Neville Bertie-Clay
Encyclopedia
Lieutenant-Colonel Neville Sneyd Bertie-Clay (sometimes spelt "Bertie Clay") (fl.
1887, died 17 October 1938) was a British
army officer. He served in the Royal Artillery
and in the Royal Garrison Artillery
, but spent much of his career on secondment to the Indian Ordnance Department of the Indian Army. Bertie-Clay invented the dum dum soft pointed bullet
in 1896 as the Mark II Lee-Metford
bullet then in use was perceived to leave a small wound with insufficient stopping power
to halt a determined charge. The dum dum would later be outlawed for use in warfare by the Hague Convention of 1899
but remains in use for police firearms and hunting.
from at least 6 June 1887 when, as a Lieutenant
in the Royal Artillery
, he was seconded to the Indian Ordnance Department of the Indian Army. He was promoted to the rank of Captain
on 18 May 1892 whilst still on secondment, this promotion being later postponed to 25 May. Bertie-Clay received promotion to Major on 21 December 1901, remaining with the Indian Ordnance Department. By this point he had transferred to the Royal Garrison Artillery
(RGA) which had been formed in 1899 as a sub-branch of the Royal Artillery to manage the heavy guns. Bertie-Clay was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel on 18 May 1912, remaining with both the Ordnance Department and the RGA.
During the First World War, on 21 June 1917, Bertie-Clay was put on a "Special Appointment", receiving pay equivalent to a Staff Lieutenant (1st class) whilst doing so. His special appointment pay was upgraded to "Class GG" on 23 November 1918 and he relinquished both the appointment and pay on 24 July 1919. Bertie-Clay was awarded the French
Croix de Guerre
on 21 August 1919 at which point he had returned to the RGA and was once again seconded to the Indian Ordnance Department. Bertie-Clay died on 17 October 1938, having lived for some time at Villa La Pensee in Tahiti
, Society Islands
.
Bertie-Clay is most famous for being the inventor of the dum dum, a soft pointed bullet
. At the time of their invention in 1896 Bertie-Clay was the Superintendent of the British arsenal at Dum Dum
in Bengal
. The Mark II Lee-Metford
bullet then in use with the British Army was shown, during the Chitral Expedition
of 1895, to leave a small wound with insufficient stopping power
to halt a determined charge, particularly when fired at close range. The Mark II bullet had a full metal jacket
and did not deform upon hitting a person, allowing it to travel straight through tissue and bone without smashing it. The British Medical Journal
published a report on one tribesman who had been hit by six such bullets but recovered in hospital.
The military authorities decided that the bullet should be altered to increase its stopping power without affecting its range. Bertie-Clay developed a bullet at Dum Dum with a metal jacket that did not run the whole length of the bullet and so exposed the softer lead tip. When this bullet hit a target the lead head would deform (or "mushroom"), spreading the force of the bullet out and causing larger wounds. In public trials held in 1896 the bullet was proved to have a greater stopping power than the Mark II. This was not the first expanding bullet, hollow-point bullets had been developed earlier particularly for use in hunting.
The British Army adopted the bullet and used it against Asian and African opponents, but it was thought "too cruel" for use against Europeans. The dum dum bullet was banned by the Hague Convention of 1899
under rules that prohibited explosive bullets that had been taken over from the St. Petersburg Declaration of 1868. The delegates at the convention decided that the use of dum dum bullets in warfare was "contrary to the humanitarian spirit", despite the British delegation's protests that it was needed for colonial wars. The dum dum bullet is still in use by police forces for handguns to maximise stopping power and minimise the risk of passing through a target and hitting a bystander and in some types of game hunting.
Floruit
Floruit , abbreviated fl. , is a Latin verb meaning "flourished", denoting the period of time during which something was active...
1887, died 17 October 1938) was a British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
army officer. He served in the Royal Artillery
Royal Artillery
The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery , is the artillery arm of the British Army. Despite its name, it comprises a number of regiments.-History:...
and in the Royal Garrison Artillery
Royal Garrison Artillery
The Royal Garrison Artillery was an arm of the Royal Artillery that was originally tasked with manning the guns of the British Empire's forts and fortresses, including coastal artillery batteries, the heavy gun batteries attached to each infantry division, and the guns of the siege...
, but spent much of his career on secondment to the Indian Ordnance Department of the Indian Army. Bertie-Clay invented the dum dum soft pointed bullet
Soft point bullet
A soft-point bullet , also known as a soft-nosed bullet, is a lead expanding bullet with a copper or brass jacket that is left open at the tip, exposing some of the lead inside and is thus an example of a semi-jacketed round...
in 1896 as the Mark II Lee-Metford
Lee-Metford
The Lee-Metford rifle was a bolt action British army service rifle, combining James Paris Lee's rear-locking bolt system and ten-round magazine with a seven groove rifled barrel designed by William Ellis Metford...
bullet then in use was perceived to leave a small wound with insufficient stopping power
Stopping power
Stopping power is a colloquial term used to describe the ability of a firearm or other weapon to cause a penetrating ballistic injury to a target, human or animal, sufficient to incapacitate the target where it stands....
to halt a determined charge. The dum dum would later be outlawed for use in warfare by the Hague Convention of 1899
Hague Conventions (1899 and 1907)
The Hague Conventions were two international treaties negotiated at international peace conferences at The Hague in the Netherlands: The First Hague Conference in 1899 and the Second Hague Conference in 1907...
but remains in use for police firearms and hunting.
Army career
Bertie-Clay served as an officer in the British ArmyBritish Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
from at least 6 June 1887 when, as a Lieutenant
Lieutenant
A lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...
in the Royal Artillery
Royal Artillery
The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery , is the artillery arm of the British Army. Despite its name, it comprises a number of regiments.-History:...
, he was seconded to the Indian Ordnance Department of the Indian Army. He was promoted to the rank of Captain
Captain (British Army and Royal Marines)
Captain is a junior officer rank of the British Army and Royal Marines. It ranks above Lieutenant and below Major and has a NATO ranking code of OF-2. The rank is equivalent to a Lieutenant in the Royal Navy and to a Flight Lieutenant in the Royal Air Force...
on 18 May 1892 whilst still on secondment, this promotion being later postponed to 25 May. Bertie-Clay received promotion to Major on 21 December 1901, remaining with the Indian Ordnance Department. By this point he had transferred to the Royal Garrison Artillery
Royal Garrison Artillery
The Royal Garrison Artillery was an arm of the Royal Artillery that was originally tasked with manning the guns of the British Empire's forts and fortresses, including coastal artillery batteries, the heavy gun batteries attached to each infantry division, and the guns of the siege...
(RGA) which had been formed in 1899 as a sub-branch of the Royal Artillery to manage the heavy guns. Bertie-Clay was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel on 18 May 1912, remaining with both the Ordnance Department and the RGA.
During the First World War, on 21 June 1917, Bertie-Clay was put on a "Special Appointment", receiving pay equivalent to a Staff Lieutenant (1st class) whilst doing so. His special appointment pay was upgraded to "Class GG" on 23 November 1918 and he relinquished both the appointment and pay on 24 July 1919. Bertie-Clay was awarded the French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
Croix de Guerre
Croix de guerre
The Croix de guerre is a military decoration of France. It was first created in 1915 and consists of a square-cross medal on two crossed swords, hanging from a ribbon with various degree pins. The decoration was awarded during World War I, again in World War II, and in other conflicts...
on 21 August 1919 at which point he had returned to the RGA and was once again seconded to the Indian Ordnance Department. Bertie-Clay died on 17 October 1938, having lived for some time at Villa La Pensee in Tahiti
Tahiti
Tahiti is the largest island in the Windward group of French Polynesia, located in the archipelago of the Society Islands in the southern Pacific Ocean. It is the economic, cultural and political centre of French Polynesia. The island was formed from volcanic activity and is high and mountainous...
, Society Islands
Society Islands
The Society Islands are a group of islands in the South Pacific Ocean. They are politically part of French Polynesia. The archipelago is generally believed to have been named by Captain James Cook in honor of the Royal Society, the sponsor of the first British scientific survey of the islands;...
.
Dum dum bullet
Soft point bullet
A soft-point bullet , also known as a soft-nosed bullet, is a lead expanding bullet with a copper or brass jacket that is left open at the tip, exposing some of the lead inside and is thus an example of a semi-jacketed round...
. At the time of their invention in 1896 Bertie-Clay was the Superintendent of the British arsenal at Dum Dum
Dum Dum
Dum Dum is a city and a municipality in North 24 Parganas district in the state of West Bengal, India. It is a neighbourhood in North-west Kolkata and the location of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport, formerly Dum Dum Airport.Dum Dum is a well known place in greater Kolkata...
in Bengal
Bengal
Bengal is a historical and geographical region in the northeast region of the Indian Subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. Today, it is mainly divided between the sovereign land of People's Republic of Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal, although some regions of the previous...
. The Mark II Lee-Metford
Lee-Metford
The Lee-Metford rifle was a bolt action British army service rifle, combining James Paris Lee's rear-locking bolt system and ten-round magazine with a seven groove rifled barrel designed by William Ellis Metford...
bullet then in use with the British Army was shown, during the Chitral Expedition
Chitral Expedition
The Chitral Expedition was a military expedition in 1895 sent by the British authorities to relieve the fort at Chitral which was under siege after a local coup.-Background to the conflict:Chitral was at the extreme north west of British India...
of 1895, to leave a small wound with insufficient stopping power
Stopping power
Stopping power is a colloquial term used to describe the ability of a firearm or other weapon to cause a penetrating ballistic injury to a target, human or animal, sufficient to incapacitate the target where it stands....
to halt a determined charge, particularly when fired at close range. The Mark II bullet had a full metal jacket
Full metal jacket bullet
A full metal jacket is a bullet consisting of a soft core encased in a shell of harder metal, such as gilding metal, cupronickel or less commonly a steel alloy. This shell can extend around all of the bullet, or often just the front and sides with the rear left as exposed lead...
and did not deform upon hitting a person, allowing it to travel straight through tissue and bone without smashing it. The British Medical Journal
British Medical Journal
BMJ is a partially open-access peer-reviewed medical journal. Originally called the British Medical Journal, the title was officially shortened to BMJ in 1988. The journal is published by the BMJ Group, a wholly owned subsidiary of the British Medical Association...
published a report on one tribesman who had been hit by six such bullets but recovered in hospital.
The military authorities decided that the bullet should be altered to increase its stopping power without affecting its range. Bertie-Clay developed a bullet at Dum Dum with a metal jacket that did not run the whole length of the bullet and so exposed the softer lead tip. When this bullet hit a target the lead head would deform (or "mushroom"), spreading the force of the bullet out and causing larger wounds. In public trials held in 1896 the bullet was proved to have a greater stopping power than the Mark II. This was not the first expanding bullet, hollow-point bullets had been developed earlier particularly for use in hunting.
The British Army adopted the bullet and used it against Asian and African opponents, but it was thought "too cruel" for use against Europeans. The dum dum bullet was banned by the Hague Convention of 1899
Hague Conventions (1899 and 1907)
The Hague Conventions were two international treaties negotiated at international peace conferences at The Hague in the Netherlands: The First Hague Conference in 1899 and the Second Hague Conference in 1907...
under rules that prohibited explosive bullets that had been taken over from the St. Petersburg Declaration of 1868. The delegates at the convention decided that the use of dum dum bullets in warfare was "contrary to the humanitarian spirit", despite the British delegation's protests that it was needed for colonial wars. The dum dum bullet is still in use by police forces for handguns to maximise stopping power and minimise the risk of passing through a target and hitting a bystander and in some types of game hunting.