Event Type: Local / Community

Takes Place: 12th November 2025

Time: 14:00-15.00

Venue: Royal Armouries, Leeds and Online

Description: Join Dr Iason Eleftherios Tzouriadis, Curator of European Edged Weapons at the Royal Armouries, as he discusses the history of two swords chosen to adorn the coffin of the Unknown Warrior. On 11 November 1920, a mourning Britain gave a state funeral to an unidentified member of the British Imperial armed forces who died during the First World War. Accompanied by King George V, the Unknown Warrior’s coffin was adorned with a single sword before being lowered into his final resting place in Westminster Abbey. Today, a replica of the coffin, complete with sword, sits in the restored railway carriage that brought the body to London. The lecture will explore the history of the sword. What was it? Who made it? What is the connection to the Royal Armouries? How was the sword viewed and portrayed by the media in the 1920s? Learn about this fascinating sword, as well as the second sword now atop the replica coffin, and how we can think about memory and remembrance in the context of this burial.

How to book: This lecture will be presented in-person at the Royal Armouries Museum in Leeds and online. You will receive a link to join the online presentation in your booking confirmation. This is a free lecture please consider making a donation when booking.

Price: £0

Email: samantha.vaughn@armouries.org.uk

Website: https://royalarmouries.org/leeds/whats-on/the-swords-of-the-unknown-warrior

Organiser: Royal Armouries

Lecturer: Dr Iason Eleftherios Tzouriadis, Curator of European Edged Weapons at the Royal Armouries

Region: Yorkshire and Humber