A Victorian Gentleman

A dear friend has moved to Norfolk (I don't think he's lost his Yorkshire noddle, but read on)  and I am beginning to suspect, taken on the mantle of an amateur naturalist of the late 1800s.

He says this is a soldier beetle. He says they live in holes and fight with slugs and other beasties with swords and pistols. He says they are good for garden lilies.

Allegedly.