Introduced in around 1941, the ‘Leggings, Rubberproofed, No 1A’ were part of a set of wet weather gear issued to motorcyclists, transport drivers and those who had to stand around in the rain such as military policemen. These leggings were rather like a pair of waders, but with open feet to wear with a pair of boots:

The bottom of each leg was fitted with five plastic buttons to tighten them up around the ankle boot and a leather strap was fitted to pass under the boot to secure the leggings down and prevent them from riding up:

The leggings were designed to be worn over battledress and just slip on, with a pair of buckles on the side of the waist to tighten them up:

They are held up by a pair of integral braces that pass over the shoulders and secure to a couple of buckles on the front of the leggings:

The leggings are made of a heavy duty ruberised canvas, with all the seams taped for added waterproofing and panels fitted to the interior to prevent the fittings from pulling through the fabric:

This pair of leggings is unissued and still has the paper label from the manufacturer pasted inside:

There is also an ink stamp dating it to 1941 and repeating the name of the manufacturer and the sizing:

Sadly this pair of leggings is about 6 inches too short for me to use, although they are in such nice condition considering they are eighty years old that I would be loathe to wear them anyway. I am slowly building up a set of despatch rider’s clothing and equipment now, although they all seem to be in quite small sizes unfortunately.