William Godfray De Lisle was an engineer who worked at the Air Ministry during the period in which the United Kingdom found itself embroiled in the tumult that was World War II. He happened to be a capable weaponsmith, and during the war, he put together a rather unique carbine in .22 calibre as a personal project. Based on a short-magazine Lee-Enfield Mk III, it had the unique feature of having a sizable suppressor integrated into the very design of the weapon itself. The homebrew project was field tested on rabbits and small game at De Lisle’s property, with the spoils of the hunt proving most welcome at a time when heavy rationing was in place.

Suppressors operate by using baffles to absorb energy from the gas and shockwaves released when firing a bullet. Various designs exist as above. The De Lisle design was inspired by Maxim’s earlier work using spiral baffles. Credit: Grasyl, CC BY SA 4.0

De Lisle’s design involved the use of a suppressor with spiral baffles mounted on a pair of rods running parallel with the barrel. Credit: Patent filing