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Remembered Today:

1907 pattern 1917 Australian bayonet


MA57

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Hi,

just wanted to know a bit about this bayonet, I’ve heard of soldiers marking 1 line for every person they have killed with the bayonet, is there any markings to indicate that?

 

here are some photos

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It’s a British made 1907 bayonet made by Wilkinson in November 1917. On the other side of the blade there are some inspection stamps, an X denoting it passed the bend test and a broad arrow denoting it is government property.

 

The notches denoting a kill thing is probably a bit of a myth. Statistically, it is quite unlikely that it ever stabbed anyone.

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8 hours ago, peregrinvs said:

It’s a British made 1907 bayonet made by Wilkinson in November 1917. On the other side of the blade there are some inspection stamps, an X denoting it passed the bend test and a broad arrow denoting it is government property.

 

The notches denoting a kill thing is probably a bit of a myth. Statistically, it is quite unlikely that it ever stabbed anyone.

Thank you so much!

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There appears to be a very small A in a star on the scabbard, if so the scabbard was made at the Lithgow Small Arms Factory, N.S.W. Australia and is of about the same vintage as your British made 1907 bayonet.

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1 minute ago, t.ryan said:

There appears to be a very small A in a star on the scabbard, if so the scabbard was made at the Lithgow Small Arms Factory, N.S.W. Australia and is of about the same vintage as your British made 1907 bayonet.

So was my bayonet used by Australia or Britain?

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It could have been used by either or both and in WW1 or WW2, hard to tell but sometimes there are other regimental stamps on the bayonet near the hole in the pommel or on the cross guard to show where it may have been used. Your bayonet does not appear to have any extra stamps to the metal tho. Search through the forum you might find out a lot of good information about the marks on the Pat.1907 Bayonet.

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1 minute ago, t.ryan said:

It could have been used by either or both and in WW1 or WW2, hard to tell but sometimes there are other regimental stamps on the bayonet near the hole in the pommel or on the cross guard to show where it may have been used. Your bayonet does not appear to have any extra stamps to the metal tho. Search through the forum you might find out a lot of good information about the marks on the Pat.1907 Bayonet.

Would you mind if I send you some photos when I get home?

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If it is about this or similar Pat. 1907 bayonet just show them here. If it is about a different type of bayonet, you may have to show photos in a new forum. Other members can help and are always looking for something new.

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I must admit that I was going to ask the OP what made him call it an "Australian" bayonet.

Where on the scabbard do you see the 7-pointed star of Australia?

 

Regards,

JMB

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The Lithgow stamp can be seen in image number 8, very small, just below the staple fixing of the scabbard.

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6 hours ago, t.ryan said:

If it is about this or similar Pat. 1907 bayonet just show them here. If it is about a different type of bayonet, you may have to show photos in a new forum. Other members can help and are always looking for something new.

I’ll show you more angles of the same bayonet

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8 hours ago, t.ryan said:

If it is about this or similar Pat. 1907 bayonet just show them here. If it is about a different type of bayonet, you may have to show photos in a new forum. Other members can help and are always looking for something new.

What would you like photos of?

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If there are any other marks (stampings) on your bayonet or scabbard, they would be helpful. Sometimes there are marks in the leather beside stitching just below metal on scabbard and on metal at bottom of scabbard. 

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23 minutes ago, t.ryan said:

If there are any other marks (stampings) on your bayonet or scabbard, they would be helpful. Sometimes there are marks in the leather beside stitching just below metal on scabbard and on metal at bottom of scabbard. 

After a good 5-10 minute search, I have taken photos of anything that looked like a marking. 
 

here are the photos

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What appeared to be a small A in a star in earlier photo now looks like a British inspection mark on this last photo, so looks like the scabbard is also British. The W on leather (waxed finish). The British members should be able to put a bit of light on the other marking which looks like M/58 below the W and the small chevron on the hilt between the grips.

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7 minutes ago, t.ryan said:

What appeared to be a small A in a star in earlier photo now looks like a British inspection mark on this last photo, so looks like the scabbard is also British. The W on leather (waxed finish). The British members should be able to put a bit of light on the other marking which looks like M/58 below the W and the small chevron on the hilt between the grips.

So it was made in Britain, but was used by Aussies? (I’m so sorry for the hassle I’m extremely new to collecting, I only have this bayonet)

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12 hours ago, t.ryan said:

There appears to be a very small A in a star on the scabbard, if so the scabbard was made at the Lithgow Small Arms Factory, N.S.W. Australia and is of about the same vintage as your British made 1907 bayonet.

It’s not an a, it’s a w.

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The British 1907 bayonet and the Australian 1907 bayonet are the same, only the markings on them are different, as are the SMLE 303 calibre rifles they fit. Our soldiers were all in battle together so bayonets and rifles could have got mixed sometimes.

If you are going to collect bayonets I would suggest you buy a few bayonet books and also look bayonets up on the internet, you will find plenty of information there including what all the marks on bayonets actually represent. Just search "British Pattern 1907 Bayonet Markings" and you will get a wealth of information.

 Happy collecting.

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Just now, t.ryan said:

The British 1907 bayonet and the Australian 1907 bayonet are the same, only the markings on them are different, as are the SMLE 303 calibre rifles they fit. Our soldiers were all in battle together so bayonets and rifles could have got mixed sometimes.

If you are going to collect bayonets I would suggest you buy a few bayonet books and also look bayonets up on the internet, you will find plenty of information there including what all the marks on bayonets actually represent. Just search "British Pattern 1907 Bayonet Markings" and you will get a wealth of information.

 Happy collecting.

Thanks

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M 58 is the WW2 manufacturers code for Jabez Cliff & Co Ltd, this, along with the W stamped, suggests that during a refurbishment the scabbard had at least the leather replaced.

 

Dave.

 

A useful source for bayonet markings is here….http://oldmilitarymarkings.com/brit_bayo.html

Edited by Dave66
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5 hours ago, Dave66 said:

M 58 is the WW2 manufacturers code for Jabez Cliff & Co Ltd, this, along with the W stamped, suggests that during a refurbishment the scabbard had at least the leather replaced.

 

Dave.

 

A useful source for bayonet markings is here….http://oldmilitarymarkings.com/brit_bayo.html

So my scabbard is ww2, but my bayonet is ww1?

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21 minutes ago, MA57 said:

So my scabbard is ww2, but my bayonet is ww1?

The leather part of the scabbard is WWII, but the locket (top part) is WWI. It’s entirely normal for parts to get mixed up like this in refurbishment programs.

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Just now, peregrinvs said:

The leather part of the scabbard is WWII, but the locket (top part) is WWI. It’s entirely normal for parts to get mixed up like this in refurbishment programs.

Ok thanks

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14 minutes ago, peregrinvs said:

The leather part of the scabbard is WWII, but the locket (top part) is WWI. It’s entirely normal for parts to get mixed up like this in refurbishment programs.

Would you happen to know what this marking means?

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It’s an inspection stamp. The ‘E’ may stand for Enfield. 

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