British pipeback parabolic blade saber c. 1801

[Bryce]

Here is a pipe-back sword which can be positively attributed to a flank company officer during the Napoleonic period. It was made by Prosser and marked to the grenadier company of the 45th Regiment of foot. It is the mameluke hilted one above Beauchamp's sword for comparison.
Cheers,
Bryce

[Bryce]

Here is one of the earliest British pipe-back swords I have seen. Made by James Wilkes around 1800. The intent was to make a better cutting sword by giving it a very fine cutting edge, with the pipe-back there to maintain the rigidity of the blade. Note how the "pipe" doesn't continue thru to the point unlike later versions. It also has the same curve as a standard 1796 sabre. Most later versions tended to become straighter, with the obvious exception of Jim's!
Cheers,
Bryce

[kronckew]

The wide bladed Prosser (and Wilkes) versions allow for a decent cutting geometry - a finer, sharper edge angle. The narrower the blade, the steeper the angle you need to sharpen it to keep the spine from getting in the way of the stone. You can have a 'razor' sharp edge but if the edge angle is too great, it will not cut well.

The Prosser style blade width allows a deeper slice before the added friction of the spine lessens the cut effectiveness.

The Wilkes version further improves the cut by removing the 'pipe' in the most effective cutting are near the point. Many swords are only sharpened in the first third to half of the blade from the tip, which is where you would normally cut - the rest unsharpened to improve notching resistance during a parry - and the Wilkes tip would allow that part to make a deeper cut after the further section initiated it during a draw cut, or a deeper push cut with the tip initiating.

Bryce, those two swords, Mameluke/1796lc style pipes, are gorgeous. I shall put purchasing similar ones on my bucket list.

[Richard G]

Bearing in mind an officer of a flank company was expected to skirmish and hence run around a bit more, I wonder if there is a more prosaic reason for these shortish, heavily curved and sometimes pipe-backed swords; which is, they were easier to drag\carry around and a lot lighter than the full scale models.
Best wishes
Richard
PS. I understand the purpose of 'skirmishing' at that time was to observe, annoy, harass and disrupt opposing troops from a distance rather than engage in actual hand to hand combat.

[Jim McDougall]

The entries here have really been informative and helpful in understanding the function of the 'flank companies' and much appreciated, and thank you guys again!

Richard, this is a quite reasonably thought out suggestion regarding the sabers often regarded (or specifically identified) as 'flank company'. It does not seem however that the size or length or for that matter curvature was necessarily in mind as far as for officers of these company's. It does remain a plausible concern though, as it does not seem these units fell into any consistent protocol in their activity or manner of function.

It does seem that these are typically officers sabers, and if I have understood correctly in the protocol's of the times, officers were most often mounted.
Obviously that likely was not necessarily the case in 'skirmishing', which falls outside the guidelines for battle in the times.

It seems further that while the M1803 swords were basically 'regulation' patterns, most other sabers deemed possible flank company examples are either other ranks forms (as with my parabolic saber) or other officers forms with blade variations.

I wanted to add here another example of an 'out of character' saber which may fall into this unusual 'flank company' denominator.

It is a garrison type basket hilt of c. 1740s (typically by Jeffries, Drury in London), but here it is found with a M1788 cavalry blade. When I acquired this many years ago, it was suggested it may have been for a flank unit using the old basket hilt, obviously likely in one of the Scottish regiments.
In the 1780s the use of the basket hilt was ceased by infantry (i.e. Black Watch ) and perhaps an officer chose to use this remounted hilt as a fighting sword with curved blade.

It would seem that the flank companies, by their very nature (skirmishing is described as 'irregular' fighting or combat outside normal battle regularities) had a degree of carte blanche in weaponry, particularly the officers.

This thread has become most interesting in looking at the unusual characteristics of the swords that seem attributed to these flank company's.
I look forward to ongoing examples.....and Wayne ....thank you for that excellent description of the dynamics of saber use.

Bryce again thank you for the great examples, and I WILL get the rest of the measurements on this blade asap

[Jim McDougall]

Finally!

The blade is 32"straight line hilt base to point.

It is 1 1/4 " for 23"

Then drops to 1" @6" from point as it radiuses out to sharp point.

The raised (thickened) 'step' begins 9" from point.
It is almost as if it was intended for armor piercing with respect to the bolstered blade points on Indian weapons such as tulwars.
We can only wonder if there was some imagined intent to piercing mail or thick padding of textile.

[Bryce]

G'day Jim,
Those sorts of dimensions mean it is just as likely that this is a cavalry officer's sword as an infantry officer's. It is a pity it no longer has its scabbard as this may have given us some more clues. The scabbard may also have given us some more clues as to the country of origin. I wouldn't be surprised if this wasn't actually British, or maybe it was made for a British officer serving with a foreign army. The taped grip is unusual for a British sword of this period.
Cheers,
Bryce