British 1912 Pattern Cavalry Officer’s Sword, George V
Straight single-fullered blade, basket hilt of nickel-plated steel embossed with scrollwork design. Brown leather washer, spiral-grooved grip of wood covered with fishskin bound with silver wire. Stepped plated steel pommel with further floral motifs. Brown braided leather sword knot with acorn. Wood-lined brown leather field service scabbard with plated steel mouth and frog strap. Blade length 34.9 inches (~88.8cm), overall length 42 inches (~106.7cm).
The blade is etched on each side with the crown and cypher of George V and floral motifs, and has an area for optional etching of the owner’s initials, which is empty. The spine of the blade is etched with ‘London Made’. George V reigned from 1911-1936, so this sword certainly predates WW2 and could be of WW1 period. There is a circular brass proof slug on one side of the blade stamped with ‘PROVED+’.
I have seen a similar proof slug used on swords retailed by Batson of London and Manton of Calcutta, although these were not the makers - they would have been made by a London cutler on behalf of many different military tailors and outfitters. The swords would then be retailed in the tailor’s shop together with the uniforms, sometimes with the shop’s name added to the otherwise ‘anonymous’ sword. Manton was certainly in business during the period – they had a showroom in London as well as premises in Calcutta itself – and other examples of Manton 1912s also appear to have the same ‘London Made’ etching, so this seems a strong candidate for the retailer, although the absence of their own branding at the forte is unusual.
The final pattern of officer’s sword used by the British cavalry which is still in use today, the 1912 Pattern was based upon the 1908 Pattern trooper’s sword, with the same long straight blade designed purely for thrusting, an ergonomic grip which naturally placed the hand in position to ‘give point’ at an opponent, and a large hilt to protect the whole hand, all in line with the growing consensus among theorists at the time that thrusting with a sword was far more combat-effective than cutting, and that a cavalryman’s sword needed sufficient reach to allow him to engage lancers hand-to-hand.
Some more utilitarian features found on the trooper’s swords, like the triangular strengthening piece on the hilt, one-piece plastic grip, were replaced with more ornamental features in the officer’s model: an embossed honeysuckle motif decorated the outside of the hilt and the grip was made of shagreen over wood bound with silver wire. These features, common to all cavalry officer’s swords since 1796, lent a more traditional appearance to the quite radical sword design. Even the pommel was stepped, chequered and ornamented as opposed to the simple domed shape of the trooper’s equipment. These swords would have been privately purchased as part of the officer’s uniform, and would have originally had two scabbards – a ‘field service’ scabbard of leather over wood, and a nickel-plated steel scabbard like that of the trooper’s version, but with two loose hanging rings, for wear in full dress. The blades were often etched, sometimes with the owner’s name to add a personal touch.
The blade is bright and polished with only small spots of patination and some very light cleaned pitting at the point on one side. No edge or point damage. Some very small scale losses to the shagreen. The join line on the shagreen is visible and it is tight in the thumb notch, suggesting slight shrinkage over time. The binding wire is all present with some slight movement. The outer edge of the hilt has been pressed inward slightly all along its length – this does not seem like damage to me and may have been a deliberate modification to reduce the width of the hilt, perhaps to cut down rubbing against the uniform? Some losses to the scabbard leather next to the throat piece and at the chape. There was one small flap of leather hanging off the scabbard at the time of acquisition, having cracked on three sides – I have glued this down to keep it from tearing off and leaving a hole.
