page_title: BL 9.2-inch howitzer
section_title: Imperial War Museum
hierarchical_section_title: BL 9.2-inch howitzer / Surviving examples / Imperial War Museum
caption_attribution_description: British BL 9.2 inch Mk I Howitzer "Mother", the original prototype seen in the Malins film of the Battle of the Somme, at the Imperial War Museum, London. The gun is the original prototype, but the original prototype carriage was later replaced by the standard Mark I production carriage shown here. The gun carriage and recoil system are painted in a typical WWI dazzle camouflage scheme. The barrel itself is painted in peacetime olive drab with the muzzle "bright" - it was probably also painted in the same dazzle camouflage pattern in WWI. For other views see also&#160;: File:9.2 inch howitzer Mother IWM left rear.jpg File:BL 9.2 inch Howitzer Mother IWM 3 April 2008.jpg
context_page_description: The Ordnance BL 9.2-inch howitzer was a heavy siege howitzer that formed the principal counter-battery equipment of British forces in France in World War I. It equipped a substantial number of siege batteries of the Royal Garrison Artillery. It remained in service until about the middle of World War II.
context_section_description: The barrel of the original prototype, known as 'Mother' is preserved on a Mk I carriage by the Imperial War Museum. This howitzer was tested at Rhayader in Powys, Wales in July 1914. Sent to France, it was operated by 8th Siege Battery from October 1914. The howitzer was visited by Field Marshal Sir John French on 5 November 1914 and by the Prince of Wales on 18 November. Transferred to 10th Siege Battery in early 1915 it saw use during the battles of Neuve Chapelle in March 1915 and Festubert in May 1915. The weapon returned to Britain in July 1915 and was fired at the Shoeburyness ranges until worn out. With its barrel relined, it was reissued to France in 1917.
  Acquired by the Imperial War Museum, the howitzer was exhibited at Crystal Palace, from 1920 and at South Kensington from 1924. Around this time, the howitzer served as the model for the Royal Artillery Memorial designed by Charles Sargeant Jagger.
caption: The prototype "Mother" gun barrel on Mk I production mounting at the Imperial War Museum, London.[14]
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