Victorian sword stick esoterica

[Jim McDougall]

Another seldom traveled road in sword history.
As I have often shared here, my attractions to swords and their forms and use from old films watched from boyhood have prompted my quests to seek out examples and learn more on their history.

While apparently misremembering Sherlock Holmes in films having a rack of canes including sword canes in his 221B lodgings, the notion of a flashing sword from a seemingly harmless gentleman in these dark Victorian settings has always been intriguing.

After years I finally found one, this one with antler horn handle and of course, malacca cane shaft/scabbard , and the most important, a vintage rapier blade, probably German, late 17th c.

The history of concealing a sword blade within a shaft, or cane has been around for some time, and known somewhat in other cultural contexts, but in the 'west' one of the most notable ancestors seems to be to the Spanish adventurer and spy of 16th c. Alonso de Contreras. He is noted to have concealed a sword within a staff as he traveled as a pilgrim.

The notion of a concealed sword in the fashionable accessory of a walking stick is one borne out of the decreased acceptability of gentlemen wearing swords in public, largely by the latter 18th c. With self defense still a most considered factor especially with wealthy and gentry figures, the placement of a rapier blade inside a fashionable walking stich was de rigueur.

The use of malacca cane, from the Asian rattan palm , this material was brought by trade vessels bringing back all manner of exotica for the whims of Europeans, and was most popular for various canes, walking sticks and umbrellas.

In the early 19th century, this fashion had become well established among 'dandies' and one colorful figure in this category was Lord Byron (1788-1824) the great Romantic period poet. His lameness did not prevent him from learning defense using the sword, and within the walking stick, of which he owned several. Indeed he studied under the fame London master of fence, Henry Angelo.

Naturally this fashion tradition carried through the century and into the 20th.
However the idea of the deadly rapier blade had not always sat well with fencing and martial arts masters and enthusiasts. Early on during the late 17th through 18th centuries, the use of the deadly rapier blades from Spain and France became popular in England leaving behind the heavier sword blades and favoring the thrust. Contrary to popular belief, the idea behind the duel was not to kill the opponent, but to disable him, with the objective primarily to satisfy honor.

Still, the idea of self defense against a dangerous attack from less than honorable person would seem to negate that idea.

It seems that the idea of these sword sticks/canes became popular in the British military, especially in the Indian Raj, and officers had daggers in swagger sticks, as well as sword canes often awarded ceremonially by their ranks.

This is something I have wanted to write on for many years, and wanted to share this here, in hopes that others out there might have found this topic interesting as well.

I think of the later life of some of these old rapier blades in these interesting contexts is intriguing as dimensionally crossing from the swashbuckling swordsmen of Dumas et al into the dark Victorian shadows of Holmes and others. Though I hate the idea of a true old Tomas Aiala blade dismantled, it is hard to resist it finding later life in this context.

The bottom two pics are the Lord Byron sword cane, post 1822 as he had added the name NOEL that year.