Historical display piece Mk.1 Lee Enfield

This Mk1 Magazine Lee Enfield is an interesting artifact of unknown provenance. It has been cut down and welded so that it is completely inoperable, but nonetheless interesting to some because of it's history. Rifles of this type were issued to British soldiers during the Second Anglo-Boer War and in fact a Great-Uncle of mine carried a similar rifle as part of the Cape Militia in that period. There are various markings and stamps on the rifle with clear markings on the receiver - "VR, BSAC, 1900, LE" - so Victoria Regina, Birmingham Small Arms Company, 1900 and Lee Enfield. The other clear mark is the barrel proof marks - .303, nitro proved, and a Crown over BP (black powder Birmingham proof). This particular rifle also has a serial number on the stock and the name OJ Fourie.

The rifle came to me through an old gentleman a few years back as a curiosity, and I wondered how it had survived and how it had come to be disabled. This question got answered a few year ago by someone who was in High School during the 1970's and mention that they used cut down and inoperable Lee Enfields for rifle drills as school Cadets. This seems plausible as these rifles would have been stored and then disabled and cut down for used years later for drill in schools, possibly when mandatory conscription started in 1967. This is also most likely when OJ Fourie carved his name in the stock.