British WW1 Cavalry Sword Knot Pattern P1908

[kylet183]

Hi all,

 

so so I have been given this buff leather sword knot made by Hepburn Gale & Ross with the “18” date obscured in the photo. Some think these are fakes but many believe they have come up for sale by a reliable source from old stock that was never issued in time.

 

I have a P1908 cavalry sword made by wilskinson in 1916 and issued to the Canadian Fort Garry Horse, it was then re issued to an Australian Light issue regiment. To my knowledge all the Australian issued swords came towards the end of 1918 to units in the Middle East and came from British and Canadian units who were dismounted in the trenches and had no need for swords. No Australian issue swords have any Australian issue markings, only having the previous markings struck out. There is no evidence that the Australians were able to effectively use the swords except agains routing Turks, or even at all. The sword came from the 2/14th light horse Sgt’s mess sale in 2009.

 

My main question is that would (if an original item) this knot be correctly used on the 08 sword or would they have just been used with the standard brown acorn knot? Were these intended to replace the acorn in the middle east? I have not seen any period WW1 photos with this buff knot.

 

cheers!

Kyle.

[JMB1943]

Kyle,

 

I can’t believe that your post has gone unanswered this long.

Cannot myself give you an answer, just posting to bring this to people’s attention.

 

Regards,

JMB

[Dave1418]

Hi

theres a company called Byburn who was selling these as new old stock for £25 but the images have a different number.

 

[JRG]

Hi Kyle,

 

would you be able to give the length of your sword knot? Its for comparison to a tatty one that is being sent to me.

 

Thanks

 

John

[Gunner Bailey]

I must admit I've never seen a knot like the one in the first post. The photo attached is a knot attached to a genuine Wilkinson sword issued in September 1914 to the Royal Horse Guards. It's been with the sword from new.

[Vimyridge]

Curious, has anyone found any additional information on this knot in the original post?

[gnr.ktrha]

When I was in the RHA we used P08 Cav. Swords and used a sword knot very similar in design to the one shown in the first post. Ours had a brass button at the knot end of the knot. This might have been a later alteration or pattern for ceremonial use as this would have been a week point on a sword used in combat. Ours were fringed just like the one at the start of this topic.