Of the examples I own, three have verifiable provenance, which has assisted me in ascertaining a little more of what became of the 1400. There are many rumours also, some based in truth, some in fantasy.
One story is that the gurkhas believed the blades had no soul, and simply threw them away. Another says that a large portion are still sitting in a warehouse in Singapore, gathering dust. Gurkhas, for anybody who has never spent time with them, are a canny bunch, so I don’t see them discarding kukris en masse. The army doesn’t tend to listen to how people “feel” about a weapon, the nature of the beast is that items will continue to be issued (with the requisite forms and hurdles of course) until they are either all gone, or no longer required.
However, one interesting account comes from a Captain R.V.W. Curd, Royal West Kent Regiment (1942-1953) and Royal Army Ordnance Corps (1953-1965), who wrote to Wilkinson’s some years later.
In the letter Captain Curd wrote: “It was part of my duties to order replacement kukris from one of our officers stationed in Northern India whose job it was to buy them locally from makers in the area. Some years prior to my arrival, Gurkhas in Malaya seemed to be wanting too frequent replacements for worn out knives, so somebody ordered a trial sample order from your firm for field trials by one gurkha company”.
He continues “The first I heard about them was when the consignment was returned to Singapore as the Gurkha’s didn’t like them. The reason given was that the quality was too high, and that once the fine edge of the main knife was gone, they could not sharpen them. The little sharpening knife couldn’t cope with the hard blade, and there were no stone wheels in the jungle!”.
Now, I can understand that the handles were an issue, and probably began rotting in the jungle as soon as they arrived, hence the order for repairs and replacements. But having used a WSC 51 Chakmak (sharpening steel) to sharpen a Wilkinson Sword 51 kukri, I can assure you it works just fine.
Perhaps a small number of unissued pieces were returned, and perhaps they are the majority of the excellent condition pieces we see on the market today. I can understand that the Wilkinson quality and brand would have certainly appealed to Gurkha Officers, so perhaps some found their way home that way. (One of mine certainly did!)
And as for the rest? Malaya lasted for twelve years, so I doubt it would take long to burn through 1400 kukris. I don’t see any great mystery, they were issued, used, repaired, reissued, used, etc until they were either destroyed, rendered unserviceable, or replaced by something else. I don’t think many made it home.
Around twenty (20) examples are currently extant, in various museums and private collections across the globe. Many are found in relatively good condition. The hardest part of the set to come by is the frog. I have seen less than five complete sets. For those want to collect a complete set of British Pattern Kukri, they are quite simply, the holy grail.
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