Lot 526
VISCOUNT TRENCHARD'S GEORGE V OFFICER'S MAMELUKE SWORD AND SCABBARD.
An 1831 Pattern general officer's sword with shaped ivory mounted grip with rosette fastenings. The cross bar with crossed batons in a cartouche. The 84cm curved blade with double edged point, etched decoration and George V cypher, Unmarked but numbered 4594. In a steel scabbard and with decorative sword knot.
Photographs of Viscount Trenchard in his uniform as Commissioner of Metropolitan Police Force, a position he held between 1931 and 1935 show him with a sword of this design. Presumably the same sword. An image of Viscount Trenchard in this uniform can be seen amongst the illustrations between pages 258 and 259 of Russell Miller's biography 'Boom'. Trenchard served as Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police between October 1931 and November 1935, he had not particularly wanted the job, but following a personal request from the Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald and the King he agreed. The Metropolitan Police were in a poor state when he took over, things had remained unchanged for years, conditions were poor and corruption rife. Trenchard with organisational skills, energy, adherence to discipline and concern for those working under him was absolutely the right man for the job. During his spell in charge he introduced reforms that did much to modernize the force and training regimes that would see it survive in the rapidly changing inter-war world.
Provenance: The first Viscount Trenchard and by direct descent in the family.
