British 1796 Pattern Heavy Cavalry Trooper’s Sword

THE AUSTRIAN MODEL 1775 HEAVY CUIRASSIER’S SWORD seems to have been the inspiration for the famous 1796 Pattern Heavy Cavalry Trooper’s Sword and it is extremely similar.  Interestingly, its introduction was in complete contradiction to the type of curved and slashing sword proposed by Major J. G. Le Marchant (that was subsequently adopted by the light cavalry), being of long and straight-bladed form with a hatchet-point.  It also had a distinctive disc hilt with double langets.  It was carried in a heavy wrought iron scabbard with two two bands and hanging rings.

Although a rather fearsome looking weapon, in practice it did not match up to its French counterpart that had a long and thrusting blade which was capable of inflicting mortal wounds, unlike the British sword blade that tended to wound rather than kill. Heavy in the hand and unwieldy, it took a strong man to use this sword effectively.  Sergeant Charles Ewart of the 2nd (Royal Scots Greys) Dragoons was just such a person, and his account of desperate one-to-one combat during the Battle of Waterloo, depicts him carving up a number of Frenchmen with this sword. His success was probably enabled by the fact that he stood well over 6ft 4” tall, quite unusual for men of that time, which would have given considerable force and impetus to the sword.  He also became famous when he captured the French Eagle during the battle.   In later years, he recalled his experiences of that day:

“One made a thrust at my groin.  I parried it off and cut him down through the head.  A lancer came at me – I threw the lance off and cut him through the chin and upwards through the teeth. Next, a foot-soldier fired at me and then charged me with his bayonet, which I also had the good luck to parry and then I cut him down through the head.  This ended it.”

The actual sword (and Eagle Standard) thought to have been carried by Ewart at Waterloo is currently kept in the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards Museum, in Edinburgh Castle.  Sergeant Ewart’s sword is of semi-spear point type and was converted into this form (as were most sword stocks of this pattern before the Battle of Waterloo) after poor battle reports when using othe original hatchet point.  Another modification was the removal of the double langets which served no real practical purpose and the grinding down of the inner edge of the disc guard that tended to fray the uniform.

© Harvey Withers Military Publishing, 2024

Taken from The British Sword – From 1600 to the Present Day – An Illustrated History by Harvey J S Withers – 12,000 full colour photographs – 884 pages

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