Although this revolver has been obsolete in Great Britain since 1947, it is widely distributed throughout the British Commonwealth and former British territories.

Characteristics of Webley .455 Pistol No. 1 Mark VI

Caliber:.455 Webley.
System of operation: Single or double-action, top break revolver.
Weight: 2.37 lbs.
Length: overall: 11.25 in.
Barrel: 6 in.
Feed device: Cylinder with 6 chambers.
Sights: Front: Blade. Rear: Notch.
Muzzle velocity: 620 f.p.s.

NOTE: Some No. 1 Mark VI revolvers have been rechambered for the calibre .45 Colt automatic cartridge. These revolvers use the three-round clip used with the Colt and Smith & Wesson Model 1917 revolvers.

The Webley Revolver and Lawrence of Arabia - the camel charge at Abu el Lissan from “Seven Pillars of Wisdom”

Nasir screamed at me,'Come on',with his bloody mouth; and we plunged our camels madly over the hill, and down towards the head of the fleeing enemy. The slope was not too steep for a camel-gallop, but steep enough to make their pace terrific, and their course uncontrollable: yet the Arabs were able to extend to right and left and to shoot into the Turkish brown. The Turks had been too bound up in the terror of Auda's furious charge against their rear to notice us as we came over the eastward slope: so we also took them by surprise and in the flank and a charge of ridden camels going nearly thirty miles an hour was irresistible.

My camel, the Sherari racer, Naama, stretched herself out, and hurled downhill with such might that we soon out-distanced the others. The Turks fired a few shots, but mostly only shrieked and turned to run: the bullets they did send at us were not very harmful, for it took much to bring a charging camel down in a dead heap.

 I had got among the first of them, and was shooting, with a Pistol of course, for only an expert could use a rifle from such plunging beasts; when suddenly my camel tripped and went down emptily upon her face, as though pole-axed. I was torn completely from the saddle, sailed grandly through the air for a great distance, and landed with a crash which seemed to drive all the power and feeling out of me. I lay there, passively waiting for the Turks to kill me, continuing to hum over the Verses of a half-forgotten poem, whose rhythm something, perhaps the prolonged stride of the camel, had brought back to my memory as we leaped down the hill-side:

For Lord I was free of all Thy flowers, but I chose the world's sad roses,
And that is why my feet are torn and mine eyes are blind with sweat.

Meanwhile another part of my mind thought what a squashed thing I should look when all that cataract of men and camels had poured over.

After a long time I finished my poem, and no Turks came and no camel trod on me: a curtain seemed taken from my ears: there was a great noise in front. I sat up and saw the battle over, and our men driving together and cutting down the last remnants of the enemy. My camel's body had lain behind me like a rock and divided the charge into two streams: and in the back of its skull was the heavy bullet of the fifth shot I fired.

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