1796 light cavalry saber

Jim McDougall · 11th October 2018, 10:25 PM

BV,
A very nice example of these cavalry sabres which are getting to be harder to find.
If you collect British cavalry swords you might consider "Swords of the British Army" by Brian Robson which was first out in 1975 but now a revised version is on Amazon.
While Thomas Hadley is listed in Birmingham 1767-1781, he is also listed as a gunmaker in London 1780-89 and a Gilbert Hadley again listed in London c. 1825.

In these times, gunmakers also assembled swords and acquired the blades from other makers. Since this is a 1796 pattern which was not widely produced until just after that, we may presume that this sword, apparently an early version, was probably assembled in London around 1800 by Hadley and inspected at the Tower.

These swords were in use from these times until they began being replaced by the M1821 pattern swords but continued in use beyond that and further when issued to yeomanry units. Many were sold to other countries as well.
Odd that there are no regiment markings as typically seen.

11th October 2018, 10:25 PM	#4
Jim McDougall Arms Historian Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Route 66 Posts: 10,190	BV, A very nice example of these cavalry sabres which are getting to be harder to find. If you collect British cavalry swords you might consider "Swords of the British Army" by Brian Robson which was first out in 1975 but now a revised version is on Amazon. While Thomas Hadley is listed in Birmingham 1767-1781, he is also listed as a gunmaker in London 1780-89 and a Gilbert Hadley again listed in London c. 1825. In these times, gunmakers also assembled swords and acquired the blades from other makers. Since this is a 1796 pattern which was not widely produced until just after that, we may presume that this sword, apparently an early version, was probably assembled in London around 1800 by Hadley and inspected at the Tower. These swords were in use from these times until they began being replaced by the M1821 pattern swords but continued in use beyond that and further when issued to yeomanry units. Many were sold to other countries as well. Odd that there are no regiment markings as typically seen.