[Jim McDougall]

Excellent points Richard. In looking at the hilt, it is also interesting that the groupings of five 'beads' often found on the crossguard and knuckleguard are absent. I just know Ive seen this device in the crossguard somewhere, but as yet have not found it, despite of course being seemingly a grenade.
While it remains tempting to consider this French, who as noted were using this type hilt and blade in this time, the shape of the pommel, sword knot ring at top of knuckleguard and reeded ivory grip seem profoundly English.
In looking at the blade, it is tempting to regard this blade motif as of the 'Caissagnard' fashion, a noted French location where blades apparantly were decorated with 'magical' motif which often included the 'blackamoor' head (Boutell, 1931), a heraldic term for Turks head. These designs, along with certain Christian talismanic devices such as the latticework and invocational or patriotic mottos from Hungarian motifs seem to have been adopted in Solingen for exported blades in the 18th century. Actually the Turks head seen on this example matches exactly a blade on a French sword, but these blades were of course often from Solingen, much as were English blades.

The indecipherable words in the inscription seem to correspond to similarly lettered words used in a talismanic sense in what is typically associated with devices known as the 'Transylvanian knot' in Hungary (in my earlier post I had misnoted this as the Hungarian knot). These are quite likely to be acrostics rather than actual words similar to inscriptions on many early European blades which are invocational either magically or religiously.

With British officers of these times, they had wide latitude as far as regulations in military fashion, and could have acquired swords outside the standards typically observed. Also, and I may be off base, but it seems that ebony and dark grips were often keenly favored on French officers swords, though obviously not without exceptions, and I think that has me still favoring English.