The fine collection of attributed British Officers' Swords formed by Hal Giblin

Lieutenant-Colonel William Rae Brakspear, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Gurkha Rifles, killed in action 25th September 1915, the first day of the Battle of Loos.

A scarce1827 pattern Rifle Regiment officer’s sword of The 3rd Ghurka Rifles, blade 82cm by Henry Wilkinson, Pall Mall, London (No 34732) etched with VR cypher, strung bugle, and within scrolls battle honours for Delhi, Ahmed Khel, Afghanistan 1878-1880 and Burma 1885-1887, owners initials ‘W R B’ and ‘3rd. Gurkha Rifles’ appear in further scrolls, steel hilt with strung bugle, chequered backstrap, fish-skin covered grip bound with copper wire, in its leather covered field service scabbard, some service wear overall and minor damage to leather of scabbard £300-350

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The fine collection of attributed British Officers' Swords formed by Hal Giblin.

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Sword sold by Wilkinson to W. R. Brakspear, 1st December 1896.

William Rae Brakspear was born on 8 August 1866, educated at Charterhouse, and commissioned in September 1887. Previous to the Great War he had seen considerable active service, having served in Burma, Chin Lushai, the relief of Chitral and Tirah. A Lieutenant-Colonel by 1913, he accompanied his battalion to France in 1914 and took part in the heavy fighting during the first winter, when his battalion sustained heavy casualties. On the 25 September 1915, the battalion launched an attack on the German trenches, but the wire remained uncut, and the Ghurka’s were mown down by machine-gun fire, Brakspear being among the missing of that day. Colonel Brakspear has no known grave, and is commemorated by nameon the Neuve-Chapelle Indian Memorial, France.