British General's Sword Pattern

[Mervyn Mitton]

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[Mervyn Mitton]

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The US Marines were the first to introduce this pattern of sword - known as the Mameluke. They still use it for officers today.

Napoleon had invaded Egypt in the early 1800's and in turn the British sent an Army to evict him. The officers of both armies liked this curved sword which had been in use with both the Turkish and Egyptian armies. Many British Hussar and Light

Cavalry regiments adopted it - and still carry it today.

Standardisation of the pattern took place in 1831 - where-as the US adopted it in 1826. British Major Generals and above

had the sword as their Dress and Levee pattern from this date and again, it is still in use to the present.

Having been in use for 181 years , there is not a great shortage of them. However, there are not a lot of early

ones in good condition. I rate this one as being in good condition - the blade is clean and has excellent engraving around

Queen Victoria's Cypher 'VR'. Beneath this is a generals badge of crossed sword and baton. Repeated on both sides.

The crossed sword and baton is again repeated on the centre panel of the gilt cross bar .

William 4th was King from 1830 to 1837 and was noted for changing the rounded top of King Edward's Crown to have

more angular sides. Queen Victoria continued this, but they were later changed to have the more rounded shape.

I feel that this allows us to date the sword between 1837 and the 1850's.

There are no markings to trace the original owner and with Queen Victoria's 'little wars' no shortage of generals .

We must also remember that many Colonial Governors and Ambassadors were retired generals.

[Mervyn Mitton]

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[Mervyn Mitton]

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[Mervyn Mitton]

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[Mervyn Mitton]

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[Mervyn Mitton]

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[Mervyn Mitton]

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[Mervyn Mitton]

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[Mervyn Mitton]

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[Mervyn Mitton]

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[Mervyn Mitton]

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[Mervyn Mitton]

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[Brian Wolfe]

An excellent example, Mervyn.

I think this was the most elegant sword ever produced.

Thanks for posting it.

Regards

Brian

[John Hart]

Nice sword, Mervyn. Considering how many of these swords are still around, I'm always surprised at how few seem to carry owner's etchings or family crests. In my experience far more of their more mundane counterparts (P1845s, 1897s etc) have such "personalisation". I wonder if this is a case of older, wiser heads foregoing the extra expense of such fripperies, or simply that General Officers would never be leaving their swords in a pile at camp time, so did not run the risk of losing their weapon amongst a crowd of similar ones?

John

[Mervyn Mitton]

Hi - John. I agree with you - at that level you would expect to find names and coats-of-arms. I have seen examples but,

not as commonly as the standard examples. I think this one is good for the fact that it is an early example of the pattern

and has excellent etching on the blade. Most of them have been so over polished by zealous bat-men that the blades are

virtually clean.

You make the point that many Victorian swords had the owner's name or, regiment. I think that this was because they were

given as 'passing out' gifts from the family. Probably by the time they had reached the rank of General it was just part of the

uniform ? Mervyn

[peter monahan]

Not sure about the Victorians but certainly in the Georgian period it was common to give 'presentation swords' to deserving officers, either by public subscription after somebody's name made the London Gazette or by smaller private groups. Nelson must have had dozens of them! So it's quite possible, IMHO, that even these lovely pieces of ironware were the 'second best' swords to their owners and not worth the bother of having engraved, unlike perhaps the ones they ordered themselves. Also, were I the lucky owner of great granddad's multiple uniforms, accessories and swords, I'd be flogging off the unnamed ones when temporarily financially embarrassed!

I have always loved the look of these swords! I still vividlyrecall, 30 years later, my first visit to an upscale militaria shop in Piccadilly Arcade, London. Green as grass, a colonial tourist and probably obviously so, I was treated with perfect courtesy by the clerk, who obligingly trotted vast trays of India general Service Medals medals which he must have known I had no hope of purchasing! But what got me into the store was a 'Mameluke hilted General officer's Sword' in the window which he told me nonchalantly had belonged to General Sir Sam Browne VC GCB LCSI of the 2nd Punjab Irregular Cavalry [sam Browne's Cavalry]. Him of the amputated left arm and the 'Sam Browne belt' and the only item of militaria I would still unhesitatingly grab up with my hypothetical lottery winnings were I ever in a position to do so!