Silliest 'colonial' question ever.

[WillieB]

Just read a story about the Indian Mutiny and European and Sikh soldiers holding out in a billiard hall.
Now what kind of billiard tables would have been in use in India in the mid 19th C?
Googling 'Victorian Billiard tables' brings up both some kind of elaborate snooker table and the 'regular' table.
Which would have been the most common in a military? billiard hall?
 

[Lowtardog]

Purely based on fiction films, I would go with a snooker table 

[sepoy1857]

Was it the siege or Arrah!?

[WillieB]

Arrah actually

[sjwalker51]

And of course there's this picture of the billiards room at the Lucknow Residency...

[Drachenklinge]

I am not fit in historical questions, but isn't there some billiard in Lawrence of Arabia? However, I don't know how acurately they have done their research as well. And even if, it's still Arabia, but might give a hint.

best wishes
DK

[georgec]

The short answer is that you want the 'snooker table', and probably an elaborate one at that.

Billiards, which was very popular with the military in India, is the parent game of snooker by about 75 years, the latter being 'invented' by Sir Neville Francis Fitzgerald Chamberlain KCB KCVO KPM in Indai in 1875.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neville_Francis_Fitzgerald_Chamberlain

Very much a gentleman's sport at the time, due to the size and expense of the tables, an officers' mess, gentlemen's club or gentleman's residence would have a billiards room, probably with one table in it.  The precursors of billiards had been played in coffee houses in England in the C18th but most of those had died out by the turn of the C19th, and snooker halls came later.  The illustration sjwalker51 posted is interesting as the table is not of modern proportions, but since the English Billiards Association did form until 1885 I suppose there may have been no regulation size before then; alternatively, the artist may not have been familiar with the games tables of the gentry. However, if it is too square it would be a difficult to play in the middle.

Militarily, it would have the great advantage, if tipped on its side, of providing you with a 12' x 6' firing position protected by at least 1" of high-quality slate!  I doubt the defenders missed this opportunity unless they were more afraid of the wrath of the President of the Mess Committee for ruining the 'lie' of the table....        

[FifteensAway]

I find I must recount the tale from the Mutiny, the siege at Lucknow, where one of the garrison had a suit made out of the cloth from the residencies billiard table.  Must have ruined the game.  This thread demands it be repeated here.  So, now it is.

[levied troop]

I made a 28mm billiard table a few years back:



I'm thinking it might see a new use as a barricade 

[WillieB]

Nothing near as elaborate as the ones shown but perhaps as a basis?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/28mm-Pool-Billiard-Table-kit-Old-West-Colonial-WW2-and-Modern-/321732729688?

I know Frontline used to have a snooker table but I believe the range is no longer available.

http://www.frontlinewargaming.co.uk/photos/25/25WF1.html

Looks like some scratchbuilding is called for...