Sunday morning fencing class for Leicester Yeoman at the pub
opposite RHQ "the Magazine" in Leicester, 1936. Early morning would
have been spent at the Welford Road riding school (now a Car
Park for the Royal Infirmary and the Tigers rugby ground).
O/R No1 Dress sword slings
O/R No1 Dress sword knot
Pattern 1885, Mk I cavalry sword, 1887.
Made by Robert Mole and Son of Birmingham in 1887, this sword
was used by a member of the 21st Hussars and Leicestershire
Yeomanry Cavalry. The blade is 34 and a half inches long and one
and one eighth inches wide. It has a single fuller ending eight
inches from the point with the last ten inches double-edged.
This model of sword was first tested in action against the
Mahdists in the Sudan in the late 1880s. Complaints were
received about the blade breaking when 'making a downward cut
upon an enemy's head'. Investigations of the swords already
issued later showed that the blade was too weak. As a result it
was replaced by the 1890 pattern sword.
A very distant picture of an LYC Troop going through sword drill
at annual camp in Aston 1890.
