NAM.2000-05-130-1

Infantry officer’s sword, Pattern 1822, 1830-1849 (c). Worn by Major-General James Bucknall Bucknall Estcourt, Adjutant General to the British Army in the Crimea. Made by Charles Herbert, London. An inscription on the scabbard states that Major-General Estcourt wore the sword at the Battles of Balaklava and Inkerman, and the assault on the Redan at the Siege of Sevastopol, Crimean War (1854-1856). Estcourt’s appointment as Adjutant-General of the British Army in the Crimea seemed a rather strange choice as he had no campaign experience at all. However he was a close friend of Lord Raglan who defended him against censure during the debacles in the Crimea. He was present at all the major battles of 1854 and at Sebastopol where he contracted cholera and died on 24th June 1855. The General and his sword were recorded on several photographs by Roger Fenton. It is a standard Pattern 1822 Officer’s Sword but with an unusual scabbard of eastern style. Estcourt was second in command on the Euphrates Valley expedition in 1834 and may well have lost the original scabbard for the sword in the arduous conditions there. It was replaced by a silver mounted scabbard more akin to Turkish curved sabres but so distinctive as to show up clearly on Fenton’s photographs. Even the broken sword knot was retained by the General.

Balaklava, Battle of, 1854 (Crimean War, Inkerman, Battle of, 1854 (Crimean War 1854-1856), Sevastopol, Siege of, 1854-55 (Crimean War 1854-1856)