Napoleonic Wars Artillery Side Arms
Posted: 12/02/19 (12:17pm)What a week it is shaping up to be! I have managed to get hold of a couple of extremely rare items. Both from the Napoleonic/Peninsular Wars. The first is a Royal Field Artillery enlisted man’s short sword dating from the early 1800’s and the other is an Artillery officer’s dirk from the same period.
I will be adding the artillery gunners/artilleryman’s side arm to the website later this week. The officer's dirk is not for sale but I wanted to share it with you by way of my blog.
Both of these artillery side arms are incredibly hard to find. The chance of finding additional copies and in such great condition is about as likely as getting bitten by a toothed chicken!
This incredibly rare military dirk was the property of an officer of the Chester-le-Street Volunteer Artillery, which was raised on the 1st October 1803. The Chester-le-Street Volunteer Artillery were disbanded in 1811.
Artillery officers of the period carried a cavalry type sabre but when dismounted to command a battery, they often chose to carry a dirk instead. The cavalry sabre, intended for combat on horseback was too long for the type of close quarter fighting that took place when defending the battery on foot. The most senior officers would have remained mounted in order to move quickly between batteries and better oversee and command the regiment. That being the case, it is likely that this dirk was the property of one of the nine fighting officers.
Those officers were:
Major Richard Bell; Captain Luke Collins; Captain John Johnson; Lieutenants William Pubus, George Greenwell and William Matthews and Second Lieutenants Joseph Sowler, Robert Tanner and John Croudace.
The 374mm double-edged blade has a long central fuller on both sides, running to within 15mm of the spear point. The blade is in excellent condition, bright and clean with only a few small patches of tarnish. The blade retains its fighting edges.
The octagonal ivory grip is in good condition and has a gilded brass bolster, recurved crosspiece with ball quillons and a faceted, cushion pommel and button through which the tang is peened. The hilt retains much of its original gilding.
The dirk is complete with its original black leather scabbard with gilded mounts. The leather is in great condition and the stitching is intact and sound. The throat of the scabbard bears a circular cartouche within which is engraved “Chester-le-Street Volunteers.”
One to keep and cherish.
In a day or two you will find the Artillery gunner’s sword and additional photographs in the “Newly Added” section of the website.
