British Pattern 1887 Heavy Cavalry Officer's Sword and Scabbard : Captain K M Wray, 1 Australian Horse Accession Number: REL39070

Description

British Pattern 1887 Cavalry Officer's sword and scabbard. The hilt has a steel 'scroll' pattern guard and a black fishskin grip bound with silver wire. The back strap and pommel are checkered steel. The blade has a single fuller on each side to within 270 mm of the spear point. It is etched for half the length with a floral design with the badge of the 1st Australian Horse and 'K M WRAY' in a banner on the right and a crown over a VR Royal Cypher and the Royal Coat of Arms on the left. The ricasso has the military outfitter's name of 'HOBSON & SONS 1-3-5 LEXINGTON STREET LONDON.W' on the left and the interlocking triangle symbol on the right. The steel scabbard has two loose hanger rings on bands at 57 mm and 275 mm from the throat.

Contextual Description

This sword was owned by Captain K M Wray DSO, 1 Australian Horse. Born in County Donegal, Ireland, in 1854, Kenneth Mackenzie Wray married Grace Edwards in Sydney in 1881. Wray was living at Goulburn, NSW and was serving with the NSW Mounted Rifles at the outbreak of the Boer War in 1899. Serving with C Company of the NSW Bushmen, he embarked aboard the transport Armenian at Sydney on 23 April 1900. Captain Wray returned to Australia in July 1901 aboard the transport Orient. He was Mentioned in Despatches and awarded the Distinguished Service Order in September 1901. Wray's son, Lieutenant Charles Douglas Waller Wray, 5 Machine Gun Battalion, AIF and daughter Sister Cecil Dallas Wray AANS, saw service during the First World War. His grandsons, Major Charles Henry Waller Wray, 2/6th Cavalry Regiment and Sergeant George Edwin Cecil Wray, 234 Anti-Aircraft Battery, AIF and granddaughter Flight Officer Nina Beatrice Wray, 4th Personnel Training Depot, WAAF served during the Second World War. Kenneth Mackenzie Wray died in Sydney on 5 October 1927.