§ MR. WEIRI beg to ask the First Lord of the Treasury whether he is aware that, as shown on page 551 of the Report of the Ordnance Select Committee, 1863, the Armstrong gun patented in 1858 embodies the principles contained in a patent taken out in 1855 by the late Captain T. A. Blakely, R.A.; and in view of the fact that the widow of this officer expended the greater part of her fortune in enabling her husband to bring to perfection, in the manufacture of heavy ordnance, a principle which was eventually adopted in guns manufactured for Her Majesty's Government, will he consider Mrs. Blakely's claim to be placed on the Civil List.
§ THE FIRST LORD OF THE TREASURY (Mr. A. J. Balfour,) Manchester, E.I answered a question of the same purport on 28th July, 1898.* I then informed the hon. Member for Norwood that, according to such inquiries as I had been able to make, Captain Blakely was one of several inventors who at about the same time had independently hit on somewhat similar methods of improving artillery. No guns made on Captain Blakely's design were ever introduced into the service, nor was expenditure incurred at the instigation of the British Government.