Hi Andy,
Thanks so much for posting this! These lances are indeed within the perameters of ethnographic edged weapons in that they were typically used by Indian Army lancer regiments from the 19th century and possibly as a parade weapon even to present times. I have a pamphlet of listings of markings on British weapons which is not handy at the moment, so other means of locating the units represented will have to do unless hopefully someone out there can identify.
It does seem that the Indian lancer units of WWI used bamboo shafts on their lances, while the British ones were of ash. The examples I have handled were I believe Patiala Lancers, 3rd Skinners Horse and others I cannot recall.
In WWI, various units including these and several others saw service as cavalry including units of the famed "Bengal Lancers", and I believe these units were also present during the action in China during the "Boxer Rebellion".
A great resource for identifying these marks and information on the lances would be the arms dept. at the National Army Museum in London (for anyone located there!
and who would have loads of detail on all forms of the weapon.
I should also note that the lance was still present with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police a number of years ago, and I was fortunate to see one of thier most impressive demonstrations where the riders carried lances and rode in formation...an honestly breathtaking sight!
Hopefully we might hear from someone with more on the markings, and it would be great to hear from others on other examples of use of the lance in modern times.
Great post Andy!!
All the best,
Jim