Miniature trophies were often given out as prizes to those who won regimental sports matches, although there would be a big trophy that would be engraved with the winning soldier or team’s name, smaller trophies were given to individuals that were there’s to keep. Examples of these small trophies can occasionally be seen next to bigger trophies in photographs of winning teams such as this one here.
Tonight we are taking a look at a small silver trophy produced in India and presented to a member of the Sherwood Foresters:
The trophy is made of ‘935’ silver and this is stamped into the metal:
Most UK silver is 925 silver which means it is 92.5% silver with the rest usually copper to provide strength. This is the minimum silver content to be legally declared silver in Great Britain and in the early twentieth century many foreign manufacturers deliberately made a slightly purer silver alloy (93.5% silver) so that they could be sure of passing the UK minimum requirement, even if their alloys were slightly less pure on testing than they expected at manufacture.
This trophy is in the form of a miniature two handled loving cup and is engraved on the front with the regimental crest of The Sherwood Foresters:
The trophy is mounted on a mahogany base and the base has a round manufacturer’s disc showing that it was made by J Manikrai and Sons of Karachi:
My thanks to Mike Garrett who offers this information about this manufacturer:
Presumably this firm is the continuation of the silversmith Manik Rai. Manik Rai was a silversmith who fled the Kutch area following the ‘Chhapaniyo Dukal’, the great famine that struck the Kutch area in 1899-1900, and then settled in Karachi. He was noted as an exhibitor in the Lahore Exhibition of 1909.
Unfortunately we don’t know for what sport this cup was issued, nor the exact date. To give a flavour of some of the sport undertaken by the Regiment in India, this account of boxing from 1934 is perhaps a good representation of the esteem sports were held in:
Following upon the Blake Cup Novices meeting came the inter company and individual championships. These took place at the end of February, and it was decided to hire the Western India Football Association Stadium for the occasion. Furthermore to attract the Bombay public, five special contests were arranged between leading Presidency amateur boxers and well-known boxers from surrounding stations. These proved to be first class contests.
The very excellent lighting arrangements in the Stadium were erected by the Royal Engineers, and two stands were put up by a local contractor. The result was a very large and impressive boxing arena, excellently lit at night, and capable of seating twelve hundred people at a session.
The companies experienced a certain amount of difficulty in training some of their men up to the necessary company standard. This was due to the fact that a very great number of old company and battalion boxers had gone home during the last year.
However the improvement shown by some of those who had fought in the Blake Cup only a fortnight before was remarkable, and we saw three good nights of boxing.
This has a drawstring around its edges that allow it to be secured over the bergen:
A plastic slider buckle allows the string to be tensioned to give a secure fit:
As usual, a small white label is sewn inside with details of the item’s NSN number and date of manufacture:
Two MTP covers can be found, a smaller version designed to cover packs such as the daysack; here modelled by a Ghurkha on exercise:
And a larger bergen cover like the example above, which can be seen here being used by a fusilier:
The Royal Mail’s stamps were inspired by the design of the magazine ‘Picture Post’ and a special point of sale card was produced to display in post offices to encourage people to buy the new set of stamps:
The stamps themselves were of course sold individually for use in the mail, but special collector’s packs of mint stamps were produced:
As well as the standard first day cover:
The first day cover included an explanatory card inside with a brief outline of the Normandy Landings:
The Royal Mint’s 50p was offered in a card commemorative folder:
This folded out and the coin itself was contained in a plastic blister:
The coin featured a design of the landings with gliders flying overhead and the seaborne invasion beneath:
This particular design is often cited as one of the public’s favourite ever con designs and even twenty five years later is a striking design.
This is a nylon haversack that sits at the rear of the webbing set and is designed to carry the same contents as the 58 pattern kidney pouches and poncho roll:- NBC kit, field rations, spare socks, wash kit etc. Whilst the pouch is larger than the kidney pouches of the earlier set, without the poncho roll the capacity remains small and this was one of the major shortcomings of the set.
This in turn was covered with the top flap. On the underside of this top flap are the maker’s details:
At the rear are a pair of plastic D-loops that allow the yoke to be attached to the pouch:
Beneath these is a white panel used to write the soldier’s name and number on when in service:
The 72/75 pattern set does not have a separate belt, so the rear pouch attaches to the side pouches directly so straps and plastic frictions buckles are sewn to each side of the pouch:
Two variations of haversack apparently exist; a plain one and a type like this one that has a long pocket across the base:
Some sources say this was for a machete, whilst others say it was for a pick axe head, which is what I have fitted it with:
A loop with a friction buckle is also fitted to the top of the flap of the pouch:
This seems to have been used to allow extra items to be strapped onto the webbing.
These sets are scarce as they were a trials item half a century ago, but all the pieces are still available from one supplier (albeit not cheaply) so I am pleased to have finally finished the set and have a full set up as a soldier on exercise whilst trialling the new web set in the early 1970s:
Having worn the set, I can see why it was never adopted. It is flimsy and complicated and the carrying capacity is limited, as is the sets adaptability. On the plus side the butyl nylon is much easier to decontaminate than cotton webbing, but it would be another ten to fifteen years before a far superior design was adopted by British Army when the PLCE set became the standard load bearing set for the next thirty years or more.
It is one of these modified bayonet frogs we are looking at tonight:
That this started out as a standard frog for the SMLE bayonet is evident from the upper loop to secure that bayonet’s handle under:
The modification itself can be seen on the upper loop where the slot has been cut as per the instructions and the hole stitched around with button hole stitching:
This then allows the scabbard of the No4 spike bayonet to be secured through this little hole:
This little modification is one of those fascinating cases of the War Office recognising a common practice undertake by troops and deciding that it was better to just formalise and regulate the practice as it was the simplest and most practical solution to the problem rather than trying to outlaw it.
This jacket is a simple single breasted garment, secured up the front by large green plastic buttons, hidden behind a fly:
The hiding of the buttons was presumably to protect them from snagging whilst the soldier was working. A pair of epaulettes was also provided, each fastened by a green plastic button (buttons missing on this example):
A pair of patch pockets are sewn to the skirts of the jacket, each cut with the flap on an angle:
Inside the jacket a draw string at the waist allows some adjustment so that it is not completely shapeless:
A third, interior, pocket is also provided:
This is where the manufacturer’s label is sewn:
From this we can see that this jacket dates to 1963 and is a size 5. Richard Emms Ltd seems to have been a clothing company in existence until 1991. I have found the following description of the factory in the period this jacket was manufactured:
This camp seems to be set up somewhere in England and is possible part of the Territorial Army’s summer manoeuvers. The tents consist of a mixture of bell tents and large ridge tents:
The two largest tents however belong to the NAAFI, as can be seen from the letters painted onto the canvas:
The second of these tents has a set of chimneys and smaller tents behind which may well be a small kitchen preparing food for the troops:
This site seems to have been a semi-permanent location for troops to pitch camp as there are a row of more permanent buildings in the foreground which seem to possibly be latrine and wash blocks:
This excellent description of a Territorial Army camp comes from the Daily Mail in 1938: