Gurkha kit!

[Jan B]

2

[Adrian Stevenson]

Hi Jan, looks like a typical tourist item to me.

Cheers, Ade.

[Jan B]

Hi Jan, looks like a typical tourist item to me.

Cheers, Ade.

Thanks Ade ! I already thought in that direction.

Nevertheless, I'll keep in on display on my book-shelf.

Cheers
Jan

[peter monahan]

Jan

Yes, this is a standard issue Indian-made tourist piece. The design punched into the blade and the horn handle with metal studs are very characteristic of these. Remember, except for rare presentation pieces, "real" kuhkris tend to have very plain, usually wooden, handles: they are the Gurkha equivalenty of a bush knife and there is NO special significance attached to them as things - not sacred, niot special, so no attempt to fancy them up. Like Scots "skian dubh", originally: most were "just knives"/

BTW, there is NO truth to the "It has to draw blood" myth. That's something they tell 'round-eyes' so we won't bug them to pull it out every 2 minutes. I say the same thing to school kids who ask about my sergeant's sword when I'm portraying an 1812 era British soldier!

Peter

[byterock]

You forgot to add a good deal of surface rust.

Good to see that some-one else de-bunk that "It has to draw blood" myth. I had the pleasue of serving alongside a Gurka BN many years ago and we were all let down by when we saw how they treated thier kuhkris.

I made the mistake of actually cleaning one up for one of the little chaps. I thereafter spent alot of my spare doing the same for others once they found some 'round-eye' fool enough to do it.

[uscob]

Hello Gents

Any idea about this one. I have it in my collection for years now. It was a gift from a family-member once. I don't know anything about its origine, timeframe, use,etc... I haven't found any official accpetance-marks, only some decorations on the blade and the name 'India'. I do remember there was a mini-gurkha knife that came with it (it was attached somehow to the scabbard), but I don't find it anymore...

Could it have been made for tourists maybe?

Any help would be highly appreciated!

Cheers

Jan

You're thinking right, it's for tourists, but nice.
Nico

[yellow]

Some interesting thoughts. Here are two Gurkha knives a dealer sold to me for 15 pounds each about two years ago.

The knife with brown grip is made from buff horn the second is an ivory grip. The ivory grip has a hand forged blade (so i am told by a knife expert who I showed it to) whilst the brown handle is of more modern machine made blade from about 1930 - 1950.

The horn handle was used by a Gurkha officer in Italy supposedly to hurt German Paratroopers? Which is a little sad when you think about it. The widow also supposedly said that the ivory handle was given to her husband as a gift at the end of the war. This is exactly what the dealer told me who was no expert in militaria. I`m pretty sure that the story isnt true as no one talks about Gurkhas on this forum fighting German Paratroopers in hand to hand combat so that has to be made up.

The knives also came with a stick leather bound with silver top with a silver badge of the 9th Gurkhas.

As the dealer wouldnt tell me the widows surname I see no way to verify the story........what a shame.

Note the union flag on carved into the sheath of the brown handle.

The balance of the blade of the ivory handle is awful I doubt this is something that would be used in combat. The sheath is snake skin. This leads me to believe that this knife is perhaps a status symbol. The horn handle balance is awesome and the blade is very sharp.......you can cut paper from end to end with it.

Perhaps someone here can tell me more about these Gurkha knives?

Steve.

[byterock]

You have to love some of the stories one hears 'Gurkha officers' should of been a big red flag.

If I am not mistaken there were no 'Gurkha officers' serving with the HM forces in WWII.

I know they did have VCOs (Viceroy's Commissioned Officer) with the Imperial Indian Army (pre 48) and I fairly sure that none served with the 8th Army in Italy.

Of course I could be wrong.

By the way the lovely original knives but IMHO are a little too fancy be part of issue military kit but who knows.

[yellow]

Yeah, I`m not so gullable as to swallow stories like that. If we've heard the old lady story we've heard it a million times!

Besides WW2 Gurkha officers didnt carry Kukhris into battle more likely a 38 revolver they wouldnt be using knives only the other ranks would be using the kukhri.

Here is a photo of the stick which came out from behind the counter after I asked if there was anything else............I learnt that one from this forum.........asking for red floppy hats when buying parachute regiment badges. Shame there were no medals.

Heres a photo of the stick. I do have a small collection of these swagger stick/canes as they display very well. I bought it because Ive never seen a leather bound cane...it is certainly very smart and wouldnt of been cheap to buy from new.

[peter monahan]

A friend of mine, now deceased, served with the 9th GR in Burma throughout War Two and stayed on until the '50's in the Indian Army. He took me on a private tour of the Gurkha Museum and Sandhurst (arranged because he was a Lt-Col. Ret'd, A.A. Mains by name. He lived in Lincoln ) and was very very proud of his service with "the jawans".

I don't recall him showing me a fancy blade, but he could have. It looks, if it's not a completely put together group, like the sort of thing a respected officer might have been given on leaving a regiment.

I doubt many Gurkha (British) officers carried a kukri, as they really were "just knives" to most of the men who wore them, but I know other British officers in Burma/India acquired them because they were "neat". George MacDonald Fraser, who wrote the Flashman series, was commissioned in Burma and, by his own account, arrived in North Africa in '45 (to join the Seaforths) with his bush hat and Kukri.

Lovely pieces but the story smells a bit!

Peter

[yellow]

What I cannot explain is that the brown handle shows signs of some sort or sharpening wheel being used on it. Everyone knows that the British Army had no need of such items as they only used sword bayonets in the first war. They used the pig stabber bayonet for the Lee Enfield No.4. So theres another hole in the story.

I have cleaned these blades by the way.........as the older blade did have recent active orange rust which I was a little paranoid about. The brown handle only had a few spots which I devided to remove to just be sure.

Its a shame your 9th Gurkha friend isnt still alive I am sure he would of been able to tell me exactly who the stick belonged, and perhaps some background on the knifes.

If you friend lived in Lincoln England he must of died a very long time ago because I have never heard of him or read anything about him. There was a Gurkha Major who lived outside of Lincoln and when he died the Gurkhas made a very big fuss of him, they even sent a party of Gurkhas to carry his coffin.

Steve.

[copdoc]

no one talks about Gurkhas on this forum fighting German Paratroopers in hand to hand combat

My Dad who was US 13th and 82 AB had Brits from the 6th AB working with them. He told me that the Brits had little dark skinned soldiers called Gurk's that they used for recon. I would guess he ment Gurkas. He said they were too little for Garands so they gave them carbines which they would alway "loose" on patrol. He said they favored their long curved knives and that the Germans were more afraid of them that the American and the Brits. That is all he could remember about them. I'll ask him if he remembers anything else about them.

[Craigob]

Wikipedia Has a great entry for the Gurkhas. I found this thread interesting as my grandfather served alongside the 2nd King Edwards VII's in 1948

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gurkha

[peter monahan]

Steve

He was Lt. Col. Anthony (A.A.) Mains, 9GR. When knew him he was on the board of the Gurkha Museum, then at Aldershot. I wrote to the current Curator last month and he told me Tony had passed on but that his wife was alive and offered to pass on my greetings, so I assume the death is fairly recent and that Mrs. Mains still has some contact.

Tony was a keener - when a friend and I (Canadians) began the "Indian Military Collectors; Society" in 1981. He was one of the first ex-IA members and became Honorary President. It's been 20 years since I was over there, but I say "Lincoln" because I have a distinct memory of touring Lincoln Cathedral, including the lovely memorial, and believe it was with Tony.

I'm sorry my grasp of British geography is foggy, but would Lincoln be a short drive from Aldershot? If so, then that's where he lived. He probably got a big splashy send-off too. I'm sure the Curator of the Ghurka Museum could give you more details.

All the best

Peter