Dirk belonging to Captain Trumbull Warren and passed on to his son, LCol Trumbull Warren. The dirk, a Scottish knife, with a small fork and small knife inserted on the scabbard, was part of a Highland officer’s dress uniform, and worn hanging from the waist belt on the right side. The dirk has a black leather scabbard with silver fittings. The hilt of the blade, fork and small knife are black with silver pins and all have a cairn gorm stone fitted to the top of the hilt. The blade is engraved in a typical Scottish tradition, one side of which has the Royal insignia (Crown, ER , VII) signifying His Majesty King Edward VII. The reverse side, also engraved, has a Falcon above the numbers 48, the Falcon being part of the Davidson clan heraldry and central to the 48th Highlanders’ badges, uniforms and accoutrements.
Captain Trumbull Warren, from Hamilton, volunteered for overseas service with the 15th Battalion (48th Highlanders) and was part of the advance party that left Toronto on 29 August 1914 for Valcartier, Quebec. Once in England he was appointed 2 1/c of No. 4 Company while the battalion was at Salisbury Plains. He was killed in action on 20 April 1915 by shell fire from a German howitzer while in the Ypres Salient, and was the first officer of the 15th Battalion to be killed in action. His son, also Trumbull Warren, joined the 48th Highlanders in 1934 and volunteered for overseas service with the 1st Battalion (48th Highlanders) in September 1939. During his time in England he left the regiment to be AdeC to General Montgomery, then returned to Canada for Senior officer training at Royal Military College. Upon return to the front he subsequently became AdeC again to General Montgomery, was made LCol and in January 1944 was appointed Personal Assistant by Montgomery a position he held until the end of the war and into 1946. LCol Warren returned to Canada and went back into business. He was appointed Honourary LCol of the 48th Highlanders of Canada from 1972 – 1977 and Honourary Colonel 1977 – 1979.