Lt Col. John Gaspard Le Marchant

Jim McDougall · 28th January 2010, 11:41 PM

WOW! Absolutely fantastic, LeMarchant's sabre, now that really is amazing Richard. Thank you for posting it.

It truly is poignant that this brilliant officer died quite literally by the sword after his monumental contributions to the development of British regulation sword patterns. I think probably the best references to him, with some good information on his development of the M1796 swords is,
"Scientific Soldier: A Life of General LeMarchant 1766-1812"
R.H.Thoumaine, 1968

It seems that he was greatly influenced by his time serving with Austrian forces in Flanders in 1794-5, and thier professional use of the sword in combat. His observations for regulation patterns for the light cavalry sabre were with reference to Hungarian and Eastern sabres, which were of course indirectly including Austrian swords.

What has always puzzled me is that while the M1796 light cavalry sabre is typically officially recognized as the 'first' regulation British cavalry sword pattern, the M1788 was well established, and is the exact sabre used in the sword exercise drill manual.

The M1788 was very similar in its stirrup hilt to other European cavalry sabres and the blades as far as I can recall were in two or more cross sections. In my experience James Wooley seems to have favored the section which I believe was French and termed the montmorency as well as French style elliptical langets, while Thomas Gill seems to have favored German styling in the rectangular langets and 'hollow ground' cross section.

Richard, would you agree with those observations on the M1788?
Was the reference for the M1796 being the first regulation sword because it was 'officially' recognized in a specific military order?

Also, these M1796 sabres, despite being 'regulation' seem to have brought a wide spectrum of variations in the light cavalry sabres.
The Prosser sabres seem to have had a yelman like latch back blade tip; I have seen fully parabolic pipeback sabres that were almost shamshir like; and if I am not mistaken, one British officer (Ponsonby?) had one with a yataghan like blade!!!

I recall there have been attempts to put together articles with the variations of these light cavalry sabres, and wonder if anything comprehensive has been put together lately.

All best regards,
Jim

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28th January 2010, 11:41 PM	#3
Jim McDougall Arms Historian Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Route 66 Posts: 10,192	WOW! Absolutely fantastic, LeMarchant's sabre, now that really is amazing Richard. Thank you for posting it. It truly is poignant that this brilliant officer died quite literally by the sword after his monumental contributions to the development of British regulation sword patterns. I think probably the best references to him, with some good information on his development of the M1796 swords is, "Scientific Soldier: A Life of General LeMarchant 1766-1812" R.H.Thoumaine, 1968 It seems that he was greatly influenced by his time serving with Austrian forces in Flanders in 1794-5, and thier professional use of the sword in combat. His observations for regulation patterns for the light cavalry sabre were with reference to Hungarian and Eastern sabres, which were of course indirectly including Austrian swords. What has always puzzled me is that while the M1796 light cavalry sabre is typically officially recognized as the 'first' regulation British cavalry sword pattern, the M1788 was well established, and is the exact sabre used in the sword exercise drill manual. The M1788 was very similar in its stirrup hilt to other European cavalry sabres and the blades as far as I can recall were in two or more cross sections. In my experience James Wooley seems to have favored the section which I believe was French and termed the montmorency as well as French style elliptical langets, while Thomas Gill seems to have favored German styling in the rectangular langets and 'hollow ground' cross section. Richard, would you agree with those observations on the M1788? Was the reference for the M1796 being the first regulation sword because it was 'officially' recognized in a specific military order? Also, these M1796 sabres, despite being 'regulation' seem to have brought a wide spectrum of variations in the light cavalry sabres. The Prosser sabres seem to have had a yelman like latch back blade tip; I have seen fully parabolic pipeback sabres that were almost shamshir like; and if I am not mistaken, one British officer (Ponsonby?) had one with a yataghan like blade!!! I recall there have been attempts to put together articles with the variations of these light cavalry sabres, and wonder if anything comprehensive has been put together lately. All best regards, Jim