This Cannon belongs to the legendary
Frenchman Colonel Claude Martin (1735-1800). After a keen observation his name inscribed on this Cannon can be seen,"Colonel Claude Martin of Lucknow ".
After the French lost Pondicherry, Major General Claude Martin who was a French soldier joined the Bengal Army later he entered the services of the Nawab of Avadh, he became not only the richest European of his day but a purveyor of Enlightenment ideas. Claude Martin arrived in Lucknow in 1775 to take up his appointment as Superintendent of the Lucknow Arsenal in the services of Nawab Asaf-ud-Daula. He left Europe in 1751, settling initially in Pondicherry, and later shifted to Lucknow permanently.
