This sword was ordered in 1890 by Lieutenant T. Ward, who as a Serjeant, 14th Hussars, had won a commission into the 2nd Dragoon Guards (Queen's Bays). This sword is shown worn by him in the frontspiece section of this blog. It is a sword made by SJ Pillin and has the Regimental device of the Regiment adorned with the proud Battle Honour"Lucknow" which was richly earned in routing the muntineers in 1857. His initials 'TW' are on the blade as well. T. Ward was a remarkable man for he was a genuine gentleman ranker who, despite coming from a well to do background, decided to enlist into the ranks of the 14th Hussars in 1883 and only after seven years became Serjeant which was rapid promotion indeed and a testimony to his hard drive and ambition.
Thomas Ward rose rapidly and commanded 'C' Squadron in South Africa, an outstanding record considering he had just been gazetted to Lieutenant from Serjeant nine years before. As the anecdote states in the action, he was badly wounded and mentioned in despatches by Lord Kitchener. He later left the Regiment on retirement in 1904 and was seconded to the Denbigh Hussars where he ended his Great War service as a Brigadier. His father, Joseph Ward was a JP. Interestingly, while serving in the ranks of the 14th Hussars, he had married a Jeanette Octavia Cliff, with whom he fathered two daughters. Sometime after 1895 he seems to have divorced her later married a daughter of the Earl of Belmore. His children from his former marriage has been supressed and in subsequent gentry records shows he had a futher two children one of which his only son, Captain Richard Thomas Ward MC was killed with the Regiment in the Second World War earning an MC for his gallantry.
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