The Pattern 1796 heavy cavalry sword was the

sword A sword is an edged, bladed weapon intended for manual cutting or thrusting. Its blade, longer than a knife or dagger, is attached to a hilt and can be straight or curved. A thrusting sword tends to have a straighter blade with a pointed ti ...

used by the British

heavy cavalry Heavy cavalry was a class of cavalry intended to deliver a battlefield charge and also to act as a Military reserve, tactical reserve; they are also often termed ''shock cavalry''. Although their equipment differed greatly depending on the re ...

(Lifeguards, Royal Horse Guards, Dragoon Guards and Dragoons), and

King's German Legion The King's German Legion (KGL; german: Des Königs Deutsche Legion, semantically erroneous obsolete German variations are , , ) was a British Army unit of mostly expatriated German personnel during the period 1803–16. The legion achieved th ...

Dragoons, through most of the period of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. It played an especially notable role, in the hands of British cavalrymen, at the battles of

Salamanca Salamanca () is a city in western Spain and is the capital of the Province of Salamanca in the autonomous community of Castile and León. The city lies on several rolling hills by the Tormes River. Its Old City was declared a UNESCO World Heritag ...

and Waterloo. The pattern was adopted by Sweden and was used by some Portuguese cavalry.

Background

The British ''1796 Heavy Cavalry Trooper's Sword'' was a direct copy of the Austrian '' pallasch'' sword pattern of 1769 for heavy cavalry (it later received an iron scabbard (1775), in which form it was adopted by the British). John Le Marchant, a cavalry officer who designed the curved 1796 pattern light cavalry sabre, undoubtedly saw the Austrian weapon in use during the Low Countries Campaign of 1793-95, when he also made many drawings of Austrian cavalry equipment. His initial intention was that his own sword design should be adopted by all the cavalry; however, this was denied by the decision of the board of general officers to arm the heavy cavalry with a straight sword. It is probable, once a straight sword had been decided upon, that he then suggested the Austrian sword as a model.

Design

Trooper's pattern

Technically the 1796 heavy cavalry sword is a

backsword A backsword is a type of sword characterised by having a single-edged blade and a hilt with a single-handed grip. It is so called because the triangular cross section gives a flat back edge opposite the cutting edge. Later examples often have a ...

, that is a sword with a straight blade with one cutting edge and the opposite edge of the blade (the "back") thickened for most of its length to give added strength. The blade is in length, with a single broad fuller each side. The grip is of ribbed wood, or wood bound with cord to resemble the same, and covered in leather. The

iron Iron () is a chemical element with symbol Fe (from la, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, right in f ...

backpiece of the grip has ears which are riveted through the tang of the blade to give the hilt and blade a very secure connection. The hilt combines a disc guard pierced with 2 semicircular and 6 oval (never circular) holes, with single knucklebow and two slim langets (projections from the guard, which grip the throat of the scabbard) extending from the front of the guard. The langets were often removed and the left side of the guard ground away so as to reduce wear to uniforms. The latter modification would also have made it more comfortable to wear, especially on horseback. The sword was often modified by its users. The point was originally a 'hatchet point', a curved diagonal front edge similar to that of the Japanese katana, but most were altered to a symmetrical 'spear point', more common at the time, or alternatively made more acute whilst retaining the asymmetry of the tip. This was done in order to improve the sword's ability to thrust. Quite large numbers of spear-pointed examples exist with blades, along with an appropriately shortened scabbard. These may be conversions of the original standard blade, although many appear to have been manufactured to this shorter length. The sword was carried in an iron scabbard with wooden liners, and hung from the waist via sword-belt slings attached to two loose suspension rings.

Household cavalry other ranks

Variant sword types with the standard trooper's blade, but a bowl hilt similar to that of the officers' pattern, in

brass Brass is an alloy of copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn), in proportions which can be varied to achieve different mechanical, electrical, and chemical properties. It is a substitutional alloy: atoms of the two constituents may replace each other with ...

with a brass scabbard (for the Life Guards) or iron with an iron scabbard (for the Horse Guards), exist and are believed to have been issued to the other ranks of the

Household A household consists of two or more persons who live in the same dwelling. It may be of a single family or another type of person group. The household is the basic unit of analysis in many social, microeconomic and government models, and is im ...

regiments for use when on home (ceremonial) service. The scabbards of these swords did not usually have suspension rings, but were fitted with a button or slide for use with a 'frog' - a type of

baldric A baldric (also baldrick, bawdrick, bauldrick as well as other rare or obsolete variations) is a belt worn over one shoulder that is typically used to carry a weapon (usually a sword) or other implement such as a bugle or drum. The word ma ...

or belt attachment. It is known that the Household regiments employed the standard trooper's pattern swords on active service.

Officer's patterns

Officers carried a service sword, also termed an "undress sword", with a blade of identical general form to that of the trooper's pattern detailed above. However, many officers' blades bore etched, or blued and gilt, decoration. The guard, in contrast, was entirely different from the trooper's pattern, being of bowl form, and incorporating an elaborate pierced honeysuckle design with a prominent rear quillon. This hilt form is often referred to as a 'ladder hilt' (due to the pierced knucklebow resembling a ladder). The dress sword for Heavy Cavalry officers was a much smaller and lighter weapon, having a knucklebow, ovoid pommel and boat-shell guard in gilt brass or

gunmetal Gun metal, also known as red brass in the United States, is a type of bronze; an alloy of copper, tin and zinc. Proportions vary but 88% copper, 8–10% tin, and 2–4% zinc is an approximation. Originally used chiefly for making guns, it has ...

. The blade was much shorter and narrower than the service sword's, and usually double edged with a short narrow central fuller each side. The dress sword usually had a leather scabbard with gilt brass mounts, however, a number of examples exist of swords with iron service scabbards, suggesting that some officers may have employed the dress sword in the field.

Use

The trooper's sword, and the officer's undress sword, was a dedicated cutting weapon with a broad heavy blade and was renowned as being completely unfit for delicate swordsmanship. This was also the foundation for respect it gained from those who appreciated it; most cavalry troopers used the blades like bludgeons and the guards as knuckle dusters (as Le Marchant observed) and the 1796 was significantly more suited for this than most other swords. A well-known description of the brutal power of the weapon was made by Sgt. Charles Ewart, 2nd Dragoons (Scots Greys) concerning how he captured an

Imperial Eagle The eagle is used in heraldry as a charge, as a supporter, and as a crest. Heraldic eagles can be found throughout world history like in the Achaemenid Empire or in the present Republic of Indonesia. The European post-classical symbolism of ...

at Waterloo: "''It was in the charge I took the eagle off the enemy; he and I had a hard contest for it; he made a thrust at my groin I parried it off and cut him down through the head. After this a lancer came at me; I threw the lance off my right side, and cut him through the chin upwards through the teeth. Next, a foot soldier fired at me, then charged me with his bayonet, which I also had the good luck to parry, and I cut him down through the head; thus ended the contest.''"

In fiction

The fictional character most often associated with the 1796 Heavy Cavalry Sword is Richard Sharpe,

Bernard Cornwell Bernard Cornwell (born 23 February 1944) is an English-American author of historical novels and a history of the Waterloo Campaign. He is best known for his novels about Napoleonic Wars rifleman Richard Sharpe. He has also written ''The Saxon ...

's Napoleonic

Rifle A rifle is a long-barreled firearm designed for accurate shooting, with a barrel that has a helical pattern of grooves ( rifling) cut into the bore wall. In keeping with their focus on accuracy, rifles are typically designed to be held with ...

officer.Fletcher 1996, p. 109

Notes

References

* *Fletcher, Ian (1996) ''Napoleonic Wars: Wellington's Army,'' Brassey's, London. *Fletcher, Ian (1999) ''Galloping at Everything'', Spellmount (Staplehurst). *Maughan, Stephen (Undated) ''Household Cavalry in the Waterloo Campaign'', Napoleonic Archive. *Robson, B. (1975) ''Swords of the British Army,'' Arms and Armour Press. * *Thoumine, R.H. (1968), ''Scientific Soldier, A Life of General Le Marchant, 1766–1812,'' Oxford U. Press.

External links

Images of trooper's swordsImages of officer's service swordsImages of an officer's dress sword
{{Use dmy dates, date=June 2017 British service swords 18th-century weapons 19th-century military history of the United Kingdom