British 1892 Pattern Royal Army Medical Corps Officer’s Sword of Lieutenant Colonel Richard George Hanley, Chitral Expedition and Boer War Surgeon, Dated 1900 by Wilkinson
Single-fullered straight blade with spear point, the Distinctive pierced brass ‘Gothic’ hilt with small comma-shaped quillon with crowned EVIIR cypher of King Edward VII within an oval. Brass chequered backstrap, integral oval pommel with tang button, ribbed grip of black shagreen over wood, bound with wire. Buff leather washer. Brown leather non-regulation field scabbard with throat and chape pieces of nickel-plated steel. Blade 32½ inches in length, the sword 38½ inches overall.
The blade is etched at the ricasso on one side with the maker’s mark ‘HENRY WILKINSON PALL MALL LONDON’, above which is the royal coat of arms and ‘BY WARRANT’ within a scroll. Above this is a cartouche for the optional etching of the owner’s name or badge, which has been filled with ‘RGH’ in ornate script. The ricasso on the other side bears a circular brass proof slug at the ricasso stamped with ‘HW’, within an etched six-pointed star, above which is a blank cartouche.
Both sides of the blade are further etched with the royal crown, royal coat of arms, the cypher of King Edward VII, a wreath of laurel and palm, and foliate motifs.
The spine of the blade is stamped with the serial number ‘37398’. Wilkinson company records indicate that sword 37398 was a ‘V.R. Infantry Sword' sold to ‘R. G. Hanley R.A.M.C.’ on the 15th January 1900.
The 1892 Pattern Infantry Officer's Sword was the last pattern to have the ornate gilt brass 'Gothic' hilt, used since 1822. This old hilt was paired with the brand-new blade design introduced in 1892: straight and optimised for thrusting. In most regiments this transitional sword was quickly replaced by the 1895 Pattern, which used a new steel hilt, then the slightly modified 1897 Pattern came in which is still used today. The RAMC was an anomaly in that it retained the 1892 Pattern until 1934.
This example has a field scabbard, but not the official type which was introduced in 1899 to pair with the new Sam Browne belt system and frog. It more closely resembles non-regulation precursors to the official type, like the ‘Wyatt Patent’ scabbard or Indian models of the period. It probably used a non-regulation frog for hanging from the officer’s belt, but would have been usable with the Sam Browne had a leather collar piece with the necessary frog strap been added.
Richard George Hanley was born in March 1859. He studied at the University of Dublin, obtaining his Bachelor in Medicine in 1882 and Bachelor in Surgery in 1884. He became a Surgeon Captain with the Army Medical Staff in May 1885.
Richard served with the Chitral Expedition of 1895. For context, Chitral was a princely state in the Northwest Frontier of India (now Pakistan), bordering Afghanistan. Ruled by a local monarch known as the Mehtar, it had been an independent realm until Mehtar Aman ul-Mulk negotiated a subsidiary alliance with the British in 1885, retaining his sovereignty but as a tributary to British India. Aman was a strong ruler and the British saw him as a stabilising force in a turbulent region. After his death in 1892 however a bloody succession war erupted between his sons. The first phase was won by Nizam ul-Mulk, the eldest, who was supported by the British but less secure in rule than his father.
In January 1895 Nizam was murdered while hunting by his younger brother Amir, who had been previously sheltered by the powerful and ambitious Pathan chief Umra Khan. Umra marched to Chitral with a force of 3,000 men to ‘support’ Amir, obviously intending to take most or all of Chitral for himself. Amir resisted Umra but was defeated and replaced with his uncle as Umra’s puppet.
The small British mission in Chitral invited by Nizam came under attack and withdrew to the Chitral Fort, the Mehtar’s fortified palace, where they were besieged. Authorities in India were concerned for their safety, and that if nothing was done Chitral would have much more hostile new rulers. Russia was interested in expanding its influence southward through Afghanistan toward India as part of the ‘Great Game’ and Chitral could have provided a foothold right on the British doorstep.
An Expedition was therefore mounted in 1895, consisting of two separate relief columns with the same objective: rescue the besieged Fort and install Shuja ul-Mulk, the youngest son, as Mehtar. The first column was around 600 strong, gathered in haste at Gilgit, east of Chitral, by Colonel James Kelly. A second force of 15,000 men was assembled at Peshawar to the south under Major-General Sir Robert Low, and set off a week later.
Kelly’s force was almost all Indian and it seems unlikely that Richard served with this group. They must have needed some medical attention, however: they had to traverse the Shandur Pass at an altitude of 12,230 feet in deep late winter snows to reach Chitral. Although many were local irregulars used to mountaineering the men still suffered frostbite, hypothermia, and snow-blindness.
Low’s force is more likely to have been the one Richard served with. It brought with it eleven field hospitals: two for each of three infantry brigades, three for divisional troops and two for the lines of communication. While that column did not have as arduous a route geographically, it faced much heavier resistance. To reach Chitral from Peshawar it had to leave British India and pass northward through the Swat Valley, Jandol and Dir. Many tribes of these frontier regions were eager for a fight, resented the British incursion and had no idea that the force was trying to pass through rather than make war on the locals. They therefore assembled in force at the mountain passes.
With good use of his mountain artillery Low defeated an estimated 12,000 men at the Battle of Malakand Pass on 3rd April and proceeded northward as planned along narrow mountain tracks to Chitral, fighting smaller engagements along the way. Umra Khan, seeing that he was badly outnumbered, withdrew his forces and the British expedition achieved both of its objectives.
From a medical perspective the campaign might seem untroubled: British casualties from fighting were low, with 11 killed and 51 wounded at the Malakand Pass and no major battles thereafter (overall casualties of Low’s force are not recorded). However, like many other campaigns of the period disease played a more significant role than combat.
Low’s force at Malakand on the 3rd April consisted of roughly 6,000 British and 11,000 Indian soldiers. Lord Roberts told Parliament that by the 31st July, 957 of the British and 294 of the Indians had been returned to India due to illness: 16% and 2.7% respectively, 8.3% of the total force. This certainly speaks to the relative intolerance of British troops to local diseases. Reports made later to the British Medical Journal suggest that the Expedition’s men showed lapses in correct practice for filtering and boiling water while on the march: the importance of hygiene in this regard had been recognised since the 1860s and medical officers considered it part of their role to promote and enforce it.
Notwithstanding good practice in the field, there would have been a high background rate of disease: a commission under Lord Onslow reported in 1897 that at any given time around a quarter of the 70,000 British troops stationed in India were medically unfit for field service due to preventable infectious disease. Only apparently healthy men were sent out but it is quite likely that many on the Expedition were undetectably sick before they left, probably worsening en route and transmitting air- and waterborne infections to others in camp.
Richard was promoted to Surgeon Major in 1897. In June 1898 the Royal Army Medical Corps was formed by merging the Army Medical Staff (the corps containing commissioned medical officers and quartermasters) with the Medical Staff Corps (all other ranks serving in the medical role including nurses, orderlies and support staff). The use of compound rank titles for medical officers was discontinued with the formation of the RAMC, so after 1898 he would have simply been a Major.
Richard served in the Boer War from 1899-1902 and it is very likely that this sword’s purchase was related to his deployment there. There is an interesting small mismatch here: the sword was sold in January 1900 (under Queen Victoria) but bears the cypher of Edward VII who reigned from January 1901. This suggests that the sword must not have actually been manufactured until 1901 despite being bought and assigned a serial number in 1900. Due to the ongoing war Wilkinson experienced a high volume of orders which may have slowed deliveries, or perhaps Dr Hanley made his order in advance with the sword to be supplied later.
Medical facilities in South Africa were extensive, with each brigade of infantry or cavalry equipped with a medical section with ambulance vehicles. The wounded would be treated at a dressing station and if necessary sent to a field hospital, one for each division, and larger hospitals on the lines of communication and at base. As the conflict developed the British found it was often more efficient to get wounded men onto hospital ships and return them to Britain rather than treating them in South Africa, both improving care and relieving pressure on field hospitals. The Army also had to contend with an outbreak of plague in Cape Town in 1901.
Staff to run this network were drafted from many sources, the nucleus being the Royal Army Medical Corps personnel, which made up about 42% of medical officers as of late 1901, another 4% being officers from Colonial units or British Militia/Volunteer units, and the remaining 54% civilian doctors hired either by the War Office or the South African government.
Nurses also provided a great deal of frontline care at hospitals and on ships: the number of orderlies of the RAMC was found to be insufficient and nurses were increased to fill the gap. Richard had a more than professional relationship with one of these nurses: he married Grace Lilian Shelley in December 1902. Grace (b.1873) served as a Nursing Sister with Princess Christian’s Army Nursing Reserve in South Africa from June 1900 until November 1902, and it would seem quite possible that the couple met while working in Army hospitals there.
Richard is listed as serving in Punjab, India as of 1904, and he was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel in 1905. He appears to have later taken on a role or residence in South Africa however as he died there in 1912, at the Bloemfontein Hospital in Orange Free State, aged 56.
His widow Grace resumed her nursing service during WW1, being appointed a Sister in Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Military Nursing Staff Reserve in October 1914. She served in France from June 1916 at No. 14 General Hospital, then returned to Britain around the end of 1916, after which she served at the Military Hospital in Oswestry until her demobilisation in September 1919.
Grace’s medals were sold at Noonans, Mayfair in March 2014, Lot 1121, these being the Royal Red Cross, 2nd Class, Queen’s South Africa Medal 1899-1902, King’s South Africa Medal 1901-02, the British War and Victory Medals.
The blade is excellent, bright and clean with crisp etching retaining the contrast between the matt background and the brightly polished designs. The plain sections retain a mirror polish. There are only very minor areas of frosting to polished areas and a handful of scattered spots of light patination in the etched section, none of them significantly impacting the designs. The wire binding of the grip is all intact and tight, the shagreen of the grip is all intact with light handling wear and only one tiny spot of scale damage (appears white). The guard is likewise excellent with only light patination, most notably on the pommel. The sword Is solidly peened with no movement to any parts, the blade rings when struck. The leather of the scabbard has some light wear from rubbing, some light abrasion spots on the seam side. Its metal fittings are bright and clean with intact plating. The mouth of the throat piece is non-ferrous, probably brass, this gives it a very slightly different tone from the rest of the piece as the metal onto which a layer of plating is applied affects its final appearance.
