Category Archives: British

A Study of the British Officer on Active Service in South Africa 1899 – 1902

Mounted officer wearing khaki drill frock, Sam Browne belt rig, foreign service helmet and pantaloons tucked into stohwasser gaiters. (Photo: James Holt collection)

Mounted officer wearing khaki drill frock, Sam Browne belt rig, foreign service helmet and pantaloons tucked into Stohwasser gaiters. (Photo: James Holt collection)

Throughout the Twentieth Century, the world’s Super Powers have waged war against a sometimes seemingly invisible, highly mobile enemy. An enemy familiar with the lands he defends and what it takes to survive in them. France and later the United States struggled through Viet Nam and the former Soviet Union endured the hardships offered by Afghanistan. At the dawn of the Twentieth Century Britain ventured into South Africa. The campaign that followed was an omen of how war would be waged in the new century. A tree of terms we are all too familiar with now has roots embedded on the Veldt of South Africa… commando, guerilla war, trenches, machine gun, barbed wire, and sadly concentration camps.

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A Berkshire Lad

A Wolseley helmet provenanced to Private Frederick G. Rance of the 1st Battalion Royal Berkshire Regiment. This helmet was manufactured by Percy Ayses & Co. (Author’s collection)

A Wolseley helmet provenanced to Private Frederick G. Rance of the 1st Battalion Royal Berkshire Regiment. This helmet was manufactured by Percy Ayses & Co. (Author’s collection)

This helmet was worn by Private Frederick G. Rance of the 1st Battalion, The Royal Berkshire Regiment, who saw action in Waziristan on the North West Frontier of India in 1921-23. He was awarded the India General Service medal 1908 with the clasp Waziristan 1921–24. Continue reading →

British Army Spine Pads

A First World War period British Army issue spine pad. The pad was worn to protect the wearer's spine from intense heat that was thought to cause heatstroke. (Photo Imperial War Museum, author’s collection)

A First World War period British Army issue spine pad. The pad was worn to protect the wearer’s spine from intense heat that was thought to cause heatstroke. (Photo Imperial War Museum, author’s collection)

“The spine pad has become a dull museum piece, and it is probable that specimens are nowadays not easy to find. Yet to those living in tropical areas during the early part of the century and to those serving with the British Army in hot climates during the First World War, memories may be evoked of a piece of cloth of cotton, silk or wool, plain or quilted, several inches wide, attachable to the shirt or coat along the spine, and sometimes with a coloured lining. It is now difficult to accept that this mere piece of cloth could in any way protect from the effects of the sun. But the purpose of the spine pad was so closely linked with the development of ideas concerning body heat, fever and sunstroke, that one must be prepared to explore many early lines of thought for an understanding of its origin and its demise.” 1 So writes E.T. Renbourne , retired Major, Royal Army Medical Corps, in 1956. Continue reading →

British Army Neck Curtains

 

An interesting and rare example of an officer’s Colonial pattern Foreign Service Helmet showing the neck curtain secured by an elastic strap. (Photo courtesy Benny Bough)

“From the earliest times fear of the sun’s rays must have sometimes urged the soldier or traveler to wear down the back of the neck a white handkerchief or handy piece of cloth. The official introduction of a neck curtain, however, appears due to Sir Henry Hardinge, who, in 1842, prior to leaving for India as Viceroy, ordered white cap covers for tropical use, to which was added some time later a white neck curtain.” 1,2

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Helmet of the Arab Legion

A black cloth covered cork helmet, as used by the Jordanian Army in the 1950s and 1960s. (Author’s collection)

A black cloth covered cork helmet, as used by the Jordanian Army in the 1950s and 1960s. (Author’s collection)

While numerous colonial powers used sun helmets in their respective desert colonies, as well as in post World War I mandates and protectorates, a unique form of sun helmet was used by the local forces in Transjordan – later the Kingdom of Jordan. This respective helmet has no actual name, other than being referred to as the helmet of the Arab Legion, and later the Jordanian National Guard. Continue reading →

Straw Wolseley Helmets

A straw Wolseley dated 1915 and made by E. Day of St. Albans, Hertfordshire, England. The straw weave is clearly visible beneath the cotton drill covering. This example is to the King’s Shropshire Light Infantry (Author’s collection)

A straw Wolseley dated 1915 and made by E. Day of St. Albans, Hertfordshire, England. The straw weave is clearly visible beneath the cotton drill covering. This example is to the King’s Shropshire Light Infantry (Author’s collection)

As with the Colonial pattern of Foreign Service Helmet which preceded the Wolseley cork was the original material used, but because of wartime shortages of cork and the increased demand alternative materials were sought.

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Paget’s Horse in the Boer War

A colonial pattern helmet of Paget’s Horse showing one version of the helmet flash (Author’s collection)

Paget’s Horse was an elite unit whose four companies (51st, 52nd, 68th and 73rd) 1 made up the 19th Battalion Imperial Yeomanry. “They were public school-educated men recruited through advertisements in gentlemen’s clubs. Continue reading →