Saturday May 4th, 1918
Mounted Guard in shorts and Pith helmets. Oh it is awful warm – the heat turned me sick. Very cold – awful at night.
Shorts
Frank is now wearing shorts, complete with a Pith helmet. A couple of days ago he declared that he feels ‘quite loose’ in them. It’s a good description, particularly considering that this may be the first time since childhood that he has worn short pants.
There is some debate on-line about whether shorts were actually army issue or just long trousers made shorter by the enterprising Tommy. However photographic and documentary evidence, as well as Frank’s written testimony, seem to validate their standard issue in warmer climes.
The photograph shows a pair of First World War period British Army issue khaki drill shorts, from a collection at the IWM. They were made under sealed pattern, issued from the Royal Army Clothing Department and designed to be worn in tropical theatres. An interesting feature of these particular shorts was their turn-up legs which could be lowered to better protect the wearer from malarial mosquitoes. They are described by H Collinson Owen, the editor of the Balkan News, when driving in the Langaza Valley. ‘All our men are wearing sun helmets, open shirts, and ‘shorts’. …. The shorts can be let down and in the evening, when the mosquitos begin to bite, are tucked into the puttees for protection’²
Uniforms
Tommy’s uniform, as with everything else during the war, was produced on an industrial scale and, from 1915, came under the direct control of the War Office.
Patterns were ‘sealed’ (approved), each garment costed in the ‘Priced Vocabulary of Clothing and Necessaries’ and every tailoring task timed and recorded in the ‘Military Log’, an official trade publication. In the latter, for those that are interested, ‘sewing sidebody seam’ was calculated to take 30 minutes and ‘putting in pleat pocket’, 60.¹
Within this framework, the Royal Army Clothing Department oversaw the supply and distribution of clothing. It employed both inspectors and hundreds of ‘viewers’ to ensure standardization and quality. This painting, owned by the Imperial War Museums, depicts one of the Department’s London depots at Kensington Olympia – full to the gunnels with bundles of garments.*
Once in the field, it was the responsibility of the commanding officers to ensure that uniforms conformed to standard and to manage their supply and maintenance. Hence their cataloguing in the BWD. A bizarre stipulation of this included: ‘Commanding officers are responsible that the men are measured by the sergeant-tailor once every six months during the first two years of service and once a year afterwards, and that the entries are accurately made in a measurement roll. This roll will be carefully preserved for use when fitting the men.’ º
13th (Service) Battalion War Diary – 4th May 1918 – Saida
Work as for 3rd.
References & Further Reading
º ‘Regulations for the Clothing of the Army’ 1914, page 43.
¹ ‘Tailoring in the Trenches’ by Jane Tynan from the book ‘British Popular Culture and the First World War’ edited by Jessica Meyer
² ‘Salonica & After, The Sideshow that Ended the War’ by H Collinson Owen (Editor of the Balkan News & Official Correspondent in the Near East (Hodder & Stoughton, 1919), page 111
^ UNI 12469 copyright of the Imperial War Museums
* IWM ART 2919 copyright Imperial War Museums