British Mark I 1856 Pattern Drummer’s or Bugler's Sword of the 1st Midlothian (Leith) Rifle Volunteers Band, by Mole

Straight unfullered double-edged spear-pointed blade with diamond cross-section, nickel-plated brass hilt with central VR cypher of Queen Victoria, triangular langets and trefoil finials. Brown leather washer. Longitudinally ribbed brass grip, flared pommel. Black leather scabbard with plated brass fittings at throat and chape, the throat piece with teardrop-shaped frog stud bearing incised decoration.

The blade is etched on one side with ‘MIDLOTHIAN RIFLE VOLUNTEERS BAND’, above which is a bugle emblem, enclosing the text ‘1^st’, all this within a cartouche. It is etched on the other side with the maker’s mark ‘ROBT MOLE & SONS’ also within a cartouche, indicating the maker Robert Mole & Sons. The side of the grip is engraved with ‘1 M^L 21’. The throat piece of the scabbard is similarly engraved with ‘1 M^L 5’. 21 and 5 are probably rack numbers, and suggest that the scabbard was swapped with at one point, perhaps while in regimental stores. The throat piece of the scabbard is stamped on one side with the maker’s mark ‘MOLE’.

The 1st Midlothian Rifle Volunteers was formed in Leith in 1859, one of a large number of volunteer units which sprang up during the late 1850s due to a perceived threat of invasion of Britain by France. Its initial four companies grew to eight by 1861. It absorbed the 4th Mid-Lothian (Corstorphine) Rifle Volunteer Corps in 1863, adding another three companies. Its size peaked in 1868 with 12 companies, the Band being one. In the Childers Reforms of 1881 militia and volunteer units were amalgamated with the regulars into larger regiments, so the 1^st Midlothian became the 3^rd Volunteer Battalion, Royal Scots. It was reduced to 10 companies in 1884. Another reorganization in 1888 bumped it down to the 5^th Battalion, Royal Scots. In the Boer War it provided 196 volunteers who served with the Royal Scots, earning the battalion its sole battle honour South Africa 1900-02.

In 1908 the Haldane Reforms made all Volunteers part of the Territorial Force and it became the 7th Battalion, The Royal Scots. It mustered for WW1 as the 1/7^th Battalion. Its A and D Companies suffered heavy casualties before leaving the country, when the troop train carrying them from Larbert to Liverpool collided with a local passenger train at Quintishill near Gretna Green. It remains the worst rail disaster in British history, the military estimating 214 deaths and 191 injured, with additional civilian deaths bringing the count to around 226, the severity of the disaster and the loss of the unit’s muster roll leading to some uncertainty.

Of the 58 survivors who made roll call, only six officers were deemed fit for service, including the regiment’s Lt Col W. Carmichael Peebles. These joined the other battalions at Liverpool and sailed to Cape Helles, Gallipoli, arriving in June 1915 whereafter it fought at Gully Ravine, Achi Baba Nullah and Krithia Nullahs. The 1/7^th was evacuated in January 1916 and transferred to Egypt, fighting in numerous engagements around the Suez Canal and in the advance through Palestine. After the Ottoman surrender it was transferred to France in 1918.

Afte WW1 the battalion was reconstituted in the Territorial Army. It fought in WW2 as the 7^th/9^th (Highlanders) Battalion, Royal Scots. Its lineage is today maintained by A (Royal Scots Borderers) Company, 52nd Lowland, 6^th Battalion, Royal Regiment of Scotland.

These ornamental short swords were issued to drummers and buglers of infantry regiments, the distinction being that the drummer’s version was issued with a brass hilt and the scarcer bugler’s model with an iron hilt. While the pattern was ordered to be adopted in 1856, there is evidence that similar-looking swords were being carried by musicians in some units as early as 1843, and some units did not actually adopt the new pattern until years after its introduction.

This example is unusual in having been nickel plated. The plating is of excellent quality and is I believe period. This may have been done to ‘convert’ a drummer’s sword into a bugler’s version by giving it a finish more like polished iron (and without the need for ongoing polishing to keep it bright), or it may have still been for a drummer but altered for taste. Rifle volunteer regiments were sometimes known to adopt non-regulation uniform standards purely for aesthetics: officer’s swords painted black or deeply blued are a common one. A degree of latitude was permitted for volunteers, and military bands in general were also less scrupulously held to regulations. If the Midlothians decided that plated swords would look better with their uniform than brass and make their bandsmen stand out, they could have had the work done privately.

The blade has light speckled patination. Some rubbing to the etching, leaving the maker’s mark in particular faint. No damage to the edge, which is unsharpened on both sides. One repair to the blade at the midsection on one side. The nickel plating of the brass parts is excellent, bright and clean with only one tiny area of wear at the base of a quillon on one side, the revealed brass with verdigris. Light The leather of the scabbard has some surface-level cracking and small areas of flaking in places, its stitching is all intact. The chape piece of the scabbard is missing its staple but seems firmly attached regardless. The hilt and grip appear to have been repeened, consistent with the sword having been taken apart for chrome plating. This has not had any adverse effect - the blade is rock solid and rings when tapped.