Presented before 1804 probably by Maj.-Genl. Sir Francis Thomas Hammond, G.C.H. (died 1840), later appointed Equerry to the Prince in 1811 and in 1814 to Chief Equerry and Clerk Marshal of the Royal Stables. The sword was sent to Windsor from Carlton House on 8 August 1842.

The blade, lacking a ricasso, may not originally have belonged in this hilt. The Carlton House inventory records a fanciful tale that the numbers on the blade refer to the date of the object. 'This sword was brought from Tower, probably one of the swords made for the invasion of France by King Henry V, as it bears date 1414, the year preceeding battle of Agincourt and might have been there'.

However, no satisfactory explanation has been put forward for the cryptic numbers found on some blades. A single unmounted blade inscribed '1414' is still in the Royal Armouries (inv. no. IX.662). Other swords in the Collection (RCIN's 67540 and 72729) have the same numbers, RCIN 62991 is marked '1.4.4.9' and RCIN 61363 is marked '14.41'; further sword blades with 'year' marks survive in the Garter star trophy display of the East wall of the Guard Chamber at Hampton Court Palace. No real explanation for these marks has been put forward other than they may be talismanic.

This type of hilt frequently appears in English portraits of the first quarter of the seventeenth century. There is evidence, however, that hilts of this type were also used in France. Charles I wears swords decorated with silver encrusting in two of his portraits by Mytens, one dated 1628 and the other 1631. The Armory Delivery Book records the issue of this sword to Sir Thomas Lawrence in February 1818 ‘to paint from’, but he does not appear to have used it.

Sword

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