com), so I do not know how long publication will take. As soon as I have an idea, I’ll post again to this forum.
Coggo
(Doug Munro)
Author: D.P. Munro, “Early Martini Carbine Conversions: Multiple Models or One?” Sabretache: Journal and Proceedings of the Military Historical Society of Australia, Vol. 64, No. 3, September 2023.
Author: D.P. Munro, A Full Accounting of New Zealand Pattern Carbine Production: LEC 88 (NZ) Revisited (Whangarei, N.Z.: New Zealand Antique and Historical Arms Association, Northland Branch, 2020).
Author: D.P. Munro, J. Milligan and N.W. Taylor, LEC 88 (NZC): A Study of the Unique New Zealand Issue Lee-Enfield Carbine (Whangarei, N.Z.: New Zealand Antique and Historical Arms Association, Northland Branch, 2014).
Author: D.P. Munro, J. Milligan and N.W. Taylor, “The Last of the Dustcover Enfields: The New Zealand Pattern Carbine Reconsidered,” International Arms & Militaria Collector, No. 30 Annual, August 2012.
Author: D.P. Munro, “Trials Martini-Henry Rifle Found in a Garden Shed: The 1869, 7th Pattern Martini-Henry Trials Rifle.” International Arms & Militaria Collector, No. 28 Annual, June 2010.