Mole Tulwars marked Khetri

[BBJW]

Does anyone have anymore info on these two? I know that Raja Ajit Singh of Khetri visited Britain in June 1897 for Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee. The maker Mole of Birmingham went out of business before 1920.

[Jim McDougall]

Hi BBJW,
I am extremely excited to see these 'Mole' tulwars posted! Many years ago when I was collecting British cavalry weapons I became fascinated with the British Raj in India and especially the Native Cavalry regiments (I cannot count the times I must have watched "Lives of a Bengal Lancer"!
I actually owned two of these tulwars marked by Mole (Robert Mole of Birmingham, England) and have never seen examples since I regrettably let those go over 20 years ago.

Mole was of course a very active supplier of swords and particularly blades during the latter 19th century. He actually did considerable work towards the turn of the century and beyond for the Wilkinson Sword Co. and was eventually absorbed by them in the 1920's. While much of his work clearly went to India, it is known that he also supplied blades to other colonial spheres as well.

I feel that the following paragraph is important with regard to the presence of Mole swords in India;
From "Swords in Colour" , Robert Wilkinson-Latham, 1977, p.54:

"...in the late 1860's a sword with a curved blade was adopted for all Indian cavalry, Madras and Bombay having a 31 1/2" blade while Bengal had a 33" blade. Although of differing lengths, the blades were termed as of the 'Paget Pattern' #6480 India Stores Sealed Pattern. The blades usually had a three bar hilt with back piece and leather covered wood grip, although certain regiments who were allowed the native 'tulwar' style hilt had the blades hilted in India, the rest with the three bar hilt having them made in Britain by Mole or Wilkinson".

It is important to note here that I have handled one of these three bar hilt sabres made by Mole, and these are similar to the British M1821 pattern light cavalry hilt. The blade is remarkably like the M1796 light cavalry blade with hatchet type point and hollowed fuller as this type blade was very much favored by Indian troops. It is known that other suppliers to India actually produced stirrup hilt sabres with the familiar M1796 type blade as well in the latter 19th c.
A good line illustration of the three bar hilt Indian cavalry sabre is shown in "Cut and Thrust Weapons" (E.Wagner, London, 1967, p.231, pl.8) and shows a Wilkinson made example almost identical to that of Mole.

It would seem that since blades produced by Mole were of varying form (either hollowed or without) it is possible that these blades were sent to India for mounting, as has been noted. Khetri is located in the Jhunjhunu District in Rajasthan, a region well established as key for armourers during the British Raj, in fact still very active today.
I would imagine that the Khetri stamp likely notes the location where these tulwars were hilted as we have seen similar stamps with other locations in India placed on other tulwar hilts of this period.

These tulwars were probably issue weapons for one of the Native Cavalry regiments, and though the blade length designations shown in the previously noted paragraph suggest region identification, these blades may not have been originally intended for India. Regardless, it seems certain that they were mounted with intent for troopers of the Native Cavalry during the British Raj, an incredibly colorful period in the history of cavalry that extended well into the 20th century.

All best regards,
Jim

[sabertasche]

Nice swords BBJM and fantastic reply Jim

Greg