During the Second Boer War, the British government realised that its field artillery was being overtaken by the more modern "quick-firing" guns of other major powers, and investigated replacements for its existing field gun, the BL 15-pounder 7 cwt. In 1900, General Sir Henry Brackenbury, the then director-general of ordnance, sent officers to visit European gun makers. At Rheinische Metallwaren und Maschinenfabrik in Düsseldorf, they found a quick firing gun designed by Heinrich Ehrhardt with a recoil system that totally absorbed all the recoil of firing, 108 guns plus spares, were secretly purchased and entered service as the Ordnance QF 15-pounder in June 1901.