Most swords have unfortunately perished with time. However, we can now see that the sword has survived and not only that - is in great condition. Early Number. In the Wilkinson company decided to start numbering private purchase products. Henry Wilkinson had started making swords in the early to mids, having previously been a gun maker which he also continued doing.
He published his 'Engines of War' available in full on Archive. It is universally acknowledged that the manufacture of Swords was never at a lower ebb in this country than at present moment. Our officers returning from India can attest the numerous failures they have witnessed. After so long a digression, I return to my principal subject, Swords, the manufacture of which I have studied for several years, and now propose to enter into fully, in connexion with my own business.
Henry Wilkinson's main innovation was to introduce a standard method for testing sword blades to 'proof' them fit for combat use, but he also redesigned the officer's regulation blade, moving away from the pattern pipeback designs and bringing in the new more-robust pattern blade for all services.
More about this new pattern blade in my article on this website. With Henry Wilkinson's new blade design becoming standard regulation for Army officers in and Navy officers in he had attained the top reputation for sword making and several of his innovations had to be imitated by other makers in order for them to stay in business and compete.
Wilkinson-made swords were more expensive than most other makers and purchase of a Wilkinson sword was partly a matter of taking the weapon seriously and partly a matter of prestige.
Only a few other makers, such as Reeves, Pillin and Thurkle, were able to produce top end swords that could compete with Wilkinson. John Latham therefore took an increasingly active part in decision making within the company, which probably led to the instigation of the numbering system in January I would guess that this was Latham's own idea, given the dating convergence. When the numbering system was introduced in , it seems that the number was set upon as the estimated number of swords that had been produced up until that date.
This seems plausible looking at the statistics, given that in most years they recorded between swords per year and Wilkinson had been making swords in quantity since around Since and until the company's closure at the end of the beginning of the 21st century, all Wilkinson private purchase swords were numbered and recorded.
Thankfully, these records mostly survive and are now accessible through Richard Milner of Arms Research as well as being stored at the Royal Armouries. Unfortunately, not all the records show who a sword was sold to and there are certainly some errors in the records - I have one sword in my collection which is recorded, but the number is recorded wrongly by one digit.
In a hand-completed ledger of this nature it is understandable that some errors and omissions crept in. Regardless, the record is a truly amazing resource that allows us to match many swords to individual officers and opens up a whole field of research that would be otherwise closed to us.
Wilkinson Sword Co. Ltd and the crossed swords logo was introduced in , superseding Henry Wilkinson of Pall Mall London. Rowe to His pattern sketch book still exists but it is incomplete. The company also had a club and workroom for the old-timers where they could come in as suited them and earn extra money doing useful things like rough-filing up brass sword castings, cutting Sam Browne leathers to sew onto the wooden bodies, hand polishing and various other jobs, depending on their skills.
Before this, blades were marked with Warranted , et cetera. Details of all of the best proved blades were recorded in the proof book and, in the s at least, each blade was personally tested by either Henry Wilkinson or John Latham. The best proved blades would then receive a serial number, stamped deeply into the spine. Spine numbers were not just for swords: they included feat-of-arms swords, hunting swords, presentation swords, swords that came in for repair and reproving, some bayonet blades, hunting knives, and so on.
An officer could bring his sword even if it had been originally purchased elsewhere and have the blade tested and proved by Wilkinson.
The proof disc itself was gilded brass and not solid gold as some have thought, however, a pattern existed for it to be cast from gold for insertion on the very expensive presentation swords, circa With their much slimmer blades, piquet-weights were often but not always etched with a proof mark instead of having an inset disc. A hexagonal proof mark was used from onwards to denote best proved blades. Sometime in the s, the proof disc was dispensed with entirely because of the cost and the proof marks were instead always etched into the blade.
Military swords sold under contract were usually not marked with a number. Swords from the s that have no serial number were probably made to help sell razor blades. There were a number of these swords of various patterns supplied to the sales and advertising department for such things as window displays. They were made, proved and etched in the same way as their regulation counterparts. One of the most interesting aspects of collecting swords by Wilkinson is the serial number found on many of the spines.
As described above, these numbers correspond to a docket in the blade proof book and this can often provide the researcher with extra details about the sword and its purchaser. However, sometimes the dockets can be a little difficult to decipher as they include handwritten notes and terminology esoteric to the layman. We are lucky in that in most cases there is more information about the total sword. It was quite normal for standard blades to be made in batches, proved and then mounted with infantry or rifles hilts as the orders came in.
This means that some dockets might show that a blade was finished and sold months or even years apart. Following are some notes regarding the information one might discover on a docket. The term embossing is used widely in the dockets and is synonymous with etching. SB stands for Sam Browne and refers to a hilt being covered in leather.
American cloth. This was a waterproof cotton cloth that was glazed and varnished and black in colour—an imitation of Morocco leather—and it was used in the cheaper sword bags. Also known as imitation donkey skin and in the United States as enamelled or oil cloth.
ISD stands for India Store Department and is usually present with the broad arrow marking on the blade near the hilt. W49 came first from , belonging to a Mr Woodley who was an employee and also a government registered inspector, and W35 came later.
If both of these are present on a single blade it suggests that a re-inspection took place, perhaps after a repair. As for modern inspection standards, the specifications and inspections are still as rigid today as they always were.
They perform random blade springing and striking tests and these tests are applied to contract swords for the Ministry as well as private purchase swords. Walter Johnson, head fitter the Johnsons—father, uncle, son—came from Reeves in William Harding whose brother James was also a fitter was listed as a fitter on an dated docket.
In closing, Robert Wilkinson-Latham has authored many books which will be of interest to those who wish to widen their knowledge of historical weaponry, including:. North-West Frontier, The Sudan Campaigns. British Military Bayonets, The Royal Navy Swords: Including other Edged Weapons. Cheers, Roy. Lancer From memory it was made in and presumably carried during WW 1. I have a copy of the page from the sword book but there is no name of the owner, dam!!
Let me know if you would like photos of either. Regards Phil. Originally Posted by dylanmdestpern. All times are GMT. The time now is PM. Recent Books by Forum Members. User Name. Remember Me? All Albums. Mark Forums Read. Other Pages: Galleries, Links etc. Page 1 of 2. Thread Tools. L1A1 Member. Find all posts by L1A1. Find all posts by manchesters. Roy Member. Find all posts by Roy. Join Date: Feb Location: norfolk Posts: 1, Find all posts by norfolk regt man.
Cheerio, Roy Attached Images. Screen Shot at 8. Hi all Finally got around to taking a few photos of the sword Attached Images. Kevin Elliott Member.
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