Item:
ON11307

Original Napoleonic British Royal Welch Fuziliers with Maker Mark with Museum Reference Number

Item Description

Original Item: Only One Available. This is a fantastic Napoleonic era sword with a curved 32" blade bearing MUSEUM REFERENCE NUMBER: B-125-174 which has been picked out in white paint. This same number also appears on the top mount of the brass mounted scabbard.

Overall length of the sword is 37 1/2". The grip of ray skin almost bleached white wrapped in brass wire with a Lion's Head pommel and single bar guard. The cross guard supports a
very large oval to either side which measures 3" x 1 1/2" and features Prince of Wales Feathers and the Regimental title around that reads ROYAL WELCH FUZILEERS. (This is the exact spelling as shown).

Carried by officers a high quality sword such as this would have seen service during the Napoleonic Wars of 1796 through 1815 which ended the Battle of Waterloo. The sword is offered in good but used condition most likely have seen active service, but most importantly it is complete and tight.

The scabbard leather in black is somewhat deteriorated overall but solid with one particular area of weakness that could use some further restoration. The frog button on the top mount is absent.

The Royal Welsh Fusiliers were raised in 1689 for the Glorious Revolution evicting King James II, it received it's "ROYAL" title in 1713 then became the 23rd Regiment of Foot in 1751. It was the ONLY British Regiments NOT to surrender the colors at The Battle of Yorktown in 1782. It took part in the Peninsula Campaign 1809 to 1813 with Wellington and took part in the great battle of Waterloo Commanded by Lt.Colonel High Mitchell in the 4th Brigade.

Overall this is a  fine sword with a wonderful Regimental History and markings that indicate it was once part of a museum collection!

The Royal Welch Fusiliers was a line infantry regiment of the British Army and part of the Prince of Wales' Division, founded in 1689 shortly after the Glorious Revolution. In 1702, it was designated a fusilier regiment and became The Welch Regiment of Fusiliers; the prefix "Royal" was added in 1713, then confirmed in 1714 when George I named it The Prince of Wales's Own Royal Regiment of Welsh Fusiliers. After the 1751 reforms that standardised the naming and numbering of regiments, it became the 23rd Foot (Royal Welsh Fuzileers).

It retained the archaic spelling of Welch, instead of Welsh, and Fuzileers for Fusiliers; these were engraved on swords carried by regimental officers during the Napoleonic Wars. After the 1881 Childers Reforms, its official title was The Royal Welsh Fusiliers, but "Welch" continued to be used informally until restored in 1920 by Army Order No.56.

It should not be confused with the Welch Regiment, a different unit that recruited in South and West, rather than North Wales, and became part of the Royal Regiment of Wales or RRW in 1969.

One of the few regiments to retain its original title, in March 2006 the Royal Welch Fusiliers was amalgamated with the RRW and became 1st Battalion, Royal Welsh, with RRW as the 2nd Battalion.

Apart from Egypt and the Battle of Alexandria in 1801 and the Invasion of Martinique in 1809 the regiment saw little action in the Napoleonic Wars until being sent to the Peninsular in 1810. Between 1811 and 1814, it fought in many of Wellington's actions, including the battles of Albuera, Badajoz, Salamanca, Nivelle and Toulouse. At the Battle of Waterloo in June 1815, it was part of Lieutenant Colonel Hugh Mitchell's 4th Brigade in the 4th Infantry Division.

In the nineteenth century, the regiment took part in the Crimean War, the Second Opium War, the Indian Mutiny and the Third Anglo-Burmese War. The Cardwell Reforms established the regimental depot at Hightown Barracks in Wrexham in 1873, but it was not fundamentally affected by the 1881 Childers reforms; as it already possessed two battalions, there was no need to amalgamate with another regiment.[23] Under the reforms, the regiment officially became The Royal Welsh Fusiliers on 1 July 1881, although "Welch" was used informally until restored in 1920 by Army Order No.56.

The 1st battalion served in the 1899 to 1902 Second Boer War;[26] the 2nd battalion was stationed at Hong Kong until October 1902, when they transferred to India and were stationed at Chakrata.

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