I read an account of the Crimean War by a NCO of an Irish regiment. I believe his name was Mackenzie. He was offered a commission but turned it down. He wrote that he saw too many newly commissioned officers from the ranks go nearly bankrupt buying the kit required of them by their regiments and also being disparaged by the "High Born" officers.
More recently, 1970s, I know WOs who commissioned effectively had a pay cut, due to my regiment's high Officer's Mess fees and cost of mess dress. But they took the commission because it enhanced their eventual pensions.
@freebeerfordworkers Yes, there is a most interesting article in Wikipedia "Temporary gentlemen" on WWI officer recruitment from ALL classes. I recommend it.
I find watching these videos on the details of army officer life in WW1 hugely interesting & insightful. I have a great uncle who served as an officer in the first days of the Somme. He was badly gassed and had to be dragged to an aid station by his batman. He survived - just - and went on to serve in WW2, although in more of an administrative role for the army reserves.
Several years ago I purchased a reprint of "Yesterdays Shopping: The Army & Navy Stores Catalogue 1907" specifically for the images of campaign furniture. Most of this gear is in there, iirc, and that is part of what makes the catalog so incredible: so much of it is still available and sometimes advertised as a new concept!
Beautifully presented young Sir! And, jolly well done on your ‘turn out’. Your ‘Batman’ is obviously worth his weight in gold! I used to be a ‘living historian’ and am very familiar with all that you say and show. I belonged to the GWS for over 12 years and the Khaki Chums for a similar time. I had the privilege to know personally a few of the last surviving Tommies, particularly dear old Harry Patch. Keep doing what you’re doing for their memory and for your King and your Men👍🏻🇬🇧
We called them "holdalls" in India and there used to be several such holdalls used during train travels for sleeping at night in a family shared between members. It contained a light thin matress, bedshets, blanket, a small pillow and pockets for some small things like slippers and toilet kit. I remember my mother always packing a holdall along with an earthenware water pitcher for cold drinking water, lunch or picknic basket with food and ofcourse our luggage. There was no such thing as light travel in those days and coolies were assured their jobs.😂
I especially loved the folding brass lantern. I wonder if anyone makes reproductions of those? I collect kerosene and candle lanterns. I did living history events of the North American Fur Trade 1800-1840. At night we only had campfire and candle light. And occasionally a full moon, meteor, or comet.
@@mattyb7736 Yes, I do have volume control. Two, actually. I only rarely go very high on either but with them both maxed out the volume on most of his videos is barely audible.
That was very informative. Most of that I was not aware of. A cery cool kit for that time. With modernupdates something similar would be cool for travel.
I read a bit on Churchill and his service in WWI. He wrote his wife to seen him some waders. I assume it was due to the water and the mud in the trenches.
Im certain that there must be a special code book (likely published in a Baden Powell scouting book) on how to decipher the monetary system of the British Isles. What does 55/00 mean? Pounds? Shillings? Pence???
I’m old enough to have some memory of the old money system, I was 9 years old when we went decimal. There were 20 shillings which made up one pound. 12 pennies made up one shilling. One penny was one pence. If something cost say 3 shillings and 8 pence it was written as 3/8d if you asked the price of something in shillings and pence you would be told “three and eight” if there were pounds involved it would be for example, one pound three and eight. It goes even deeper than this with different coinage and nicknames for them. People used to say that when the rest of the world couldn’t understand our currency system we were a rich nation…. 😊
@@mjspice100 I’m just a little older than you then, I was 10 years old (almost 11). I do remember that an awful lot of “rounding up” took place & my pocket money didn’t buy as much in the way of sweets or comics immediately afterwards.
@@mjspice100 Even though Canada was a part of the British Empire, the British monetary system was dropped fairly quickly. We've been using the dollar/decimal system since 1867.
We Scots do not find it necessary to constantly raise our voices to be heard. The Subaltern is speaking at an appropriate level to be heard by a classroom full of attentive students.
It's 55 shillings, (two pounds 15 shillings) Prices were often written in just shillings because it seemed cheaper if the word pounds (£) was not used.
More than likely it would have been brought forward with the rest of the unit's baggage via train or wagon after securing their forward position. It is small enough that He could have braced it on his shoulder, or had one of the Men do so for him, for the short distance from transport to his billet.
Officers at the time (not sure of lower-ranked officers, but certainly captains and beyond) had a "Batman", who was a normal soldier assigned to be the officer's personal servant. It was likely the batman who carried things like this. See also the system of "fagging" in public schools (UK meaning) at the time.
@@jamestarbet9608the logistics behind all of this must have been so well organized! Imagine bringing all that stuff, also books, personal items etc.and constantly worrying it might het lost which it did.
Officer or not, going into battle my priories would be ammo, water, rations, and medical supplies, and depending on the weather, some form of shelter. Notepads are handy for all ranks. But everything else is for being in reserve. The enemy does not care how pretty you are. Yes, hygiene is important, but washing and shaving creates artificial odors, and if you are a Fitzpatrick Scale One skin tone, your face becomes a beacon. A beard breaks up your facial features, so it is good camouflage. If you look at after action reports of battles, it is a story about soldiers running out of the essentials. No bullets, grenades or other weapons to fight with. Or bleeding to death. Longer term, lack of food or water or shelter, or sleep. For the parade ground, or in times of ceremony and peace, yes, there is a time for 100% smartness, for all ranks. I agree 100% on the point. But in battle, or battle-training, dirt is "good'. Soldier have to move, but if you don't have to, be a part of the ground. Troops will be far more impressed with you if you save a life, or give a soldier who is all in, a break. Take part of his sentry duty for example. Make sure the troops are as comfortable as possible before you take YOUR rest. Eat after them or with them, and share your food or drink, if necessary. A contact, especially if it is unexpected, and it is not uncommon for all ranks to have a "code-brown". The mark of the professional soldier is to get past that, and achieve the mission. And if you are an ordinary soldier, you do the same thing to your officers and soldiers. Look after them, make sure they are OK. It is about being ONE, an organism with a common goal. Every soldier, ranker or officers, has a specialization or specializations. I am unimpressed with the officer tradition, because if an officer's reputation depends on him looking pretty and little, else, it is a failure of leadership and training. My two cents.
@robertstallard7836 Somebody would have to. Unless trench warfare of course. Sleeping gear has to be on the back. In a backpack. A solider has to carry everything into battle.
@robertstallard7836 Sure, but only when you get to choose. Often, the enemy will attack at inconvenient times. An SAS soldier's kit out often will exceed 55 pounds. But let's get back to WW1. You go over the top, right. Just rifle, ammo, some water, a first aid kit, maybe a meal. After being blown to shit, or machine-gunned to death, the survivors take the enemy trench. So your battalion of a thousand men, more often than not, will resemble a company in strength. Just popping from one trench to the next. Australian General Monash looked at all the after-action reports. In 1918 he was a corps commander. [See the Le Hamel battle] So he realized that it was essential for the assault groups to be re-supplied, and pronto. So he used tanks and aircraft for re-supply. Because one thing the Germans were very good at was putting in instant counter-attacks. It doesn't matter a damn if you have a billion bullets back in your division "trains". If they aren't in the soldier's hands when he needs them, you have automatically lost the battle. And you are worng, because in winter, if the soldier is not warm enough, and had some food, his performance plummets, because his morale plummets. And sure, some soldiers can keep going no matter what. If it were that simple, the armies of millions in World War One would have been totally populated with elite soldiers, like Guardsman, SAS types, SEALs, etc, etc. It is not possible, because only a tiny fraction of those who apply get into the SAS and similar, even fewer pass the course, and even fewer get to stay, because their performance must be 100% of the high standards expected. Your average British, French, German, American or Russian "grunt"? Nope. A lot of them only had a few weeks training before they earned their body-bag.
@robertstallard7836 "Bringing the AIF up to speed". I had to laugh out loud at that one. The ANZAC corps flowered into it's when NOT under British command. The Galipoli campaign was a failure entirely due to British generalship, which is ably demonstrated when Engineer officer turned corps commander John Monash showed British, French and American generals how to war. Le Hamel was a superb demonstration of Blitzkrieg 20 years before most Nazi soldiers were born! Indeed it was Monash's methods which were adopted by the whole Western front. Had British officers actually thought about how their troops would sleep and survive instead of playing Polo and cricket, they would have come up with a better system of sleep and shelter than the next to useless valise! Yes, back-packs are mostly discarded in battle, but are never far away. In fact if you have to drop, the backpack is dropped in front of you, to give you some cover, and give access to your reserve ammunition. You never discard your battle harness however. But if British generalship was so great why did the BEF of 10 strong divisions fight so abominably poorly. Or in Singapore, have all it's defensive guns pointing out to sea? Oh, and thanks Sandhurst, for destroying the whole Australian 8th division in Singapore. Or Churchill's refusal to release the Australian 6th and 7th divisions after North Africa, at a time when Japanese divisions were invading New Guinea. A brigade of the 6th [the 6, 7, 8, and 9 were our ONLY regular divisions] arrived only just in time to relieve the poorly trained and equipped, but magnificent fighting spirit of the Militia [called the CMF, equivalent to the British territorials] allowed them to learn on the job. And they were up against the best of the Japanese army. In fact the British territorial units often out-performed the British regular army. The 4th West Kent battalion in Kohima, [Burma] for example.
CS Forester had his hero Hornblower refer to a "hussif" that being the thing he tied up his toiletries and things in, just as this is shown. No safety razors for Horatio!
I read an account of the Crimean War by a NCO of an Irish regiment. I believe his name was Mackenzie. He was offered a commission but turned it down. He wrote that he saw too many newly commissioned officers from the ranks go nearly bankrupt buying the kit required of them by their regiments and also being disparaged by the "High Born" officers.
More recently, 1970s, I know WOs who commissioned effectively had a pay cut, due to my regiment's high Officer's Mess fees and cost of mess dress. But they took the commission because it enhanced their eventual pensions.
@freebeerfordworkers Yes, there is a most interesting article in Wikipedia "Temporary gentlemen" on WWI officer recruitment from ALL classes. I recommend it.
My father, a WWII RAF Aircrew, Warrant Officer, was offered a commission, and refused - it was too expensive, and "the Sgts. Mess was better fun"
I find watching these videos on the details of army officer life in WW1 hugely interesting & insightful. I have a great uncle who served as an officer in the first days of the Somme. He was badly gassed and had to be dragged to an aid station by his batman. He survived - just - and went on to serve in WW2, although in more of an administrative role for the army reserves.
Several years ago I purchased a reprint of "Yesterdays Shopping: The Army & Navy Stores Catalogue 1907" specifically for the images of campaign furniture. Most of this gear is in there, iirc, and that is part of what makes the catalog so incredible: so much of it is still available and sometimes advertised as a new concept!
I used to have an officer’s valise which I donated to the museum of Army Flying in Middle Wallop.
Beautifully presented young Sir! And, jolly well done on your ‘turn out’. Your ‘Batman’ is obviously worth his weight in gold!
I used to be a ‘living historian’ and am very familiar with all that you say and show.
I belonged to the GWS for over 12 years and the Khaki Chums for a similar time. I had the privilege to know personally a few of the last surviving Tommies, particularly dear old Harry Patch.
Keep doing what you’re doing for their memory and for your King and your Men👍🏻🇬🇧
Awesome as always pal. The lantern was a nice touch!
We called them "holdalls" in India and there used to be several such holdalls used during train travels for sleeping at night in a family shared between members. It contained a light thin matress, bedshets, blanket, a small pillow and pockets for some small things like slippers and toilet kit. I remember my mother always packing a holdall along with an earthenware water pitcher for cold drinking water, lunch or picknic basket with food and ofcourse our luggage. There was no such thing as light travel in those days and coolies were assured their jobs.😂
I especially loved the folding brass lantern. I wonder if anyone makes reproductions of those? I collect kerosene and candle lanterns. I did living history events of the North American Fur Trade 1800-1840. At night we only had campfire and candle light. And occasionally a full moon, meteor, or comet.
They sure do! That is what is known as a Stonebridge Automatic folding lantern. You can find them online with most being sold in the USA
A very nice video though the level of volume is quite low making it difficult to hear.
You don't have a volume control on your device? I suppose you want someone to adjust it for you too?
@@mattyb7736 Yes, I do have volume control. Two, actually. I only rarely go very high on either but with them both maxed out the volume on most of his videos is barely audible.
That folding lantern is fantastic, thank you for the vid!
That was very informative. Most of that I was not aware of. A cery cool kit for that time. With modernupdates something similar would be cool for travel.
Keep up with this content!
Sewing kit is very styled
I read a bit on Churchill and his service in WWI.
He wrote his wife to seen him some waders.
I assume it was due to the water and the mud in the trenches.
Would love to buy you a pint and have a chat with you! As a fellow highlander I feel the knowledge you have would make great conversation
Very cool video, although I did wonder whether you created these videos as an excuse to wear your splendid officers uniform!
Spare latrine paper would have been an idea. Daily ration issue was, if any, 3or 4 sheets i think
Well, shit, that ain’t nearly enough once the dysentery sets in.
Not a jacket, it's a tunic - ! 😊
Another fascinating video. Huzzah!!
Im certain that there must be a special code book (likely published in a Baden Powell scouting book) on how to decipher the monetary system of the British Isles. What does 55/00 mean? Pounds? Shillings? Pence???
55 shillings, or £2 15s. £2.75 in today’s terms. A lot back then.
@jonathanhicks140 thanks for clarifying that. Almost 5 dollars Canadian.
I’m old enough to have some memory of the old money system, I was 9 years old when we went decimal.
There were 20 shillings which made up one pound.
12 pennies made up one shilling. One penny was one pence.
If something cost say 3 shillings and 8 pence it was written as 3/8d if you asked the price of something in shillings and pence you would be told “three and eight” if there were pounds involved it would be for example, one pound three and eight.
It goes even deeper than this with different coinage and nicknames for them.
People used to say that when the rest of the world couldn’t understand our currency system we were a rich nation…. 😊
@@mjspice100 I’m just a little older than you then, I was 10 years old (almost 11). I do remember that an awful lot of “rounding up” took place & my pocket money didn’t buy as much in the way of sweets or comics immediately afterwards.
@@mjspice100 Even though Canada was a part of the British Empire, the British monetary system was dropped fairly quickly. We've been using the dollar/decimal system since 1867.
How would the valise be carried? I can see how it might be secured for a mounted officer, but what about someone on foot?
I suppose officers had a batman at this time. Pte Baldric would carry it!
Transport vehicles. Horse drawn or motorized. Or some other rank carried it. Batman.
Are you whispering in case the Bosch in the next trench might be listening?
We Scots do not find it necessary to constantly raise our voices to be heard. The Subaltern is speaking at an appropriate level to be heard by a classroom full of attentive students.
@@TalmidAndy Is the class having a lesson in lip reading then?
Also, shouldn't it be wee Scots? 😉
May i ask where you obtained your Valise? I rather presume it is original? I can't find a good reproduction for love nor money. Thank you
Same I’m looking for a good one.
4:59 is 55/0 the price in pounds and shillings?
It's 55 shillings, (two pounds 15 shillings)
Prices were often written in just shillings because it seemed cheaper if the word pounds (£) was not used.
Cool lanten!
Interesting cheers big yin 😁🏴
How was this transported? I’ve never seen one of these on an officers back, were the officers mounted?
More than likely it would have been brought forward with the rest of the unit's baggage via train or wagon after securing their forward position. It is small enough that He could have braced it on his shoulder, or had one of the Men do so for him, for the short distance from transport to his billet.
Officers at the time (not sure of lower-ranked officers, but certainly captains and beyond) had a "Batman", who was a normal soldier assigned to be the officer's personal servant. It was likely the batman who carried things like this. See also the system of "fagging" in public schools (UK meaning) at the time.
@@jamestarbet9608the logistics behind all of this must have been so well organized! Imagine bringing all that stuff, also books, personal items etc.and constantly worrying it might het lost which it did.
Officer or not, going into battle my priories would be ammo, water, rations, and medical supplies, and depending on the weather, some form of shelter. Notepads are handy for all ranks. But everything else is for being in reserve. The enemy does not care how pretty you are. Yes, hygiene is important, but washing and shaving creates artificial odors, and if you are a Fitzpatrick Scale One skin tone, your face becomes a beacon. A beard breaks up your facial features, so it is good camouflage.
If you look at after action reports of battles, it is a story about soldiers running out of the essentials. No bullets, grenades or other weapons to fight with. Or bleeding to death. Longer term, lack of food or water or shelter, or sleep.
For the parade ground, or in times of ceremony and peace, yes, there is a time for 100% smartness, for all ranks. I agree 100% on the point. But in battle, or battle-training, dirt is "good'. Soldier have to move, but if you don't have to, be a part of the ground.
Troops will be far more impressed with you if you save a life, or give a soldier who is all in, a break. Take part of his sentry duty for example. Make sure the troops are as comfortable as possible before you take YOUR rest. Eat after them or with them, and share your food or drink, if necessary.
A contact, especially if it is unexpected, and it is not uncommon for all ranks to have a "code-brown". The mark of the professional soldier is to get past that, and achieve the mission.
And if you are an ordinary soldier, you do the same thing to your officers and soldiers. Look after them, make sure they are OK.
It is about being ONE, an organism with a common goal. Every soldier, ranker or officers, has a specialization or specializations.
I am unimpressed with the officer tradition, because if an officer's reputation depends on him looking pretty and little, else, it is a failure of leadership and training.
My two cents.
@robertstallard7836 Somebody would have to. Unless trench warfare of course. Sleeping gear has to be on the back. In a backpack.
A solider has to carry everything into battle.
@robertstallard7836 Probably why they died like flies then.
@robertstallard7836 Sure, but only when you get to choose. Often, the enemy will attack at inconvenient times. An SAS soldier's kit out often will exceed 55 pounds.
But let's get back to WW1. You go over the top, right. Just rifle, ammo, some water, a first aid kit, maybe a meal. After being blown to shit, or machine-gunned to death, the survivors take the enemy trench. So your battalion of a thousand men, more often than not, will resemble a company in strength. Just popping from one trench to the next.
Australian General Monash looked at all the after-action reports. In 1918 he was a corps commander. [See the Le Hamel battle] So he realized that it was essential for the assault groups to be re-supplied, and pronto. So he used tanks and aircraft for re-supply. Because one thing the Germans were very good at was putting in instant counter-attacks. It doesn't matter a damn if you have a billion bullets back in your division "trains". If they aren't in the soldier's hands when he needs them, you have automatically lost the battle. And you are worng, because in winter, if the soldier is not warm enough, and had some food, his performance plummets, because his morale plummets.
And sure, some soldiers can keep going no matter what. If it were that simple, the armies of millions in World War One would have been totally populated with elite soldiers, like Guardsman, SAS types, SEALs, etc, etc.
It is not possible, because only a tiny fraction of those who apply get into the SAS and similar, even fewer pass the course, and even fewer get to stay, because their performance must be 100% of the high standards expected.
Your average British, French, German, American or Russian "grunt"? Nope. A lot of them only had a few weeks training before they earned their body-bag.
@robertstallard7836 "Bringing the AIF up to speed". I had to laugh out loud at that one. The ANZAC corps flowered into it's when NOT under British command. The Galipoli campaign was a failure entirely due to British generalship, which is ably demonstrated when Engineer officer turned corps commander John Monash showed British, French and American generals how to war.
Le Hamel was a superb demonstration of Blitzkrieg 20 years before most Nazi soldiers were born! Indeed it was Monash's methods which were adopted by the whole Western front.
Had British officers actually thought about how their troops would sleep and survive instead of playing Polo and cricket, they would have come up with a better system of sleep and shelter than the next to useless valise!
Yes, back-packs are mostly discarded in battle, but are never far away. In fact if you have to drop, the backpack is dropped in front of you, to give you some cover, and give access to your reserve ammunition. You never discard your battle harness however.
But if British generalship was so great why did the BEF of 10 strong divisions fight so abominably poorly. Or in Singapore, have all it's defensive guns pointing out to sea? Oh, and thanks Sandhurst, for destroying the whole Australian 8th division in Singapore.
Or Churchill's refusal to release the Australian 6th and 7th divisions after North Africa, at a time when Japanese divisions were invading New Guinea. A brigade of the 6th [the 6, 7, 8, and 9 were our ONLY regular divisions] arrived only just in time to relieve the poorly trained and equipped, but magnificent fighting spirit of the Militia [called the CMF, equivalent to the British territorials] allowed them to learn on the job. And they were up against the best of the Japanese army.
In fact the British territorial units often out-performed the British regular army. The 4th West Kent battalion in Kohima, [Burma] for example.
Another interesting video. Thank you. PS "house wife" is pronounced "huz-zif" when referring to a sewing kit.
Absolute nonsense.
CS Forester had his hero Hornblower refer to a "hussif" that being the thing he tied up his toiletries and things in, just as this is shown. No safety razors for Horatio!
Nice video, but needs to be louder please.
I might have included a grenade...or two.
Those Boots would not pass muster.
crate of Haig whisky
Are you the ghost from 1915?ok
First off, officer's did not wear putties.
What do yoju know the ole bivi bag. a golf club should fit too. If not , your man can carry it 🏌️♂️
Would be nice ifvyou explained the unusual items… putties…. And sounded like ‘housewife’ but looked like a covid facemask