rayoung74 Posted 7 March , 2011 Share Posted 7 March , 2011 O.K. I know that they wern't supposed to weigh more than 35lbs BUT what was actually carried in an officers valise? Thanks in advance Youngie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Piorun Posted 7 March , 2011 Share Posted 7 March , 2011 Clean clothes, spare kit, dress uniform, books, mirror, shaving brush, razor, strop and attendant kit, housewife, cleaning materials for shoes, leathers, etc., writing materials, beverages . . . . . . Cheers, Antony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dfaulder Posted 7 March , 2011 Share Posted 7 March , 2011 The empty valise probably weighs a bit as well! David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Piorun Posted 7 March , 2011 Share Posted 7 March , 2011 Too true, David. It would be made of leather and reinforced at all corners. I recall the first suitcase my parents bought me when I started to travel. It weighed a ton! It lasted sixty years and was still in perfectly usable condition when we decided we couldn't lift it anymore . Antony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
centurion Posted 7 March , 2011 Share Posted 7 March , 2011 Clean clothes, spare kit, dress uniform, books, mirror, shaving brush, razor, strop and attendant kit, housewife, cleaning materials for shoes, leathers, etc., writing materials, beverages . . . . . . Cheers, Antony Would he carry his dress uniform with him? Or would it not be stored (with plenty of moth balls) somewhere back at base? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Piorun Posted 7 March , 2011 Share Posted 7 March , 2011 Probably, C. I was on a roll. Add more books . A. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Tom Posted 9 March , 2011 Share Posted 9 March , 2011 Depending on the theatre of operations a camp bed and a sleeping bag. Old Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
centurion Posted 9 March , 2011 Share Posted 9 March , 2011 Depending on the theatre of operations a camp bed and a sleeping bag. Old Tom Valise produced by the manufacturers of the Tardis? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dfaulder Posted 9 March , 2011 Share Posted 9 March , 2011 Valise produced by the manufacturers of the Tardis? I believe the Goddard Hammock Bed was foldable - how far I don't know, but I would not exclude the idea of a folding bed fitting into a valise. Anyone got a picture of one? David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoMH Posted 9 March , 2011 Share Posted 9 March , 2011 The empty valise probably weighs a bit as well! David Empty leather NZEF 'portmanteau' measures 56 X 37 X 17 cms, and weighs 5k (11 lbs) when balanced on my bathroom scales! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
centurion Posted 9 March , 2011 Share Posted 9 March , 2011 Empty leather NZEF 'portmanteau' measures 56 X 37 X 17 cms, and weighs 5k (11 lbs) when balanced on my bathroom scales! 22 1/2 " x 14 3/4 " x 6 3/4" in Imperial Camp beds do fold but there are limits and sleeping bags even when rolled up take room. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
centurion Posted 9 March , 2011 Share Posted 9 March , 2011 The smallest camp bed on the market today would not fit the valise - when folded the two smallest need 81 x 15 x 15 cm and 13 x 20 x 96 cm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Piorun Posted 9 March , 2011 Share Posted 9 March , 2011 Yes, but if your batman was Private Baldrick . . . . ? Seriously, agreed. Not for a valise and sleeping bags would have been a waste of time and space. Antony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
centurion Posted 9 March , 2011 Share Posted 9 March , 2011 Sleeping bags were used by officers and were an officers only issue. Private Partridge (co author of The Long Trail) was put on a charge for destruction of army property for lacing army blankets together to form a sleeping bag (using a fork to make the holes) In an interview in the 1960s he said it had been worth it. Sleeping bags seem to have first been used on Scotts last expedition but for some reason the RN did not adopt them at first. Funnily the prejudice seems to have lived on - my scout troop banned them from camping in the 1950s and we had to shiver in blankets held together with blanket pins (well most did - I had a large canvas ex navy kit bag and with the contents removed and lined with blankets it made a very acceptable sleeping bag - for some reason this was regarded as a commendable piece of initiative) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Piorun Posted 10 March , 2011 Share Posted 10 March , 2011 Thanks for correcting me, C. I was thinking of what modern sleeping bags are like and had forgotten what we used to call bed-rolls. These came rather self-contained with their own straps and handle and, I assume, would not have been in the valise but, rather, with the valise. Are these the "sleeping bags" which would have been officers' issue in WW1? I think your Scoutmaster was a bit harsh . Where was that? We used sleeping bags in First Glasgow and our S/M was an MC and m.i.d. Cheers, Antony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
centurion Posted 10 March , 2011 Share Posted 10 March , 2011 I think your Scoutmaster was a bit harsh . Where was that? Sale Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CGM Posted 10 March , 2011 Share Posted 10 March , 2011 I remember guide camp in the 50s when we slept in just blankets held together with blanket pins. (I still have one of the pins and one of the very dark grey itchy blankets. ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Tom Posted 11 March , 2011 Share Posted 11 March , 2011 Re Camp beds and size. The WW2 camp bed would fit the current officers valise together with a basin and a canvas bucket as far as I recall. Of course the WW1 valise might have been smaller. Old Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
centurion Posted 11 March , 2011 Share Posted 11 March , 2011 Re Camp beds and size. The WW2 camp bed would fit the current officers valise together with a basin and a canvas bucket as far as I recall. Of course the WW1 valise might have been smaller. Old Tom the 1937 model had four times the capacity so you can probably add the kitchen sink as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Piorun Posted 11 March , 2011 Share Posted 11 March , 2011 Thank you, Tocemma (again!). That's what I call a bed-roll (even tho' it's described as a sleeping bag) and what led me to suggest that it would not be carried in the valise, rather with it. Maybe I was too long in the colonies . Antony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nigelfe Posted 12 March , 2011 Share Posted 12 March , 2011 Depending on the theatre of operations a camp bed and a sleeping bag. Not sure about sleeping bag, were they widely available at that time? I'm not sure that camping was quite as popular as later although climbing was catching on and there were of course expeditions to foreign parts. Not sure about a camp bed either (which would probably have to be strapped outside the valise itself). Officers valise (or more properly 'Valise, Officers') lasted until c.1970 IIRC, when sleeping bags were first issued to everyone. Before that a couple of blankets were the normal issue. An officers valise was somewhat similar to an Australian swag. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
centurion Posted 12 March , 2011 Share Posted 12 March , 2011 Not sure about sleeping bag, were they widely available at that time? I'm not sure that camping was quite as popular as later although climbing was catching on and there were of course expeditions to foreign parts. Not sure about a camp bed either (which would probably have to be strapped outside the valise itself). See one of my earlier posts in this thread. Sleeping bags were available as an officers issue. Army camp beds up to WW2 were wood and canvas http://www.retonthenet.co.uk/ekmps/shops/retonthenet/resources/image/180909-4-.jpg And when folded required 90cm x 17.5cm x 17.5 cm to stow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin Bennitt Posted 12 March , 2011 Share Posted 12 March , 2011 Sure I recall from officers' memoirs some sort of phrase like 'we slept in our valises' which always puzzled me (sorry don't have reference to hand as I'm in Cyprus on business. Would this have been a shorthand phrase like 'living out of a suitcase'? cheers Martin B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
centurion Posted 12 March , 2011 Share Posted 12 March , 2011 Sure I recall from officers' memoirs some sort of phrase like 'we slept in our valises' which always puzzled me (sorry don't have reference to hand as I'm in Cyprus on business. Would this have been a shorthand phrase like 'living out of a suitcase'? cheers Martin B Possibly on rather than in? I've heard an account of a WW2 officer stuffing clothes in the '37 webbing valise and using it as a pillow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Piorun Posted 12 March , 2011 Share Posted 12 March , 2011 Sure I recall from officers' memoirs some sort of phrase like 'we slept in our valises' which always puzzled me (sorry don't have reference to hand as I'm in Cyprus on business. Would this have been a shorthand phrase like 'living out of a suitcase'? cheers Martin B Well, that sounds like a reference to the bed-roll or swag-type valise where everything is rolled up in it, including blankets attached, and one simply unrolls it, moves the lumpy objects and beds down. Antony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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