Circassian dagger
This dagger was worn by Lord Byron and went through a succession of owners before coming into Sir Henry Irving’s possession in 1882. The first Russell-Cotes curator, Richard Quick, wrote about the dagger in a catalogue, suggesting:
‘This dagger, worn by Lord Byron, was presented by him to Edmund Kean, whose wife Mrs Edmund Kean, gave it to Miss Ellen Tree (afterwards Mrs. Charles Kean), by whom it was bequeathed to her niece, Miss Patty Chapman, from whom it came into the possession of Henry Irving, in 1882’.
