Help Sword info required

[sirupate]

Hello Royston;

Generaly Dhal as in the picture below;


Cheers Simon

[sirupate]

Ok, I have managed to find out that it was the 8th (The King's Royal Irish) Regiment of (Light) Dragoons, and they would have been using the 1796 light cavalry sabre as per this link; 8th Royal Irish Officers 1796 light cavalry sabre

[Jim McDougall]

Hi Simon,
Youre of course very welcome, this really is interesting and I wish I could add more. It seems we have had discussions about the kukri a while back, and while I am really not very knowledgable on them, I think I mentioned that the late Byron Farwell had written some very comprehensive material on the Gurkhas. I'm sure you have already done that, but mentioned anyway.

The regiment being light dragoons, of course does differentiate from dragoons, which were typically heavy cavalry unless otherwise specified in this period. I think there have been a number of discussions on the use of cut vs. thrust in which the M1796 light cavalry sabre has been discussed. Using the heading 'British tulwars' in the search feature brings up some pretty detailed information on these.

I was going to suggest the many articles written by John Morgan in "Classic Arms and Militaria" on many of the British regulation swords, one was titled 'chopping wood' I think. Perhaps extracts or back issues can be obtained. I wish I had access to my files and notes on these! John was incredibly detailed in his writing, and sometimes got frustrated when the issue erred in the text etc. and would kindly send me annotations. As often the case, we havent communicated in years, but he is an incredibly knowledgable and helpful guy.

The title "The Face of Battle" by the late John Keegan contains magnificent text on Waterloo that offers amazing perspective into the often graphic dynamics and psychology experienced by combatants, and while of course not directly related, gives insight to the cavalry of the time in combat.

Mr. Farwell also wrote a wonderful article which I think was titled 'Johnny Gurk' or to that effect, applied with the utmost respect by British military to the Gurkhas who became some of the toughest fighters to fight by thier side after these times. I believe it was in "Military History" magazine. Sorry I cannot recall details offhand.

All the best,
Jim

[sirupate]

Hello Jim,

I have Byron Farwell's book 'The Gurkhas', a very well written piece. I haven't come across the article you mention that he did on the Gurkhas, I will certainley keep an eye out for it.

I have been going through the threads on here, and came across the Tulwar vs Sabre thread, which was very interesting, I am a fan of both cut and thrust, and believe a sword should be able to do both, as in this encounter; 'Lieutenant Boileau found himself engaged in a sword duel with Parsa Ram Thapa (probably using either a Tulwar or Shamshir), who thrust Lieutenant Boileau (using an 1803 Infantry Pattern Officers sword?) in the leg with his sabre'
I also came across the thread on Custer's swords, fabulous!! Being an ardent fan of Custer it was a great read.
Thank you for the leads on references about Swords, I willl do my best to follow them up, the re-search into Bristish swords is developing into quite a liking, as they have some nice shapes, plus the interest has always been lurking since I did fencing at school.
Once again many thanks for you help, cheers Simon