Joshua Theodore Naumanington

Joshua Theodore Naumanington (1840-1922) was a key figure in European military arms circles and provided many European states with small arms and artillery pieces for their colonial wars and armies. Naumanington founded and led Milton Armaments Corporation in London which later merged with the American based Jackson Arms Company in 1868 to form the Jackson-Milton Military Arms Corporation. Naumanington, and all employees of JMMAC, were banned entrance into the Netherlands after the Dutch government uncovered a plot by Naumanington to fund Dutch anarchists who were planning the assassination of key members of the Dutch Cabinet. Naumanington also was tried in 1900 in England for his illegal arms sales to Irish nationalists and the Boers. All assets of the company within England were seized by the Crown and Naumanington relocated what was left of the company to Youngstown Ohio, where he would once again find himself in legal trouble. Naumanington died in US custody at the age of 82, serving a life sentence under house arrest after opening fire with several artillery pieces on Treasury Department agents who had arrived at the company's headquarters to seize financial documents related to a tax evasion case filed against Naumanington. Naumanington had a brief attempt at politics, running for British Parliament to serve in the House of Commons for Birmingham and was successfully elected but barred from taking office after the Boer Scandal went public.

### Early Life

Joshua Theodore Naumanington was born to Elizabeth and Colton Horacio Naumanington on March 2nd, 1840 in the family home in Essex. He was the second child but the only one to live past infancy. Raised as an only child, Joshua took a keen interest in books at an early age but this was greatly discouraged by his father. Joshua was sent to a Military Boarding School in Birmingham where he did not have a good experience. Once graduated, Joshua declined to return home and take up his father's trade as a Hots Weaver and instead became involved in a smuggling ring that smuggled arms to Irish rebels.

### Milton Arms Corporation

Joshua took the experiences learned and translated them to legitimate business, moving to London and starting the Milton Armaments Corporation in 1859. He invested what money he had in older weapons that were cheaply available and began to refurbish them and resell them out into the commercial market. In 1861, Naumanington was one of many British based arms manufacturers and distributors approached by representatives of the Confederate States of America and he sold them 10,000 percussion rifles. In 1862 he was approached again and this time sold the CSA another 5,000 percussion rifles and 3 artillery cannons he had just purchased surplus from the British Army. This second shipment was intercepted by the US blockade and the arms never reached Confederate hands.

In 1865, Naumanington purchased large piles of American arms for cheap prices as the American Civil War came to an end. The next year Naumanington, like many arms dealers at the time, would turn around and sell these arms at extreme profit to the various nations involved in the Austro-Prussian War. This war, however, showed that the older arms Naumanington dealt in were no longer viable on the modern battlefield. It was at this time that the Jackson Arms Company approached Naumanington to purchase the company. Naumanington agreed and merged the companies in 1868 to form the Jackson-Milton Miltary Arms Corporation, keeping the London Headquarters and investing in an additional office and warehouse space in Youngstown Ohio.

### The Dutch July Plot

In May 1871, Dutch Intelligence uncovered a radical anarchist cell that planned on a string of assassinations on key members of the Dutch Cabinet to be carried out in July of that year. The members of a cell were quickly arrested. A string of reciepts found in their safehouse led Dutch investigators to believe that the Jackson-Milton Military Arms Corporation had sold the group a variety of firearms with the knowledge that they would be put to use in this plot. Naumanington was ordered to appear before court in Amsterdam but he declined and stated that he was far too busy to appear in person. Naumanington at this time was eagerly wrapping up the last of his arms sales related to the Franco-Prussian War and to the members of the Paris Commune in particular. The Dutch Court ruled against Naumanington and the JMMAC, placing a heavy fine on them and publicly banning Naumanington and all employees of JMMAC from entering into the Netherlands. This ban was revisited and lifted in 1892 when the Dutch government purchased a large shipment of arms from the corporation for military use.

### The Irish Connection

Naumanington and the JMMAC continued to sell arms throughout the 1880s and into the 1890s without further scandal or incident. Major contracts during this time include arms to the French for use by their allies in the Sino-French War of 1884-1185, large shipments of powder and manufacturing equipment to Japan, and rifles and cannon to the US Army for use in the various wars and police actions against the plains tribes during this time. In November 1899 Naumanington was approached by individuals claiming to be representatives of the Fenian Brotherhood, an Irish rebel group who's aims included the removal of English rule from Ireland. The men wanted to purchase 4 tonnes of powder, 400 rifles, 100 handguns, and 8,000 rounds of ammunition to which Naumanington agreed after a favorable price was settled on and with the agreement that he personally would be present to hand off the arms on Janurary 1900. On the date that the purchase was supposed to be made, the company's headquarters in London were raided by special police and Naumanington was placed in custody. It was revealed that the men were in fact British agents who were tipped off to Naumanington's previous activities in smuggling arms to Irish nationals and had sprung a trap. In their investigation, the police uncovered that Naumanington had continued to sell arms to the Boer Republics after the declaration of war by Britain, a move that was highly illegal and considered highly immoral since JMMAC provided guns were being used to kill British soldiers by the Boers.

It was also during this time that Naumanington had attempted to run for Parliament to represent his beloved Birmingham, where he still kept a second home. He won by a landslide and the victory was announced the same day the raid occurred on the company's headquarters. Naumanington's lawyers managed to work wonders on the case and the public embarassment over an incoming member of parliament being involved in such a scandal led to a quiet agreement where Naumanington's British citizenship was revoked and he was barred re-entry into the country along with the London assets of the Jackson-Milton Military Arms Corporation being seized by the Crown. Naumanington was deported to the United States, where fortunately he had acquired citizenship a number of years prior. He re-organized the Youngstown offices of the JMMAC and immediately set to work starting business again in America.

### The Five Day Cannon Standoff

Naumanington once again managed to avoid legal troubles for a time. He provided arms to the US government for use in the Philippines in 1901-2 and when war broke out in 1914 he was quick to sell most of his inventory away to every European nation involved in the conflict, except for Britain and the Netherlands. What inventory remained was sold off to militia units formed for hometown protection in the US following the Pancho Villa raid. The Treasury Department first became interested in Naumanington after a fired accountant for JMMAC claimed the company was financially shaky and was lying to the federal government and to investors to the tune of some several hundred thousand dollars. The Treasury Department began an investigation and seized company financial records in early 1919. By August, the evidence seemed solid enough to go to court. An arrest warrant was placed for Naumanington and local police attempted to arrest him at his home. They were met with screams of confusion from the now elderly man and bursts of gunfire. The local police retreated and several days later agents of the Treasury Department arrived to take him into custody. They approached the front door with cautious local policemen and once again were met with shouts of gibberish and gunfire. The Treasury agents attempted to hold their position and return fire but could not. It would be revealed later that Naumanington was firing at the police with a 1897 Winchester shotgun and a tripod mounted Colt-Browning M1895 machine gun at the top of his stairs. When the agents and policemen retreated to their cars, Naumanington emerged from a second story window and began firing on them with a British MkIII\* Lee-Enfield rifle. The Treasury agents managed to reach their car, which was blocked from Naumanington's view and retrieved their own issued shotguns and began returning fire. Naumanington retreated from the window and ran out onto his second floor patio where a large object was cloaked under a sheet. Naumanington, still under fire from the agents and local police, removed the sheet and revealed a French M1897 75mm field gun which he then loaded and fired, destroying one Youngstown Police patrol car. The policemen then either fled on foot or climbed into the Treasury agents' car and quickly sped off.

The agents returned 10 hours later accompanied by 6 Youngstown patrol cars and 2 trucks carrying 40 Ohio National Guard troops, all heavily armed. They arrived and tried to set up a defensive perimeter around the house but Naumanington blew up 2 more patrol cars and one of the National Guard trucks with the 75mm gun still mounted on his patio. The remaining cars rerouted and attempted to come from another angle that the patio could not cover. This time a cannon barrel poked out from a bedroom window and again they were met with cannonfire from another 75mm gun. The policemen and National Guardsmen were forced to abandon their vehicles and dive for cover a block away from the home. Naumanington then kept up a continuous pace of fire with his Lee-Enfield and Winchester shotgun for 2 hours and dashing back and forth between his master bedroom and patio to load and fire the 75mm field guns. Naumanington then stopped firing after those 2 hours, possibly to reload and grab more ammunition, but the police and National Guard men were still too frightened to try and move closer to the house so it was agreed to set up the perimeter here, a block away from the home. Three more days passed as troops or policemen would attempt to get closer to the home but were forced back each time by heavy gunfire and the odd cannon round. The newspapers kept the "Five Day Cannon Standoff" as headline news for the duration of the standoff and Naumanington's acts gained international attention. Finally, as night fell on day five, the policemen saw Naumanington throw his rifle to the ground and shout "Blasted gingerbread! I'm out of library cards!" as he surrendered to the police, 8 police and guardsmen were dead and 19 more were wounded. The subsequent trial found him guilty on all counts of Tax Evasion, Tax Fraud, Conspiracy to Commit Tax Fraud, 9 cases of Homicide, Assault with Many Deadly Weapons, and being Criminally Insane. Naumanington's home was stripped of all firearms and valueable assets and, given his advanced age, he was allowed to spend the rest of his life confined to his home where he died 3 years later in 1922 of a heart attack at 82 years old. The Jackson-Milton Military Arms Corporation could never shake the reputation it became attached to after this final set of scandals and the company declared bankruptcy in 1925 and was sold piecemeal at auction to various other American firearm manufacturers.