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he Powis guns were fired to celebrate the wedding of Edward, Viscount
Clive, (younger son of the 2nd Lord Clive, Governor of Madras 1798-1803)
to Lady Lucy Graham in 1818, and again in 1832, when Princess Victoria
and her mother visited nearby Welshpool on 23 August. A contemporary
poster announced that the 'Royal salute be immediately fired from the
guns taken at Seringapatam, Lord Clive having kindly consented that
they may be used on the occasion.'
One of Tipu's tiger cannons is clearly visible in engravings
of 'The Storming of Seringapatam' after the panorama by Robert Ker
Porter, and the 'Descriptive Sketch' of
the panorama identifies (No. 17) 'One of the Brass Tyger guns of
the Fort' in the bi-lingual key to the scene. The tiger-head muzzle,
trunnions and cascabel are clearly visible.
Although these tiger cannon look very
similar in their overall design of tiger-heads and tiger stripes,
even these lumbering pieces of ordnance display a wide variety of
decorative detail. Surviving examples, some bearing Persian inscriptions
within tiger stripes, are at the Royal Armouries, Leeds ; Osborne
House, Isle of Wight, and the Government Museum, Madras.
A miniature model of a carronade, a ship's gun of short length and large
calibre, (so called after the famous Carron works in Scotland, where
such guns were first made) was found at Seringapatam in 1799. It was
acquired by Major Robert Bell, who had led a band of the Madras Artillery
in the right column of the attack, and was subsequently appointed one
of the Commissioners of Prizes.
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