Hmm. Gentlemen, you may well have a point - and I call myself an historian by training!
The 4th Dragoon Guards were, indeed, involved (albeit on a small scale) in the Mahdi uprising and its attempted suppression subsequent to the events of 1882. To quote Mr. Brereton once more:
Quote:
In September 1884 the Government belatedly decided to despatch a relief force to rescue General Gordon, besieged in Khartoum by the rebellious Mahdi. Now Egypt and the Sudan were of course the lands of that "ship of the desert", the camel; ergo, the force must include a specially-raised Camel Corps of some 1,200 British officers and men, about half of whom were to be found by all the cavalry regiments at home. The cavalry contingent was divided into a "Heavy" and a "Light Regiment, the former comprising two officers and 43 other ranks from the Household Cavalry and each of the Dragoon Guards and Dragoon regiments in England, the "Light" being similarly found from the Hussars. The detachment from the 4th Dragoon Guards... sailed with the rest of the Heavies from Portsmouth on September 26th and disembarked at Alexandria on October 7th.
Having been introduced to their unaccustomed 22-hand mounts and gleaned some rudiments of "camelmanship" they learned, with some relief, that they were not actually expected to fight on the beasts as "cavalrymen", but were to be employed solely as mounted infantry. The force reached Korti, some 900 miles up the Nile on Christmas Day, and here General Sir Herbert Stewart was despatched with the Camel Corps and some infantry to establish a strongpoint at Abu Klea, near the Blue Nile. On January 17th (1889) the column of 1,800 men was attacked by a horde of 9,000 Mahdi fanatics, losing eleven officers and 77 men killed and 115 wounded, though they slew at least 1,100 of the "Fuzzy-Wuzzies" in their desperate seven-hour fight. This action cost the 4th Dragoon Guards detachment both officers - Darley and Law - and seven men killed and five others wounded. (Ibid., pp. 262-263.)
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From this, it seems clear that the 4th DG were indeed sent into the Sudan, although given the small scale of the action at Abu Klea (for which they didn't receive a battle honour, incidentally, owing to being present only in detachment strength), I do wonder whether there would have been much opportunity for trophy-hunting; this is especially so in the light of comments regarding the poor state of arms in the Mahdist forces, and their subsequent augmentation with modern, captured Egyptian equipment, some 15 years earlier.
I will, naturally, remove the kaskara from its scabbard forthwith in order to avert the progress of further corrosion. With regard to the wire, I suppose that it might conceivably be fine leather, although it doesn't look, or feel, like it to my distinctly inexpert eye. If only I might send a sample.
Kaskara two en route!