Shamshir sword and scabbard presented to Lieutenant General Sir Hudson Lowe, February 1812 (metal)

Shamshir sword and scabbard presented to Lieutenant General Sir Hudson Lowe, February 1812. This handsome sword was given to Lowe (1769-1844) by the Administrative Council of Santa Maura as a testimonial for the civil duties which had been discharged by him in the Ionian Islands during the years prior to 1812. He returned to Britain that year having served as governor of Cephalonia, Ithaca, and Santa Maura. The British had taken the Ionian Islands from the French in 1809-1810. Following the Treaty of Paris in 1815 they became the United States of the Ionian Islands under British protection. Lowe later served as governor of St Helena where he was responsible for Napoleon Bonaparte’s incarceration.