The Lucknow Arsenal was administered by Claude Martin and produced some outstanding guns, pistols and cannon, with the help of European craftsmen. A Frenchman by birth, Martin deserted the French army and joined the British, becoming Superintendant of Artillery and Arsenals to the Nawab of Oude in 1779. He died in 1800 with the rank of Major-General in the East India Company's Army. A patron of Zoffany, Martin designed palaces, including one for himself named Constantia, which survives as La Matinière College

Sir Colin Campbell, Baron Clyde (1792-1863) served with distinction in the Penninsular War and arrived in India in 1847, from the Far East, with the rank of Brigadier-General, and served in India until 1852. Between 1854 and 1855 he saw action in the Crimea (as commandant at Balaclava he directed the famous repulse of the Russian infantry column by the 93rd Highlanders), and was sent to India as Commander-in-Chief in July, 1857 after the outbreak of the Indian Mutiny. He managed to relieve Lucknow on 19 March, 1858 and to restore peace in North India by May. With failing health he left India in June, 1860. He died a Field-Marshal, and was buried in Westminster Abbey. His reputation as the saviour of the British Empire in India is unrivalled in the records of the mid-19th Century
Cf. a pair of howitzers, similar, sold in these Rooms 10 May, 1972, lot 54, and now in the Royal Armouries (No. XIX.292, 293)