Sandhurst Frog

[peregrinvs]

I have a British leather bayonet frog incoming (along with an RN 1919 Pattern webbing cutlass frog) of the type described as a 'Sandhurst Frog' on the Old Smithy website:

GHANA

My one is marked:

HOBSON & SONS
1956
(LONDON) LTD
076 /|\
CN/ AA0950 /|\

So what exactly were these used for? Ceremonial? Officer cadet parades? Etc. What type of bayonet would it likely have been used with?

Thanks,
Mark

Information

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[Gil Boyd]

peregrinvs,

A frog was the traditional British name for a belt worn order, retainer for either a bayonet/spike or indeed a scabbard for an officers blade. Some were blanco'd in white for ceremonial duties but the most were buff, brown or green and others in leather. Hobson & Sons were very busy in the lead up to, and including the war years, producing lots of webbing materials and Binoculars etc. Hope that helps.

[old-smithy]

it was used with the 1907 bayonet, and would have been for parade work since sandhurst is a "school"

[Peter Laidler]

Hobson and Son still exist making stuff for the Forces. Stable belts and other ceremonial stuff for example

[Flying10uk]

I did get the chance/offer to purchase a fairly modern "Sam Brown" brown leather belt with cross strap that also had a leather frog with it. It appeared to be for a ceremonial sword rather than a bayonet because of it's size and style. In the end I didn't bother with getting it because it was too modern and not that interesting to me. Are officer cadets expected to purchase these items themselves? One dealer who had repro swords for sale suggested to me that he sold the types that are still used currently for ceremonial parades to officer cadets. I don't know if this is true, that officer cadets have to buy their own repro swords, or if it was the dealer's attempt to encourage me to buy one which didn't work.

[Gil Boyd]

British Officers get one choice under British Army Dress Regs.....................Wilkinson (MOD QEII Pattern) Sword and leather scabbard with regulation leather tassles

[Flying10uk]

But is it provided by the MOD or do Officers in the British army have to buy their own swords? The dealer did state the Wilkinson had stopped making swords of any description and I was quite tempted by one of the ER 2nd Naval swords that the dealer had for sale. These were not made by Wilkinson and were made outside of the U.K., perhaps India? What put me off was a little bit of rust coming through the chrome.

Has Wilkinson stopped making swords or do they still make some for the MOD?

[Gil Boyd]

......................ever since Cromwell started his Model Army, and you have to buy your own

[Flying10uk]

Wikipedia states that Wilkinson stopped making swords in 2005 and sold the equipment to other companies. Clearly if this is true you can no longer buy your sword from wilkinson and you would have no choice but to buy it elsewhere. I wonder if you would be free to buy it from any alternative source that sold the correct pattern or would you have to purchase it from a single approved supplier?

[peregrinvs]

it was used with the 1907 bayonet, and would have been for parade work since sandhurst is a "school"

Interesting. So was the P1907 bayonet still being used for ceremonial purposes in the 1950's?