25th (Frontiersmen) Batt, Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment)

[John Thorne]

Thank you Fred, and I must say that you are most gracious considering your thread seems to have been hijacked!

It is a gorgeous CLLE, by the way, my own (long gone now, sigh) was not nearly so nice.

Here are the photos I mentioned of the TF '03 braces. 1914 dated, marked R.I.R. (Royal Irish Regiment).

John

[Whitedog]

John, I'm only too happy to have all of you and anyone else add to the ongoing and developing conversation. Diversity is the spice of life! Wow, your site is fantastic John! The load bearing straps that you've shown are amazing. Without the research you and the others are doing on such vintage British equipment, all knowledge of them would be lost and distorted. I wish somebody would make some reproductions of them. Have you ever used Pecard Antique Leather Dressing on your equipment? I won't use anything else after seeing what it can do.

Glad you liked the CLLE John. My wife bought it and the other one with the stenciling of King Williams College on the butt for me on my last two birthdays. What an understanding and loving wife! Fred

[Whitedog]

John, isn't it interesting that the two braces you've pictured are made with slightly different types of material or weave and that the upper brace has eight holes in each leather strap while the bottom brace has eleven holes in each strap, Both braces have equal length straps. Different manufacturers? Fred

[Whitedog]

Just for information there's a very decent website on the 25th (County of London) Cyclist Battalion, London Regiment here.... http://www.25thlondon.com/index.htm. It may be worthwhile contacting the site's owner/author (Simon Parker-Galbreath) for his opinion or, alternatively, just have a trawl around the site. There appear to be a number of photos showing rifles so it may be of use.

There's also an interesting IWM Postcard reproduction of a 1912 Recruitment Poster shown on the site (link to it is here... http://www.25thlondon.com/poster.htm). I've added a cropped section just for interest.

Steve

Steve, I just now noticed the Fantastic photo's that you posted links to! Wow, Thanks!! They're Fantastic! Fred