The sword of Nathaniel Hubbard (1798 – 1878) or at least passed down through his family, acquired at auction in St. John, New Brunswick. Nathaniel Hubbard became registrar of wills and deeds, a position he held for 50 years. He also laid out and supervised considerable mileage of the Great Roads in southwestern New Brunswick. 

According to the book The New Brunswick Militia Commissioned Officers List 1787 – 1867, by David R. Facey-Crowther, Nathaniel Hubbard was a member of “the Sunbury County Militia formed in 1787 following the passage of the province’s first militia bill” (page 321). He is listed as a Gentleman Ensign 25 August 1823 – 11 September 1827; Lieutenant 11 September 1827 – 23 August 1843; Captain 23 August 1843 – (?); mentioned in 1849. 

The 1822 pattern sergeants’ sword is very similar in appearance to the officers’ version, there are however some key differences. Brian Robson in his book Swords of the British Army, explains it very succinctly. “The sergeants’ version was, initially, indistinguishable from the officers’ sword except for having a plain blade and a brass as opposed to a gilt, hilt. But there also exist a number of Pattern 1822 swords in which the grip is of solid moulded brass and the blades are of an intermediate form between the pipe-backed blades and the fullered, Wilkinson design adopted in 1845 [see picture comparison below].The royal cyphers date these swords to the period 1822 – 1852 but their scarcity suggests that they could not have been introduced on a large scale and their use remains unclear.” ( page 213 )

One particular observation regarding this sword is that it does have the typical engraving of the crown over the royal cypher (in this case King William IV 1830-37). The question being, were both officers’ and sergeants’ sword blades decorated in this manor? I have found no literature to speak to this at present. The sword also does not fit in the scabbard. With a 5cm (2”) difference when fully sheathed, it is a bit much to attribute to shrinkage of the leather. Two possible explanations a) the locket at the top or the chape at the bottom have shifted from where they were originally located on the leather scabbard as they are both detached or b) it is not the correct scabbard. 

An interesting mystery regarding this sword is that it is what has been described to us as a sergeants pattern. Yet Nathaniel Hubbard was a Lieutenant at the time he would have been carrying this sword. One other theory I have seen a collector put forward is that this is not a sergeants pattern, but that officer’s were able to customize to some degree the swords they purchased. Did Nathaniel purchase and officer’s sword with rigid guard instead of folding? With fullered blade instead of pipe-backed? Or was it simply what was available in a small colonial town?

The condition of this sword is very good with just a few flaws to the blade. When purchased at auction, this sword was permanently stuck in the scabbard. No amount of pulling would budge it, even by people much stronger than I. This may attribute to why the brass guard seems slightly bent/pulled towards the top. As it turns out, when leather scabbards begin to deteriorate and the blade inside begins to rust, it creates an extremely strong bond! With lots of gentle prodding to pin point the location of the adhesion, the blade was eventually freed. It did require creating a small hole where the leather stitching of the scabbard meets the top of the chape (which turned out to be the trouble spot) and possibly a year or two of gradually soaking it in neatsfoot oil. On a sunny humid afternoon of a a very humid summer, I tried extracting the sword from the scabbard and voila!…and then the chape fell off. Now we are able to see the area of corrosion on the blade which has been stabilized, but still waits to be remedied. The rest of the blade is in surprisingly good condition and shows us what the blade of sword 2020.009 would once have looked like. The brass guard with fish skin grip is in near perfect condition aside from the guard having a mild bend to it so that your knuckles rub against it when handling the sword.