Absolutely fantastic find Ian!!! "Scotland Forever"!!!!
On the scabbards, one of the biggest problems was the iron scabbards, as these things dulled the swords incredibly, from a much more contemporary situation. In reading "Nolan of Balaklava" I believe it was, it speaks of the British noting the fearsome use of sabres by the warriors in India, and tried to discover what made these so gruesomely effective. They were stunned when they found the blades were old M1796 cavalry sabre blades.
The Indians kept these honed razor sharp,well oiled and in wood lined scabbards. In Europe, many of the cavalry sabres were also timber lined, as were some of the British M1788s.
The grease is they key
Ian, it seems another of these (unless it was this one) was discussed recently and I cannot recall about the numbers. Obviously the 2D was 2nd Dragoons (Royal Scots Greys), but there was some key data about the 14 and Bn number. What was that?
All the best,
Jim