Do these markings mean anything to anyone?

[sirupate]

I have these markings on 1796 LCS I bought the other day, I have a gut feeling it may have been for the Indian Army, but provenance to say that is the case;

[M ELEY]

The 'VR' stands for, I assume, Victoria Regina, the rein of Queen Victoria. I think it ended around 1901. Didn't have time to look it up. The 1901 could be a re-issuance date? Not my area, just a guess and now let's open the floor to the experts-

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

Originally Posted by sirupate

I have these markings on 1796 LCS I bought the other day, I have a gut feeling it may have been for the Indian Army, but provenance to say that is the case;

Salaams sirupate ~ Light Dragoons? LD ?

I quote details from http://www.swordsandpistols.co.uk/re...a24a1853f2.pdf

Like all new products, the term “1796 pattern” was unknown and they were simply referred to initially as the “New Pattern”. The vast majority of troopers’ swords were made in Birmingham as one would expect. The most commonly found names are those of Osborn, Thomas Gill (or his sons Thomas, James and John), Woolley & Co (or Woolley & Deakin), Josiah H Reddell (with or without his erstwhile partner Thomas Bate) and Thomas Craven (the latter in business from 1800 to 1820.)


Quote" This article was first published in Classic Arms &
Militaria Vol. XIV No.1 THE 1796 PATTERN LIGHT CAVALRY SWORD

Part One – Troopers’ swords The 1796 pattern light cavalry sword is perhaps the best known of all British swords, an extremely elegant yet formidable weapon whose service life from 1796 until 1821 spanned all of the Napoleonic wars and, in particular, the Peninsular and Waterloo campaigns where the British cavalry was employed to its greatest effect. So effective did
the 1796 prove in the hands of the British cavalryman that it gave rise to the story that the French made an official complaint about the fearsom
e wounds it inflicted. Whilst the notion of an official complaint is simply myth, there are many accounts of the 1796 in combat which underline its effectiveness and have enhanced its reputation as one of the finest cavalry swords ever devised.

The origins of the 1796 are equally well-known. In
1795 a young major in the 16th Light Dragoons, John Gaspard Le Marchant, had just returned from service in the Flanders campaigns of 1794-5 where he had been impressed by the professionalism, horsemanship and skills of the foreign troops he had encountered in particular the Austrians whose
hussar heritage stretched back for more than a century and who at that time were regarded as the finest cavalry in Europe.

By comparison the British cavalry looked ill-equipped and ill-trained. Le Marchant set about remedying that situation and the result was twofold : first, a new sword drill (Rules & Regulations for the Sword Exercise of the Cavalry, published by the War Office on 1December 1796) and second, a new sword, the pattern 1796 light cavalry sabre. Le Marchant wanted a sword with a hilt stripped of all superfluous weight and a shorter blade (than the 36in. blade of the then current 1788 pattern) in order to achieve better balance."Unquote.

Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.

[sirupate]

Thank you guys and Salaams, the 1796 was issued to the Indian Army and used in in the Indian Mutiny and some were made with the stirrup hilt and other with the 1821 hilt;
British Officers with 1796 LCS Indian army variants after the re-taking of Cawnpore in the Indian Mutiny;