I've read Pat Barker's novel "Regeneration", which looks at the hospital for shell-shocked officers in Craiglockhart, Edinburgh, and where Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfrid Owen were among the patients. It was turned into a rather good film in 1997.
When you consider the tradition of buying Commissions, it makes sense that the Armed Forces would require Officers to pay for their kit. Even though the practice of buying Commissions was abolished in 1871, the practice of outfitting one' self for duty still carried on, as having a higher education was a requirement for consideration as an officer. If you had a higher education, your family probably had means. The whole buying and selling of commissions was common throughout European armies, except for Prussia, but the British took it to extremes as the well off would enlist infants as privates. When the boy was 15, he showed up to his "regiment" as a Second Lieutenant.
Also in Germany ( where there had been on paper four Armies and Navy), the officers had to pay for their eqipment. This caused that a ,freshbaked' Lieutenant of a middleclass family could only afford standard equipment, while a senior officer of upperclass class bought for example a sword with engaged blueed Blade wit old inlays, silverwires at handle and guard of goldened silver. Some officers equipment was bought by prussian, bavarian, saxon and württembergian Gouvernements ( the troops of small states had been Integrsted into prussian Army, - difficult to explain), but the few items of officers items, mostly swords, bought by Gouvernement had been used by some high sergeants, when they Had to fullfile the role as , Offiziersstellvertreter ', this means, some sergeants had in some context officers power.
@@brittakriep2938 There were German ranks like Feldwebel Leutnant and Offizierstellvertreter that were intermediate between NCO and officer but were not officer ranks even though they often exercised junior officer functions.
@@stevekaczynski3793 : Yes, so they had been , Mannschaften ', but for the time douing officers work, they got Gouvernement payed officers swords , socalled Kammerstücke. But as collector you must be carefull, often the stamps are falsified.
And we're not even getting into the cavalry exquisite who purchased a majority before the age of 21.... It took a particularly venal colonel to let that one pass.
Great video! Wow! a best quality Sam Browne belt cost £381 in 2024 prices, a Glengarry Cap £67 , a service jacket in barathea £681 and that's only a fraction of the kit needed - no wonder officers promoted through the ranks with little capital were bamboozled at the price of it all!
Eventually, during the war, a grant of £50, perhaps about £1000 in today's money, was made to officers to enable them to buy the equipment, otherwise it would have been beyond the means of many of the "temporary gentlemen" in particular.
I am old enough to still think in pounds, shillings and pence (even farthings). I am amazed how expensive this kit was. Sadly, so much money to look the part never stopped a fatal bullet in their first attack. A generation betrayed by the Versailles Treaty so their children had to go to War again. Good research, good video.
In Stirling Castle in Scotland, I once saw on exhibit a pocket Bible or New Testament that a soldier of WW1 had worn in a breast pocket. There was a bullet hole right through it, presumably killing him. The British .303 Lee-Enfield bullet could punch 17 inches into sandbags at 40 yards, and the German bullets would have been as powerful. Of course a Bible wouldn't stop that kind of projectile...
'Essential' kit has also always been fiercely expensive for public schools and even Grammar schools. Those outfitters have been fleecing people for generation after generation now.. Mind you, at least we didn't get shot at after being kitted out, so there is that.
I remember reading about how an "experienced" officer took a new officer out into the trenches and no man's land to get him oriented. They would pass remains of dead soldiers. The senior officer were tell the new on what year they had died due to their uniform.
If they could freely go out into no man's land without being sniped, they would have been able to evacuate and bury the remains of dead soldiers. If they could not freely go out into no man's land, then the officers were taking a needless risk. It might have happened but it seems unlikely to me. People who went into no man's land generally did so at night and were unlikely to notice details of the dead, other than perhaps the smell of rotting corpses.
Super video- can you give an indication of the costs for the entire ‘outfit’ in today’s prices- I’m fascinated at the costs- and sadly much investment just ended up rotting in a field in Flanders
Very simply, officers were gentlemen, ergo you could afford to out fit yourself unlike the working class other ranks. Famously, actor David Niven in 1930, was awarded a £14.00 officers uniform grant from the War Office; his uniform tailors bill though was £55.00. That for the Highland Light Infantry which was for highland service dress, mess kit and service shirts only; everything was bespoke.
@@mikewinston8709 After graduation from Sandhurst, Niven had to fill in a form detailing which infantry regiment he wished to go to. He wrote "any one other than the Highland Light Infantry". To which he was assigned...
Well, given the casualty rates among company officers [captains and below] it's not surprising that they dressed down in a severe way by 1917. Walking around with a freaking cane was a sure way to identify yourself as an officer and therefore attract extra special attention from the machine gunners. [note: While sniping was bad on the Western Front, it was the MG crews that did most of the killing. And everybody knew it.] A smart officer dumped the Sam Browne belt and put on webbing and a knit cap and carried a rifle. It should also be said that those casualty rates put a severe dent in the demographics that generated the 1914 officer corps. Very very few of the lieutenants of the Regular British Army of 1914 were still fit for service by 1916, even if they were lucky enough to live through the Great Retreat, the monumental errors of 1915 and the Somme.
Great, but as junior officers were decimated in the trenches and other ranks were promoted, I'd guess there was a thriving second hand market? My ancestor was a coke man before the war and promoted eventually to captain, but even with the extra pay he'd never have afforded that as a subaltern in Jan 1915. Any evidence of that in newspaper small ads?
@@rjwalker1726 During the war there was a grant of that amount introduced to help officers buy equipment. Some front-line officers in WW1 took to wearing issue uniforms like their men, with the addition of officer rank badges (often switched to the shoulder straps as in the Guards and the later British Army, rather than the sleeves as these were seen as too conspicuous). This was done mainly to cut down on casualties from German snipers, who found British officers in the traditional uniforms all too easy to recognise. It should be noted that the officers who retained traditional uniform often considered such practices cowardly.
A different war, but the spare uniforms of RAF Bomber Command aircrew killed or MIA following raids were sometimes put up for sale on the base, though other aircrew tended to think it was potentially bad luck to possess an item from a dead man.
Excellent video. I have a couple of questions: At what rank would an officer on active service employ a batman? What might a batman be expected to carry for his officer (if anything)? [Edit] _Moved… I accidentally posted this in a reply._
A famous photo of Lancashire Fusiliers at the Somme in 1916 includes a second lieutenant who seems to be wearing an enlisted man's tunic. He has also moved his rank badges to his shoulder straps, as opposed to the much more conspicuous sleeve rank badges of the regulations.
Austro-Hungarian officers were expected to buy their own kit. Quite a few went to war with swords, shiny scabbards and brightly coloured sashes in 1914, and were killed in droves. Company commanders and higher were expected to maintain a horse, which added to expense.
I was happy that I was prior enlisted when I got my commission, so it was mostly just a change in insignia. Even still my Officer ASUs was around $500 for everything but the shoes.
Breeches pronunciation comes from formal British English spelling. We Americans have turned countless words into a different spelling and pronunciation over the centuries. Britches is a bastardized spelling of breeches. Have a 'bloody nice day.'
I've read Pat Barker's novel "Regeneration", which looks at the hospital for shell-shocked officers in Craiglockhart, Edinburgh, and where Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfrid Owen were among the patients. It was turned into a rather good film in 1997.
When you consider the tradition of buying Commissions, it makes sense that the Armed Forces would require Officers to pay for their kit. Even though the practice of buying Commissions was abolished in 1871, the practice of outfitting one' self for duty still carried on, as having a higher education was a requirement for consideration as an officer. If you had a higher education, your family probably had means.
The whole buying and selling of commissions was common throughout European armies, except for Prussia, but the British took it to extremes as the well off would enlist infants as privates. When the boy was 15, he showed up to his "regiment" as a Second Lieutenant.
Also in Germany ( where there had been on paper four Armies and Navy), the officers had to pay for their eqipment. This caused that a ,freshbaked' Lieutenant of a middleclass family could only afford standard equipment, while a senior officer of upperclass class bought for example a sword with engaged blueed Blade wit old inlays, silverwires at handle and guard of goldened silver. Some officers equipment was bought by prussian, bavarian, saxon and württembergian Gouvernements ( the troops of small states had been Integrsted into prussian Army, - difficult to explain), but the few items of officers items, mostly swords, bought by Gouvernement had been used by some high sergeants, when they Had to fullfile the role as , Offiziersstellvertreter ', this means, some sergeants had in some context officers power.
@@brittakriep2938 There were German ranks like Feldwebel Leutnant and Offizierstellvertreter that were intermediate between NCO and officer but were not officer ranks even though they often exercised junior officer functions.
@@stevekaczynski3793 : Yes, so they had been , Mannschaften ', but for the time douing officers work, they got Gouvernement payed officers swords , socalled Kammerstücke. But as collector you must be carefull, often the stamps are falsified.
And we're not even getting into the cavalry exquisite who purchased a majority before the age of 21.... It took a particularly venal colonel to let that one pass.
A 15 year-old in charge of a platoon. What?😮
This is exactly the type of video I was looking for, thank you for the upload
Very nice video, passing along to my friend putting together a Canadian officers kit
Great video! Wow! a best quality Sam Browne belt cost £381 in 2024 prices, a Glengarry Cap £67 , a service jacket in barathea £681 and that's only a fraction of the kit needed - no wonder officers promoted through the ranks with little capital were bamboozled at the price of it all!
Happy I can find that stuff cheaper nowadays. Never knew how expensive it was back then
Eventually, during the war, a grant of £50, perhaps about £1000 in today's money, was made to officers to enable them to buy the equipment, otherwise it would have been beyond the means of many of the "temporary gentlemen" in particular.
4:41 - Wasn't Leitz a German company? Certainly Germany led the way in optical equipment, especially another firm, Zeiss.
I am old enough to still think in pounds, shillings and pence (even farthings). I am amazed how expensive this kit was. Sadly, so much money to look the part never stopped a fatal bullet in their first attack. A generation betrayed by the Versailles Treaty so their children had to go to War again. Good research, good video.
In Stirling Castle in Scotland, I once saw on exhibit a pocket Bible or New Testament that a soldier of WW1 had worn in a breast pocket. There was a bullet hole right through it, presumably killing him. The British .303 Lee-Enfield bullet could punch 17 inches into sandbags at 40 yards, and the German bullets would have been as powerful. Of course a Bible wouldn't stop that kind of projectile...
'Essential' kit has also always been fiercely expensive for public schools and even Grammar schools. Those outfitters have been fleecing people for generation after generation now..
Mind you, at least we didn't get shot at after being kitted out, so there is that.
Exactly what i needed for my reenactment
Excellent video
I remember reading about how an "experienced" officer took a new officer out into the trenches and no man's land to get him oriented.
They would pass remains of dead soldiers.
The senior officer were tell the new on what year they had died due to their uniform.
If they could freely go out into no man's land without being sniped, they would have been able to evacuate and bury the remains of dead soldiers. If they could not freely go out into no man's land, then the officers were taking a needless risk. It might have happened but it seems unlikely to me. People who went into no man's land generally did so at night and were unlikely to notice details of the dead, other than perhaps the smell of rotting corpses.
Super video- can you give an indication of the costs for the entire ‘outfit’ in today’s prices- I’m fascinated at the costs- and sadly much investment just ended up rotting in a field in Flanders
The Subaltern delivers as always!
Sounds really expensive. What was the reason for the officer having to provide everything?
Very simply, officers were gentlemen, ergo you could afford to out fit yourself unlike the working class other ranks. Famously, actor David Niven in 1930, was awarded a £14.00 officers uniform grant from the War Office; his uniform tailors bill though was £55.00. That for the Highland Light Infantry which was for highland service dress, mess kit and service shirts only; everything was bespoke.
@@mikewinston8709 After graduation from Sandhurst, Niven had to fill in a form detailing which infantry regiment he wished to go to. He wrote "any one other than the Highland Light Infantry". To which he was assigned...
Well, given the casualty rates among company officers [captains and below] it's not surprising that they dressed down in a severe way by 1917. Walking around with a freaking cane was a sure way to identify yourself as an officer and therefore attract extra special attention from the machine gunners. [note: While sniping was bad on the Western Front, it was the MG crews that did most of the killing. And everybody knew it.] A smart officer dumped the Sam Browne belt and put on webbing and a knit cap and carried a rifle.
It should also be said that those casualty rates put a severe dent in the demographics that generated the 1914 officer corps. Very very few of the lieutenants of the Regular British Army of 1914 were still fit for service by 1916, even if they were lucky enough to live through the Great Retreat, the monumental errors of 1915 and the Somme.
Great video! :D But where is part 2?
Great, but as junior officers were decimated in the trenches and other ranks were promoted, I'd guess there was a thriving second hand market? My ancestor was a coke man before the war and promoted eventually to captain, but even with the extra pay he'd never have afforded that as a subaltern in Jan 1915. Any evidence of that in newspaper small ads?
I think they got £50 if they were promoted from the ranks etc because, no, nobody could afford that!
@@rjwalker1726 During the war there was a grant of that amount introduced to help officers buy equipment. Some front-line officers in WW1 took to wearing issue uniforms like their men, with the addition of officer rank badges (often switched to the shoulder straps as in the Guards and the later British Army, rather than the sleeves as these were seen as too conspicuous). This was done mainly to cut down on casualties from German snipers, who found British officers in the traditional uniforms all too easy to recognise. It should be noted that the officers who retained traditional uniform often considered such practices cowardly.
A different war, but the spare uniforms of RAF Bomber Command aircrew killed or MIA following raids were sometimes put up for sale on the base, though other aircrew tended to think it was potentially bad luck to possess an item from a dead man.
Excellent video. I have a couple of questions: At what rank would an officer on active service employ a batman? What might a batman be expected to carry for his officer (if anything)?
[Edit] _Moved… I accidentally posted this in a reply._
Anyone who knows a good quality source for Greenslee riding boots, the ones with three buckles?
Very interesting movie
They weren't called "Gieves the thieves" for nothing!
So, was ANY kit supplied by the army?
By 1916, junior officers usually wore a standard enlisted man's uniform. The officer's uniform made them a conspicuous target.
A famous photo of Lancashire Fusiliers at the Somme in 1916 includes a second lieutenant who seems to be wearing an enlisted man's tunic. He has also moved his rank badges to his shoulder straps, as opposed to the much more conspicuous sleeve rank badges of the regulations.
Now I am curious about the situation was in the other armies.
Austro-Hungarian officers were expected to buy their own kit. Quite a few went to war with swords, shiny scabbards and brightly coloured sashes in 1914, and were killed in droves. Company commanders and higher were expected to maintain a horse, which added to expense.
dear teacher, may i have those materials which u presented in the video? For thesis purpose pls.
Even as a U.S. Marine officer I had to take a bank loan to pay for all my uniforms.
I was happy that I was prior enlisted when I got my commission, so it was mostly just a change in insignia. Even still my Officer ASUs was around $500 for everything but the shoes.
'Britches' is the pronunciation - 'breeches' is the spelling.
Breeches pronunciation comes from formal British English spelling.
We Americans have turned countless words into a different spelling and pronunciation over the centuries.
Britches is a bastardized spelling of breeches. Have a 'bloody nice day.'