MANUFACTURER – Sterling Company, Dagenham, Essex, England
STATUS – Obsolete
SERVICE – British and Commonwealth Navies
Prior to World War II, the British Military had decided that submachinegun, or what they called “Gangster Guns,” had no value in modern combat. With the disaster and losses at Dunkirk, the opinions of military commanders had changed. They wanted submachineguns, as many as they could get and as quickly as possible. Over 300,000 M1928 Thompsons were ordered from the United States, but the German U-Boat campaign put 200,000 of those weapons on the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.
There was no real time available for research into a new submachinegun. The answer to part of the demand would be to copy an existing design. Specimens of the German MP28/II were obtained by the British Consul General in Addis Ababa and forwarded to Enfield and the design team of Major Reginald V. Shepherd and Harold J Turpin. They were to develop a copy of the supplied weapons, making them as easy as possible to manufacture and using the least amount of critical materials. When the War Department assigned the manufacture of the new weapons to the Sterling Engineering Co. of Dagemham, Essex, another engineer, George Lanchester, led several others in the task of organizing the manufacture of the new weapon.
Several modifications of the original German design were incorporated into the “9mm Schmeisser carbine” project by Lanchester. Among these changes was the addition of a bayonet lug on the barrel jacket, the changing of the wooden butt to match that of the Lee Enfield rifle, and the changing of the steel magazine housing to one made from cast bronze. The magazine for the new weapon was based on that of the original MP28, which was one of the great errors of the design. The double-column, single-feed design by Hugo Schmeisser was always a weak point as the magazine couldn’t absorb dirt and debris without jamming. The magazine also needed a loading tool to overcome the pressure of the magazine spring. But since the magazine had been adopted by the Germans, the British would as well. Additionally, since the desired but unavailable Thompson used a 50 round drum magazine, the new British weapon would have a 50 round box magazine developed for it.
The resulting weapon was considered to be unbalanced and difficult to handle, especially when compared to the MP28/II. The bayonet mounts were intended to accept the 1907-pattern bayonet for the No. I Mk III Enfield rifle. The bayonet was 55.2 cm (21.75 in) long. When mounted on the submachinegun, the 43.2 cm (17 in) blade stuck out past the muzzle of the weapon, adding half again to the overall length of the submachinegun.
The new design was accepted immediately due to the pressures of war. Very soon after the adoption of what was now the Lanchester Mk I, modifications were made. The biggest change was the removal of the selector switch, changing the weapon to full automatic fire only. The shape and length of the bolt cocking lever was modified. The new weapon was the Lanchester Mk I* (Mk I Star).
The Lanchester was expensive to produce and not economical in terms of time and equipment needed to make it. But it did work and it also gave members of the design team a good deal of very important experience in producing such a weapon. As new designs became available, the Lanchester was issued to the Royal Navy, where it’s weight and size was less of a restriction.
