British LC 1796 sabre in Spanish use
 

This is just a short intro to the subject, which as far as I know has not been revised previously, much less researched.

Since the first involvements of the British Army and Navy in the peninsula in 1808, it seems 1796 light cavalry sabres were supplied to both Portuguese and Spanish units. I have seen some references to the coastal landing of swords behind French lines in the gulf of Biscay. Later the supply would be as well of only blades, at Cadiz for example.

It will be difficult to identify a complete original LC 1796 sabre as being used in the Peninsula Campaign or later (1820s, 1830s, 1840s), in the Portuguese or Spanish armies, unless explicit unit numbers or mottoes are present. Many have been probably brought back to UK or USA in later periods.

This is not the case for 1796 blades that had been rehilted and found in Spain or Spanish collections. I believe there are two general customs here.

-Possibly because of their lightness, officers liked the 1796 blades, so they will take precedence for keeping them over the troopers.

-And they seem to have preferred brass hilts modelled on the French ANXI sabres, to the original iron stirrup (P) types.

Some of these swords were built in the Peninsula War period, but other were assembled later indeed.

I will show some examples.

Older ones are probably those British blades mounted with original captured French ANXI hilts, with their original markings. Blade by GILL.

Later, some workshops in Spain were probably able to cast the hilts, copying the French ANXI hilt. These do not have markings. A lot of research could be done here. For example, Gabriel Benito Ybarzabal, who would later make
the brass hilts and iron scabbards of many Toledo swords until the 1830s, worked in Eibar/Placencia, that was under French ocupattion in 1808-1813.

Did he made hilts for the French? No idea. In 1814 he was able to make hilts for the Spanish Guardia de Corps units, so we could think his workshop was spared.

In 1821, after a political turn, larger freedom was given to individual entrepreneurs, so Benito Ybarzabal started making complete swords in his own factory. One of his models was a copy of a LC 1796 blade, marked on the spine Fabrica de Ybarzabal Año de 1821, with an unmarked copy of a French ANXI hilt. Scabbard, copy of the British original, is marked Ybarzabal. It seems this concoction was a favourite of some Spanish officers and they ordered it to be made anew.

Spanish cavalry officer swords with Toledo blades can be found with iron hilts resembling the ANXI, in the period 1808-1820. And same happens with the 1796 LC blades.

In later years, some Spanish derivatives of the ANXI hilts, as the rare 1825 LC model or the 1815 LC for troopers or officers (here) were also matched to the British 1796 LC blades.

Even the 1860 LC model (Iron basket) can be found with an old 1796 LC blade. Probably an officer favourite.

This is an absolutely brilliant, fascinating and esoteric topic! Thank you Midelburgo for placing this!

The British M1796 light cavalry saber was probably one of the most ubiquitous of all cavalry sabers, and as well known was the first official 'regulation' pattern sword of the British army. The notable success of these, which combined the features of earlier cavalry sabers in Europe, became well known, and ironically it seems was duplicated in Germany as the M1811 'Blucher' saber.

While regulation pattern hilts were typically a matter of national preference, in these times it would be hard to specifically classify them by these categories due to the geopolitical dynamics and volatility.

With the blades, it seems well established there were notable deviations in consistency as paired with the various hilt forms known collectively associated with individual national identity.

While the British blade makers now (post 1796) evolving from the limited number producing pre-1796, such as Gill, Osborn, and Wooley, it seems well known their blades were not exporting blades to other countries. This was contrary of course to the massive productions of Solingen whose blades were supplying many European countries as well as England, a tradition centuries old,.

It was the campaigns in the Peninsula from 1808, as noted, which brought the now famed M1796 sabers (and the 1796 heavy cavalry swords) there, and into the Spanish and Portuguese armies.

The M1796 light cavalry sabers as noted, were highly favored, especially for the light and deadly blades, and these after the close of the Napoleonic campaigns ended up being dispersed in so many areas it is hard to define in specifics.

Countless of these ended up in North America in trading networks (thus they were well known among American Indian tribes) and in Mexico. The blades often were remounted in many Spanish colonial swords, such as the Dominican and Cuban machete type swords, even on other cutlass type weapons.

So getting to the 'crossover; examples of these 1796 type saber blades, there seems to be a lot of 'anomaly' in the pairing of hilts and blades. The examples of British blades with French ANXI hilts is wildly unusual!
But in a converse analogy, there are some British N1796 heavy cavalry swords with Klingenthal blades (I need to find the Man at Arms article).

The British in the early parts of the Napoleonic campaigns, had become intrigued by extra hand protection on cavalry sabers, as evidenced by early prototypes of European, especially French, with fold out guards. This hilt evolution became of course the French ANXI type multi branch guard type.

It stands to reason that officers preferring these hilts would acquire them for use as 'fighting' sabers for campaign use. The British later replaced the stirrup hilt 1796 with the M1821/1822 three bar hilt form.

As to the blades, while the new form hilt in 1821 was of course an improvement, the new innovations for cut & thrust blades was disastrous and the subject of consternation that would prevail through the century.

Meanwhile the ubiquitous M1796 blades remained favored in India during the British Raj, where again, anomalies of Indian tulwars and some other forms bore British blades of the 1796 form. In the Sikh wars, the British cavalry was astounded when they discovered that the Sikh warriors' tulwars were mounted with discarded 1796 blades and honed razor sharp.

The colonial three bar hilt sabers for native cavalry in India were mounted with versions of the 1796 saber blade, and stirrup hilt forms were still produced until late 19th c.

With the ANXI hilts, it seems they formed the basis for hilts produced in Spain in the 1820s seen in colonial settings, so it seems possible that at some point Spanish cutlers might have produced direct copies of them.
This colonial Spanish hilt 'reflects' the style of multi branch hilt which may have some connection (?)
The second example (right) also a Spanish/Mexican hilt of same period but of course brass and again resemblance. It is unclear whether these hilts were produced in Spain or Mexico, but more likely Spain.

It is important to remember that much hilting and metalwork was done it seems in northern Basque regions, with of course the port of Bilbao (hence 'bilbo', English term for Spanish swords). This was very close to France so that proximity would seem to lend to potential for Spanish/French connection as well as the Bourbon dynastic association.