[things_green]

an update for any interested parties.
I received this reply from the Royal Artillery Museum today.
Fascinating insights.

"The box is an oak ammunition box dated 1891. It was manufactured in the Royal Laboratory, one of the departments of the Royal Arsenal at Woolwich in south east London. An ammunition laboratory (ie. Workshop) was established within the Warren, the original site of the Arsenal, in 1695. It was originally controlled by the Board of Ordnance, hence the broad arrow mark of the Board of Ordnance forming part of the impressed ‘RL’ stamp on the edge of the lid and on the box clasp. The Royal Arsenal came under the control of the War Office in 1855.

The Royal Laboratory manufactured all natures of ammunition, including shell, shot, shrapnel, bullets, fuzes and percussion caps both for the Royal Navy and the Royal Artillery which used common types of guns at this stage. The box could therefore have been used by either Service. Without the dimensions, it is difficult to identify which type of ammunition it contained.

The box would originally have had a tin-plate liner with lid. The recesses on the upper edges of the box sides were for the lip of the tin liner and the circular recess on the underside of the box lid was for the lifting handle of the liner. The clasp and hinges should be of bronze (to prevent the possibility of sparks). The rope handles are not original and would have been of woven copper wire with leather sewn grips (again, to prevent sparks)."