Scottish Basket Hilted Sword by Wilkinson, Named Percy Hugh McMonagle, Royal Scots Fusiliers

The sword is in top quality condition, with crisp etching and a single fuller blade by Wilkinson. It belonged to 2nd Lieutenant Percy Hugh McMonagle, registered as Warrant Officer 2nd Class, having received his commission in 1918.

Given his service number of 6991, he would have enlisted around 1899 in the RSF, received his commission in November 1918, and finally retired in 1932, having lasted from the 2nd Boer War up until long after the end of the Great War.

The regiment saw action at the Battle of the Tugela Heights in February 1900 during the Second Boer War, but PH McMonagle is listed to have served in France as his first theatre of war. He appears in a photo of the 1st Battalion taken in February 1920, third from the top left. He is also listed as having served as WO2 in 1/RSF previous to his commission. Therefore, he would have been present when the 1st Battalion landed at Le Havre as part of 9th Brigade in the 3rd Division in August 1914 for service on the Western Front. His battalion saw action at the Battle of Mons in August 1914, the First Battle of Ypres in October 1914, Battle of the Somme in Summer 1916, the Battle of Arras in April 1917 and the advance to the Hindenburg Line in September 1918. He is a recipient of both the British War Medal and the Victory Medal, and stayed on after the war.