THERE WAS QUITE A LONG PERIOD of inactivity between the years 1814 and 1842, when no new cutlass designs were either produced or considered. The Royal Navy relied on the old 1804/14 Pattern although unofficial variants of the 1804 were produced during these years. Whether they had the permission of the Board of Ordnance is probably unknown and it is possible that these variants were made for the British Merchant Navy, who carried armaments on board ship, including both guns and cutlasses.
It is interesting to note that subsequent changes to British cutlasses came about following complaints from seamen that the 1804 Pattern did not provide enough protection for the hand. This was a common complaint echoed by contemporary soldiers in both the British infantry and cavalry at that time.
Between the years 1840 and 1845, modifications were made to the hilts and blades of British cutlasses and there followed a series of production delays, disagreements between authorities, a disastrous fire at the Tower of London that left the Royal Navy seriously short of cutlasses and even the adaptation (by shortening the blade and replacing the hilt with a new cutlass hilt) of the British Army’s 1796 Pattern Heavy Cavalry Trooper’s Sword, to be carried as a naval cutlass. It is only from 1842 that a serious attempt was made to produce large quantities of the new pattern cutlass, although it wasn’t until the 1850’s that stocks were deemed sufficient.
This highlighted the desperate measures that the Board of Ordnance had come to by the mid-19th Century. It therefore came as something of a relief to the Board that between 1842 and 1845 (this seems to be the date that collectors agree on as regards the naming of a specific pattern), order was restored with a new pattern that featured a large sheet iron bowl guard that was similar in design to the British Army’s 1821 Pattern Heavy Cavalry Trooper’s Sword. The grip was ribbed cast iron and the blade was slightly curved with a double-edged, spear point blade.
An alteration was made to the hilt in 1858 whereby the tang accommodated the full width of the grip and was held together by four rivets passing through the tang. Other slight modifications included the reduction of guard size and a smaller pommel. The trailing end of the guard was also turned up to avoid fraying of the uniform. In 1887, blade lengths were reduced by two inches.
© Harvey Withers Military Publishing, 2024