The British Cavalry Sword From 1600

THE BRITISH CAVALRY SWORD FROM 1600

THE BRITISH

CAVALRY SWORD

FROM 1600

Charles Martyn

Pen & Sword

MILITARY

First published in Great Britain in 2004 by

Pen & Sword Military

an imprint of

Pen & Sword Books Ltd

47 Church Street

Barnsley

South Yorkshire

S70 2AS

Copyright © Charles Martyn, 2004

ISBN 1-84415-071-2

The right of Charles Martyn to be identified as Author of the Work

has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and

Patents Act 1988.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is

available from the British Library

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted

in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including

photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without

permission from the Publisher in writing.

Typeset in Palatino

Printed and bound in Great Britain by CPI UK

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Contents

GLOSSARY

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

ABOUT THIS BOOK

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER 1 – LATTER SIXTEENTH CENTURY

CHAPTER 2 – THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY

CHAPTER 3 – 1700–1780

CHAPTER 4 – LIGHT CAVALRY 1760–1796

CHAPTER 5 – HEAVY CAVALRY 1780–1796

CHAPTER 6 – TRANSIENT CELTIC HILT

CHAPTER 7 – THE 1821 HEAVY CAVALRY PATTERNS

CHAPTER 8 – THE 1821 LIGHT CAVALRY PATTERNS & VARIATIONS

CHAPTER 9 – RANK & FILE UNIVERSAL PATTERNS OF 1853 & 1864

CHAPTER 10 – THE DRESS REGULATIONS OF 1857 (SCROLL HILT)

CHAPTER 11 – THE 1880 SERIES OF RANK & FILE SWORDS

CHAPTER 12 – RANK & FILE SWORDS FROM 1890 TO 1908

CHAPTER 13 – OFFICERS’ SWORDS AFTER THE 1821 PATTERNS THROUGH TO 1912

CHAPTER 14 – HOUSEHOLD CAVALRY SWORDS FROM 1832–1912.

CHAPTER 15 – POMP AND WAR

List of Regiments

List of Personalities and Organizations

Bibliography

GLOSSARY

SWORD TERMS AND EXPRESSIONS

PARTS OF THE HILT

PARTS OF THE BLADE

The blade may be described as the exposed length of the sword that has a cutting edge or thrusting point.

GENERAL EXPRESSIONS

ABBREVIATIONS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Due acknowledgements and credits are given to the following authors and organizations:

P.G.W. Annis; C.R.B. Barratt; David Blackmore; Charles Ffoulkes; E.C. Hopkinson; Frederick Leary; Elizabeth Longford; Lieutenant Commander W.E. May; G.I. Mungeam; George C. Neumann; A.V.B. Norman; Thomas Pakenham; Brian Robson; John Walter; Frederick Wilkinson.

Household Cavalry Museum, Windsor; 4th/7th Dragoon Guards Museum, York; 17th/21st Lancers RHQ, Grantham; The Pattern Room, Enfield; The Tower of London; The Arms and Armour Society; The Wilkinson Sword Co. Ltd; Wallis & Wallis, specialist Military Auctioneers, Lewes; Littlecote House; Rufford Old Hall (National Trust); York Castle Museum; Warwick Castle.

Cheryl A. Biden, who willingly prepared the first presentation for the publisher.

My daughter Virginia, for her continual support.

ABOUT THIS BOOK

Why do people collect anything at all? The answers to this are diverse and very much dependent upon the nature of the person. Some people are natural hoarders and collectors of something or other; some need their collection for display and to emerge as part of the environment of their home. Some use a collection as a follow up interest originating from their profession. These days, more people are looking at antiques and the older ‘unlicensed’ arms as a means of investment and temporary interest. Apart from these reasons, and the many more that one could find, we should perhaps explore a few more ordered motives that highlight the subject under consideration.

A simple definition of ‘to collect’ could be ‘to assemble or bring together’, even ‘to put one’s thoughts in order’, or ‘to infer’, which itself means ‘to derive as a consequence or arrive at a logical conclusion’. These individual references when combined, are the basic reasons for pulling together a collection of British Cavalry Swords. The collector could well be led on to further areas of associated interest and diverse activities of research.

The subject of British Cavalry swords is by no means complete and defined. For example, the formal patterns were started in the 1780s but not always complied with, consequently, variations to a pattern, (or the individual requirements of some officers) over a period of about 130 years, are considerable. The British Cavalry sword is admirably suited as an objet trouvé for there are a number of approaches to the hobby. Swords may be collected by regiment, from formation to recent amalgamation, or by specific type or pattern, or variations of a pattern. You have to bear in mind that these weapons are a matter of history and will never be repeated in any future British army as a fighting weapon. You will doubtless be led on to research the battles in which a particular type was employed.

In the first steps of collecting you should accumulate a general appreciation of the subject. This can be gained from reading works already published. A bibliography of suitable books is included. These books cover swords in general, and only partly deal with cavalry weapons. Nevertheless, they are authoritative and will provide some background and essential information. There may be some variances which should not be ignored as these will contribute to your own interpretation of the subject, and your own collection, but will have been based upon the information available to that author at that time. Unfortunately, some of these books will be out of print, and may only be available from specialist sources or auctions of militaria. In this respect, this book has taken a few of the earlier areas of interest that could be expanded and recounted by taking the existing information made available to the public, and relating it to the examples illustrated, together with any other information into one interpretable package that will give some authenticity into what may have been debatable or vague. An example of this is shown in Chapter 3.

Having absorbed the information from the books, particularly that relating to identification of British cavalry swords, which is principally by the form of the hilt (but bearing in mind that all horse-borne regiments of artillery, yeomanry, transport and even mounted infantry all used the equivalent cavalry sword) you then should visit those regimental museums and historic houses that could be associated with this subject to familiarize yourself with those forms and points of identification. This point is pursued in this book where a few existing examples are quoted, together with the year in which they were observed. The reason for the date being noted is that many museums change their content over a period of time, so something noted in 1971 may not be seen in 2003.

Since the Second World War, the cavalry regiments have been amalgamated beyond recognition, and consequently the regimental museums have had to cater for this; not only amalgamations taking place periodically, but the Ministry of Defence selling off many of its properties where collections may have been stored has exacerbated the overall situation. The keen researcher, trying to find out details of an officer’s record of service, may find that they are no longer at the regimental museum, but at some totally different storage area as an interim. This situation will settle out in time.

Cavalry swords are available for purchase through a number of sources: dealers in militaria, specialist dealers in arms, specialist auctioneers in arms, antique and trade fairs, private transactions with other collectors and sometimes, even by visiting junk shops. Prices will vary. Each of these sources will have a degree of expertise to offer whilst selling, but your own judgement and need is the main consideration when buying, providing you are satisfied with what you have bought. Prominent dealers and auctioneers will provide descriptive catalogues with photographs so that you can reasonably determine the types of swords and their physical state, but this is no guarantee. In general, no sword can be in a perfect state. Swords which have seen active service, particularly those used in the Crimea and Napoleonic Wars inevitably show the effects of their usage and the environmental conditions.

Having bought a sword, whatever the condition, do not subject it to any form of abrasive cleaning. This will leave score marks that may be difficult to remove, and even possibly reveal some underlying defect. Worst of all, abrasive cleaning is likely to remove a well established patina, the decorative features, and any identification features such as manufacturers’ and suppliers’ details, viewing and inspection marks, and