Special pattern swords of the 7th (Queen’s Own) Hussars 1857 to 1900

Abstract

The use of special pattern swords by cavalry officers of the British and Indian Army is well documented. Whilst these swords were usually custom made to meet the requirements of individual officers, others bore regimental insignia and, more rarely, are known to have been approved as regimental patterns in lieu of the then current regulations. To date there has been very little documentation to show to what extent, if any, special patterns were widely adopted by officers of the 7th (Queen’s Own) Hussars. This paper describes extensive searches of the Wilkinson Proof Records held at the Royal Armouries, Leeds which were made in an attempt to identify such officers and to determine any uniformity in the specifications of their swords where these departed from the regulation pattern for light cavalry. Two 7th Hussars special patterns were found corresponding to periods 1857 to 1858 and 1893 to 1900, both of which gave rise to design features adopted by officers of other regiments.