The sending of the Imperial Engineering Shool (Istanbul) graduates to European industrial plants for training and the hiring of foreign engineers, mechanics and foremen were the two major stratagems that the Ottoman government relied on for the modernisation of Ottoman weapon industry in the 19th century. The aim was to train the qualified native labor and gradually decrease foreign dependency. The first group of graduates sent to Europe in 1834 included Halil Efendi who was trained in the Royal Arsenal Woolwich in London. Back to Istanbul, he was assigned to the Imperial Gun Factory of Tophane where he administered from 1863 until his death in 1873 with a brief break. During his governance, Halil Pasha invited several British mechanics to contribute to the production and improvement of weaponry in the Gun Factory.

A group of British foremen arrived in late 1868 headed by the engineer John Mackenzie. Soon after their arrival, Halil Pasha asked Mackenzie, who by then had taken charge of the Gun Department, to introduce a system for teaching the native staff the art of “practical mechanics”. Mackenzie suggested the payment of a certain remuneration to foremen- instructors, the apprentices and servicemen. The instruction commenced on 1st September 1869. When any of these native staff shall attain the first, second and third degree of proficiency (each of 2 years) which shall be equal to onbaşı (corporal), çavuş (sergeant) and mülazım (lieutenant), the instructor was to receive £ 5, 10 and 15 per head, respectively. The instruction was carried on successfully but the payment of the promised remuneration was repeatedly postponed by the Tophane administration despite Mackenzie’s petitions, who himself was eventually dismissed together with the eleven English employees following the death of Halil Pasha in 1873.

Halil Pasha, despite his willingness to impove gun and canon production in Istanbul, to train native apprentices by foreigners and thus to diminish foreign reliance, does not seem to have succeeded to overcome Ottoman bureaucracy and treasury. This short term experience in instructing mechanics at the Tophane foundries is indicative of the Ottoman standpoint in technical training. The present paper aims to introduce and analyse this experience within the context of Ottoman modernisation of gun production and manpower development.