Grandfather Gave Me A Knife... Wasn't His, Can You Help Identify??

My grandfather has given me a knife he acquired from an auction i believe it was, as he knows I am intrigued with these things and I am looking for help in identifiying this pocket knife. He believes it is a Canadian soldiers knife, it does say England on it which would make sense, and it has what we believe to be a regimental number on it. I have searched all night for a way to figure this out to no avail. Can you please help? I think it's a Navy knife... trying to figure out if it is indeed Canadian or British and if there is any way I can locate information on the soldier it belonged to without joining Ancestry.ca.

Thank you so much in advance for your assistance!

 

That's a sailors marlinspike/folding knife. It is for working with lines and rigging.

Several examples:

http://www.amazon.com/Schrade-735RPB-Mariners-Marlin-Handle/sim/B002QEGVQA/2

 

Thanks R we figured as much... Do u know where I can run the reg number anywhere and with it saying England on the bottom of the blade wud u say it's UK or Canadian?

 

heres a couple more pics i had to adjust the size! many thanks

 

darn double posted above.. here's the other

 

Wish I could tell you more, but I can't begin to.

Growing up as the child of a career naval officer, I simply know one when I see it.

Hope you have luck in tracking it down. You might want to search for British & Commonwealth militaria collectors forums, no doubt someone has the information on makers marks.

 

Sorry I didn't see this post sooner, but R Leonard has nailed it. Those knives were issued to pretty much every seaman/sailor who served with any of the British Commonwealth navies. I served 6 years in the Royal New Zealand Navy back in the 70's and had one exactly like it, and mine also had 'England' stamped on the blade, so I don't think that signifies which navy it served with, just where it was manufactured. I lost mine years ago unfortunately, wish I still had it.
It could be British, Canadian, New Zealand, Australian, Indian or any one of a host of other countries who had a navy and were part of the Commonwealth. There were probably millions of them produced and issued, (well millions may be a slight exaggeration), but there were still enough of them to make it difficult to track the origins of one knife.
As for the number, it is probably not a regimental/unit number, it is more likely the service number of the individual it was issued to. When I was issued mine we had to stamp our service numbers on the knife just like yours has.
I hope you manage to figure out where it came from.