The term 'Victorian Gothic' was primarily applied to the architectural phenomenon in England which seems to have evolved out of romanticism in England from about the 1740s. It would seem that there were leanings toward such romanticism already with the high society figures in England with the mysterious 'Hellfire Clubs' of c.1719 to well into the 18th century. As is well known, the so called Gothic novel came about in 1764 with Horace Walpoles "Castle of Otranto" which used the horror and foreboding atmosphere to great effect.
These Hellfire clubs were essentially a parody used in satirical sense toward religion, politics and other key contemporary matters, a sort of 'mens club' where wide range of otherwise socially unacceptable activities were engaged in.
When the Duke of Wharton, founder of the original club was chastized by the King and it was disbanded, he subsequently went into Freemasonry, then powerfully forming into the secretive fraternal brotherhood present in England, Scotland and France, expanding further internationally. The other developed versions of the 'club' remained active however, one of the most infamous that overseen by Sir Francis Dashwood from 1749 to around 1760-66.
These type of romanticized settings were the basis on which many aspects of neo Gothic classicism were formed, and which may be considered well in place in the 19th century. While we know Freemasonry was extremely well known by then, this weapon does not display symbolism particularly mindful of any of thier known themes. Still, mystery and illusion were extremely popular themes in many secretive socialogical deviations, which could of course include versions of occult and Wicca type groups. It is known that the much later Alastair Crowley even followed some of the ritual and ceremony from the hellfire groups.
Again, this dagger does not seem to have anything to do with the ever misunderstood and mysterious 'athame', and the only reason the term pagan was associated with the motif is the green man and dragon are known from those times. It does seem English, despite the baroque styling which even though associated with French was not only popular in England, but worked well with these Gothic themes.
The use of the stiletto was of course long obsolete, but just as with the also mysterious 'bombardiers stilettos' of Venice from much earlier, they survived as insignia of rank and as a secretive signal of insidious allusion. As there only artillery gunners were allowed to have such weapons, arcane symbols and measurements were engraved on many of these to suggest they were calibrated gunners stilettos, while actually the carrier was of more sinister purpose.
These are the kinds of allusions that may well be in place here, and the dagger may be considered made for or commissioned by someone of means and with purposes known to them, rather than a known type of dagger with more defined use.
The attachments are a gravestone, in variation of the green man theme using a skull, the Freemasons are keen on symbolism of the 'memento mori' (one day all will die). It is worthy of note that rebirth/ renaissance is often seen symbolized on weapons such has with the numbers 1414, which actually are from the Bible passage, when a man dies, shall he live again. The green man also carries rebirth symbolism.
The other is Sir Francis Dashwood, dressed as St. Francis of Assisi in a depiction of the allegorical themes often used in these clubs.
As usual, one of my own Gothic novels in describing this, but I like to write, so why not?
All the best,
Jim
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