Issue of equipment in 1914

The field service manual of 1914 detailed what the soldiers would be issued with at the time of the Great War.

Clothing

Ankle boots

Braces

Service dress cap ( Glengarry)

Identity disc with cord

Woolen drawers

Service dress jacket and metal titles with field dressing

Clasp knife with marlin spike and tin opener

Paybook (to be carried in right breast pocket of SD jacket)

Shirt

Socks

Service dress trousers

Cardigan waistcoat

Arms

Rifle with oil bottle, pullthrough and sling

Bayonet and scabbard

120 .303 cartridges

Tools

Trenching implement and carriers

Accoutrements

Ration bag

Water bottle with carrier

Web equipment - Waist belt, braces with buckle, cartridge carriers, frog, haversack, knife, ford, spoon and pack with supporting straps

Articles carried in the pack

Comforter cap

Holdall containing toothbrush, laces, razor & case, shaving brush and comb.

Greatcoat

Fitted housewife

Mess tin and cover

Worsted socks

Soap

Hand towel

Rations and Water

Bread ration

Cheese ration

Water

Iron ration- biscuit, preserved meat, tea, sugar, salt, meat extract cubes

Battalion Issues

32 pairs of non prismatic binoculars

2 pairs of prismatic binoculars for Machine Gun Sections

32 magnetic compasses

2 signaling telescopes

16 wire breakers

24 wire cutters in frogs

5 Infantry rangefinders with cover, frog and stand

24 reflective mirrors

32 folding saws in leather cases

8 ambulance stretchers

Notes on the issue

When carried the issue weighed 59 pounds 6 and 3/4 ounces

Drummers and buglers were unarmed

Men leading animals would carry their rifle slung

Members of machine gun detachments would place their rifles in the limbered wagon when using their machine guns.

Staff Sergeants are not issued with bayonets and carry only 25 rounds of ammunition

Colour Sergeants and Staff Sergeants do not carry entrenching tools

NCO's  not below the rank of Corporal carried infantry whistles