1822 British Lancer Mameluke

[JT88]

Good morning everyone! Trying to do some research on my latest acquisition and find some recommendations of sources to check.


This is an unusual piece as the blade is a "classical" Ottoman blade that could be as old as 15th century, certainly 16th century. There is no unit distinguishing marks on it. Mamelukes became fashionable post-Waterloo for the recently converted lancer units. Some units had been carrying them as early as 1805. Thus the options are 9th, 12th, 16th, and later 17th lancers. The fittings look to me to be generic. The 1822 regulation was like most regulations after the fact when the style began. This sword could be immediately post-Waterloo, and given its characteristics, no expense was spared by its owner. The leather on the scabbard shows a lot of aging but is likely an in-period replacement of the original velvet. Evidence of probable campaigning, along with the wear to the sheath rings. I'd guess this thing spent some time in India, though with which unit who knows.

Richard Dellar doesn't speak much on these swords, so the reason I'm here is to ask if anyone has some more references on these?

As you can see from the first picture the sword has some active rust, I gave it a light clean carefully avoiding the small remnants of writing. I was able to trace the writing and have it translated. It says "No one is the owner of everything and earth rather than Allah"

Cheers