P.1888/1903 scabbard unit marked BAH

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I picked up this scabbard with a P.1888 some time back. The bayonet is nothing extra-special - a P.1888 Mk II, Enfield, 02/02, and no 're-issue' marks. The scabbard is ok, with no maker marks, and the main part looks to have been reconditioned, as there is no helve strap on this. But the 'frog' does have a helve strap, and apart from being a bit ratty, is unit-marked 'B A H / 156'.

I have no idea what this unit marking means, and put it away in the back of my mind until a web search for something else(!) found a P.1888 Mk II, Enfield, 02/01, with a 'London brown' scabbard with a near identical marking - 'B A H / 58'... (See: http://www.victorianwars.com/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=5130, from whence the photographs of this were 'borrowed' for reference purposes).

Talk about coincidences - both scabbards contain the same type of bayonet made within a year of each other and same unit mark! And if bayonets and scabbards are anything like the 'Clapham omnibus' then there will be another one somewhere...

BUT, what unit? I suspect Indian, but haven't found anything obvious yet. Any ideas out there?

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Ah-ha! A post from before my time on GWF, found while looking through one of SS's locked threads, at: http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=151202 gives some more examples of the BAH mark...

Post no. 12 by the man himself mentions three scabbards with this mark. He says: "Interestingly, all these brown leather scabbards that I have come across have been marked with the letters BAH together with a 3 digit rack number. Sounds like a cache of weapons and gear may have been unearthed in the more recent past, that was all originally marked to the same unit, and that stuff is now finding its way onto the collectors market. They do remain a bit of a mystery though."

But note that mine is black and although the one parallel I could find (above) is brown it has a two-digit 'rack' number.

And in post no. 13, 4G notes "I do have two that I know came out of Afghanistan that have BAH on them".

Fast forward to our Antipodean commentator, and at post no. 14 we read: "It looks like all our BAH marked scabbards came out of the same batch - they are virtually identical. ... If only we could find out what the BAH stands for.!! "

On that last sentiment I fully agree!

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