George V / WW2 British General Staff Officer's Mameluke, Sold

In very good overall condition, the George V / WW2 British General Staff Officer's Mameluke of Major General "Dashwood" (Major General Sir Chauncy Batho Dashwood Strettell, KCIE, CB).

Bought by us at auction where Major General Dashwood's medals were also sold (we did not buy them) alongside by his family thus providing 100% provenance. Major General Sir Chauncy Batho Dashwood Strettell, KCIE, CB would have bought this mameluke in 1919 / 1920 when he became a (General) Staff Officer and was thereby entitled and indeed expected to wear one. His career details are further below but he also wore this mameluke during WW2 when came out of retirement in 1941.

The supremely well etched blade in very good condition, a small light inert rust patch around the maker's details, otherwise exceptionally good. Blade firm in the gilt metal hilt which is also very good. The grip we are sure is ivory, but only has slight pattern lines (no age cracking) so it is hard to tell, but very good condition in any case (some marks around the pommel area). Plated steel scabbard very good but for light tiny rust spots. Original sword knot with age and wear etc. but good. The mameluke sheathes and draws well.

An exceptional sword from a known general. Yours for £? (too late, now sold). Please quote item reference T92. Further / full sized photos available upon request.

Major General Sir Chauncy Batho Dashwood Strettell, KCIE, CB was known simply as Dashwood. Following schooling at Wellington College and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, Dashwood was commissioned as a Second lieutenant on the unattached list on the 20th January 1900. On the 22nd April 1901, he entered the Indian Staff Corps with the same rank, before being transferred to the Indian Army. He was promoted to Lieutenant the following May into the 13th Rajputs, and in 1901 he served with the regiment during the Waziristan Campaign of 1901–02. The following year he transferred to the 3rd Punjab Cavalry. Promoted to the rank of Captain on 20th January 1909, he was detached for service in the Burma Military Police, during which time he took part in the Nmai-Hka Expedition between 1912 and 1913. At the outbreak of the Great War, he was in England and raised the Service Squadron of the 6th Dragoons, which he commanded as a temporary Major between October 1914 and June 1915; he was made a full Major on the 1st September 1915. The following February, he was posted to Mesopotamia and served as a Brigade Major in the 7th Indian Cavalry Brigade between December 1917 and April 1919, then a Deputy Assistant Quarter Master General in India between June and November 1919, and a General Staff Officer in India between December 1919 and September 1920. Dashwwod was after appointed Brigade Major in the Egyptian Expeditionary Force, but relinquished his post in December 1921. Having been a Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel since the 3rd June 1919, he was appointed to the full rank on 25th April 1924 and later that year a Colonel. Having been Commandant of the 11th Cavalry (Frontier Force) between 1924 and 1928, Dashwood served as an Assistant Adjutant General in India between July 1928 and July 1929, then a Brigade Commander until April 1932 and a Brigadier General on the Indian Staff until December 1934. On 26th August 1934, he was promoted to Major-General, and appointed Deputy Quarter Master General and Director of Movements in India between July 1935 and February 1936. He was Director of Organisation in India from then until November 1936, when he became Commander of the Peshawar District. He retired in 1940, although he was brought back into active service as a Group Commandant of the Prisoner of War camps in 1941. He was then Director of Demobilisation and Reconstruction in Indian from 1941 until 1943, before retiring for the last time in 1944. In later life Dashwood served on a number of boards, including the Council of the Asian Society, the Governing body of Wellington College (1947–56) and the Punjab Frontier Force Executive Committee (Chairman between 1951 and 1954). He died on the 27th January 1958.