Original British Victorian Era Officer’s Pocket Club Truncheon – Personal Collection David Machnicki Author of At Arm’s Length Series Original Items

Original Item: One-of-a-kind. Purchased directly from David F. Machnicki, the author of At Arm’s Length Trench Club book Series. We were told that this club will be featured in the upcoming Volume three of the series

This small cudgel, truncheon, or club is a finely manufactured example from Swaine & Adeney (1848–1910). Measuring only 10 inches in overall length it features a leather pear shaped lead cast head, with hard wood haft and easy brass pommel cap with integrated lanyard loop. A classic British buff white leather lanyard is still attached but the closure rivet is alas absent. The small size was perfect for an officer to carry in his uniform pocket or for a gentleman walking the dark streets of London. The top of the club is marked on a brass disk:

SWAINE & ADERNEY
MAKERS TO THE QUEEN

Swaine & Adeney (1848–1910)

In 1845, some three years before William Isaac resigned, Edward Swaine took into partnership his nephew and son-in-law James Adeney, who had served a seven-year apprenticeship with him. For a short time the firm was known as Swaine, Isaac & Adeney, and then for almost a hundred years, from 1848 to 1943, the firm bore the name Swaine & Adeney, becoming Swaine & Adeney Ltd on incorporation in 1910.

The sporting press in March 1863 reported the appointment of Swaine & Adeney as whip-manufacturers to Albert Edward, Prince of Wales. The patronage of the Prince of Wales helped determine the firm’s future direction. As the growing railway network ate into the demand for coaching whips, the firm welcomed the opportunity to build custom among the hunting and racing community for whom the Prince of Wales stood out as the royal figurehead.

New opportunities were found in meeting the new and growing market for polo equipment, including mallets and polo whips.

With the advent of the motor car, or “horseless carriage” as it was called, Swaine & Adeney turned to the manufacture of luggage sets as luxury motoring accessories. When the firm took over Köhler & Son, the London makers of coaching and post horns in 1907, the new focus of the subsidiary was hunting horns and part of Swaine & Adeney’s strategy was clearly to consolidate its position as suppliers of hunting equipment