Welsh Journals

Joseph Jenckes, Sword Cutler of Hounslow. Dr. RICHARD WILLIAMS, F.S.A. In September, 1938, the writer was given the opportunity of examining a small collection of swords which have long been in the possession of the Powys- land Museum. These, varying a good deal in interest, were exhibited high up upon the wall of the Public Reading Room. With the help of Mr. R. E. Owen, the Curator, and after a good deal of cleaning, the writer was rewarded with the discovery of a sword blade bearing the name of a hitherto unrecorded sword cutler associated with the Hounslow factory. The weapon (Plate XIII.) consists of an English 17th century basket hilted broad sword. It measures 38in. overall, the blade being 32}in., carrying two flutes extending to the extremity. With its grip missing and its guard some- what battered, it now weighs I lb. 10 ozs., the whole surface being thickly coated with the black paint which collectors have come to regard as typical of a church or mortuary exhibit. Removal of this paint and much rust from a section of the blade revealed the inscription (Plate XIV., Fig. 1) ­- IOSEPH IENCKES. and in a similar position on the opposite side (Plate XIV., Fig. 2):- ME FECIT HOUNSLOW. Interest in the Hounslow sword factory would appear to have been aroused in 1881 on the occasion of the exhibition of Industrial Art at Ancoats, Manches- ter. Here W. Wareing Faulder included "a broad sword of the time of Charles I." inscribed IOANNES HOPPIE FECIT GRENEWICH ANO 1634 and W. J. Muckley a similar sword inscribed HUNSLOE ME FECIT The former was also described and illustrated in Egerton Castle's Schools and Masters of Fence in 1884. The knowledge that an English sword factory had existed served to stimulate interest, and an auction sale catalogue compiler in the same year deemed a sword inscribed ME FECIT HOUNSLOW