Old Khukuri -- pix from Mike L.

This khuk was at one time the property of one George William Leggett, born in England circa 1874.
He served with a Gorkha unit in India for 11 yrs. (Unit unknown.)After his service in India, he served on the Isle of Wight at some sort of training facility. One of his pupils was later to become Lord Mountbatten.

Mr Leggett moved to Toronto, Ontario, Canada in 1906, and died in 1960.


The above provenance came from the gentleman who sold me the blade.
It's rather sketchy, but better than none at all. That would place the manufacture of the khuk somewhere near the turn of the century.

The khuk itself is remarkable in that it has an iron or steel handle, bolster, and buttplate. (Pulls a magnet.) The handle, bolster,etc is not integral with the blade, and has become slightly loose over time.
The handle is very nicely made, and well fitted. The blade is flat in cross-section, not slightly concave like some other old ones. The sword is well cut and straight, and the cho, while plain, is cleanly cut.

Can anyone tell me how to go about finding out more about Mr. Leggett, possibly what unit he was with?

Any help or comments about this khuk are welcome.

--Mike L.

PS: Thanks to Uncle for posting the pic. I can take more and better, I hope, and email to those interested.
 
Mike - Maybe you can sort through the contact links on some of the pages in this site:

http://freespace.virgin.net/roger.hewitt/iwias/home.htm

I've got several IOW sites, but the military museum contacts, while not directly helpful, might refer you to someone who can help. I've found the people I've contacted on IOW to be very willing to help, and the history buffs seem to take interest in anything having to do with the IOW that is old. You might be sent on some wild goose chases, but I doubt if you will get a cold shoulder.
 
Thanks, Wal. I skimmed through a couple of the histories on IOW, and didn't see anything pertaining to a military training establishment on IOW. Perhaps Mr. Leggett was a private tutor?
I am going to try some of the Gurkha regiment web sites and see if there are names of some of their officers from the late Victorian era.

On the khuk itself, I was hoping Uncle or the fabulously wealthy JP could comment on the steel handle. I have never before seen a khuk with an iron/steel handle. This blade did come with a sheath, but it is in "relic" condition, so no clues there.

If I was a bit "better heeled" I suppose I could hire someone in England to research Mr. Leggett. That would cost many times the price of this khuk.


--Mike L.
 
I just thought some of the individuals who have their addys listed might pick up an interest, if approached, and steer you to someone who might have unit listings, or an idea of where to get them. I was ancestor chasing when I found the site, and the page for IOW County, VA, caught my eye. One of the contacts there tried for a couple of weeks to hook up local records with one of my forebears who show up in VA in 1640. Had a heckuva time, but no luck. We decided he swam over, at night, using an assumed name. Some of my ancestors had to do stuff like that from time to time :D
 
Some of my "noble" ancestors allegedly came to America very early in the history of the colonization. The story was that they were horse thieves who had a choice of the noose or the boat. They chose the boat. This was on my father's side.
On my mother's side, German potato farmers, probably.;)

I am eagerly awaiting some word from JP on the mysterious iron handle khukuri. He probably has 14 dozen of them, and all better than mine.

I may try to contact the Gurkha Museum....

--Mike L.
 
But I have forgotten.

An iron or steel handle sounds real interesting!!!!
Mike is there any way you can send us a closeup of the handle?

Edit:
I can post it if you do. If you have one I will send my snail mai address if you don't mind sending me one.
Does the seams show where it was put together or has it patina-ed out so you can't see the seams.
 
I will snap a pic and send it to you in email. Be aware it will be a large pic and will take some time to transmit.


--Mike L.
 
Isle of Wight, Bro - once upon a long time ago I sent you a site with many good pics of the place. The site owner is a bud, and should be able to find out where Mountbatten attended school. The school may be able to supply info on Mr. Leggett's service and prior unit, and Ben's sites could fill in the rest. With Mr. Leggett's military record, and direct line of ownership provided by the seller, this Khuk could become a neat package of history.
 
If this provenance checks out you might want to try the National Army Museum in London or the Gurkha Museum in Winchester. They have pretty complete officer's rolls and as an Englishman in a Gurkha regiment that's all he could have been.

And if he was posted after 1890/1891 it would have been to a GURKHA not GORKHA or GOORKHA regiment. The English changed the spelling around then.

If the grip is steel he may have been with a 'police' unit like the Surma Valley Military Police, Darrang Military Police Battalion or the Dacca Military Police. Needs a lot of checking out first. The scabbard may hold a few clues too even in crappy shape.
 
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