Probably Not Quite What the Family Built It Up To Be.....
Great Grandfather was Head Gamekeeper to Lord Cardigans Estate in Northamptonshire in the early part of the 20th Century, upon his retirement he was presented with a Cavalry Officers sword that had belonged to his employers family as a token in recognition of years of faithful service. FACT.

The Grandfather of this particular Lord Cardigan was the one that led the Charge of the Light Brigade. FACT.

What becomes a little shaky is the detail that then goes in between then and now...as family legends generally go, there's always embellishment and blame.....the most likely and credible story is that my late Grandmothers Brother, sold it to a passing scrap merchant one day in the 1950s.

The chances of it being the very sword that the legendary Lord had pointed his men into the 'Mouth of Hell' with, from the back of his trusty mount Ronald are, admittedly, slim, but me, my Father and my Uncles like to think that it was, the women of the family are rather more relieved that a razor sharp example of cold steel isn't available for flambouyant brandishing at boozy family gatherings.

A more likely scenario is that Lady Cardigan reminded her husband over breakfast that the gamekeeper was being put out to grass and they'd forgotten to get him a gold watch from H Samuel - why not dust off something from the shed and pretend it's valuable? His Lordship Shuffling off in his slippers and plucking one of hundreds of knackered dress swords from a selection of elephant foot umbrella stands dotted about the place.

There are a couple of other cool(ish) things that have been misplaced of the firearm/explosive munitions variety that I could tell you about if anyones interested?

Length? 32.5 to 33 inches with a pronounced curve.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pattern_1796_light_cavalry_sabre
(Oil Slick, Sat 16 Aug 2008, 16:26, 1 reply)

Cool
Either way, it's a darn shame it's lost, swords are teh shit.

*click*

*Edit* Not sure if you only say '*click*' on an image challenge entry...Damn this noobishness.
(Eo1spy is reversing the polarity on, Sat 16 Aug 2008, 22:09, closed)