Original Item: One-of-a-kind. This royal engineers pattern sword is very hard to find. By the close of the Victorian era most regiments had standardized on the P-1895 infantry officer’s sword where previously various regiments used patterns exclusive only to them.
This Royal Engineers Pattern Sword is circa 1870 and is named to Lt. T. J. LINGLEY of the ROYAL ENGINEERS which is incorporated in the engraving on the sword’s blade.
Brass fretted full guard with sharkskin grip and brass wire binding. The elaborately engraved blade bears the officer’s name amid foliage and stands of arms. One side bears the Royal Cypher of Queen Victoria and the maker’s name:
HOBSON
& SONS
LITTLE
WINDMILL St
LONDON
Other side reads:
ENGINEER
VOLT Rs
T.J.
LINGLEY
R.E.
This sword comes complete with its original all brass overseas scabbard, with a few storage dents, intended for use in the clammy hot atmosphere of Britain’s colonial tropics.
This is an identical pattern sword as carried at “RORKE’S DRIFT” by LIEUTENANT JOHN ROUSE MARRIOTT CHARD, V.C. who was commissioned in the Royal Engineers in 1868 and won his VICTORIA CROSS in 1879 for his defense of the Mission at RORKE’S DRIFT during the ZULU WARS. A very rare Sword carried by a fellow Regimental Officer of the 1870s.