British and Empire Tents and Shelters of the Great War

[Chasemuseum]

With reference to various girl guide and scout group bell tents. A collector in Canberra acquired several a few years back and has supplied them to re-enactors. The key feature is that these were relatively small, about a 2,1m radius. and looked very much like the ones in post 14. Very similar in impression to the military tent but much smaller. Unfortunately not military surplus.

Cheers

RT

 

PS he has sold all of them.

[morrisc8]

East Surrey Rgt 30th (Reserve) Battalion TR of the 7th Reserve Brigade.

I have just bought over 120 original ww1 negatives on this one camp [ tents ]. Taken in Kent july 1917.

Keith

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Sepoy]

Problems of tent usage during the Great War

Sepoy

 

[morrisc8]

a few more from the East Surrey Rgt 30th (Reserve) Battalion TR of the 7th Reserve Brigade 1917.

Keith

 

 

[MaureenE]

A cross reference to another topic "British Army Tents"

 

[Guest]

Hi, during the Great War, what did American troops generally sleep on. In particular, I talking about the embarkment camp set up in Norfolk, Virginia in February 1918 from where American servicemen were shipped to fight in WW1 in France.

 

For example, was it on the floor? On what? Or were some kind of bed frame provided? Any idea what the tents were like? How many soldiers did they house? And what shape were they? 

 

I've found this one very small photograph, which I attach.

 

Any help gratefully received.

Edited 25 February , 2019 by Guest
Add photo

[Guest]

Sorry to bother you guys, but I have a question to ask you and maybe somebody can send me a few photo's or here. with the Bell tents used during the 1899 to 1902 Boer War, the British used two different shaped small metal pegs to keep the ground sheet or ground sails pinned to the ground, one is a u shaped in design and the other has one leg but a sort of hoot at the top, I am busy having an argument with some fellow metal detecting people here in South Africa about these small little pegs, can anybody share some info about them, I have been searching google for a while but I cannot find info on these small pegs that pin the ground sheet to the ground, thanks, my email address is qf@lcom.co.za  

[Muerrisch]

Fascinating thread. I was a Wolf Cub, Scout, Senior Scout, Queen's Scout, Scoutmaster in the period 1946 to 1970 or so, and well remember Bell tents. However, I also recall "Icelandics" which were seriously big and heavy ridge tents ... if memory serves we could sleep 6 on one side and have luxury space on the other side. There was a central vertical pole so the ridge was supported at both ends and in the middle.

 

Does that ring any "bells?"

[NigelS]

On 08/06/2019 at 23:12, Muerrisch said:

Does that ring any "bells?"

 

Certainly does. Getting the  groundsheet out from under the central pole for inspections, airing, etc was a real pain, But they've clearly stood the test of time, yours today for a mere £570: 

Blacks of Greenock Icelandic II Tent (when in stock!).

 

NigelS

[32ndcmr]

Does anyone have any photos or diagrams of how the bell tents were set up inside? More specifically for other ranks of nco's? 

I'm looking to recreate one as a display for living history events. I'm assuming bedding would have been very simple as you would struggle to get 12 to 15 stretchers in there.  Was personal equipment (webbing, kit bag etc) stored at the head or the foot? Any help would be greatly appreciated.  

[Cymro]

What a cracking thread, and what a superb set of photographs - well done on that!

[Chasemuseum]

An example of an officers private purchase individual field tent / swag. This would have been suitable to carry when riding a horse, strapped to the back of the saddle.

Major James Pascoe Caddy MC, Initially 1 Div AIF 5th engineering field company, latter 5 Div AIF 15th eng field coy. Served in Egypt, the Gallipoli campaign and from mid-1916 on the Western Front.  

 

Waterproof heavy canvas base to the swag, to be placed against the ground

 

There are tapes along the side to allow the side to be opened for easy entry and exit, the fly is arranged to drain clear of the short height walls

 

Original pillow and pillowcases. The pillowcases have bone buttons to secure them over the pillow. THe brick red blanket is sewn into the swag.

 

The only manufacturer markings on the tent swag. Suspect that it was probably purchased in Cairo when he was stationed there either before or after the Gallipoli campaign.

 

Edited 16 November , 2019 by Chasemuseum
spelling

[MaureenE]

Although the following online book was written before the Great War period, some of the illustrations look as though tents didn't change much.

 

Chapter VII "Tents and Encampments" page 164  Wrinkles; or, Hints to sportsmen and travellers on dress, equipment, and camp life  by The Old Shekarry 

 [Henry Astbury Leveson]. a New Edition 1874. Archive.org

https://archive.org/details/wrinklesorhintst00halhiala/page/164

 

Cheers

Maureen

[Adrienne A]

This is a great thread! I have a further question.

Does anyone know any details about the wooden floors often seen in photographs of WWI bell tents? I don't see any reference to them in the otherwise very detailed instructions in the Field Service Pocket Book about how to erect a bell tent. They look as if they might be in 4 sections, where you can see enough of them and I imagine they were made from whatever timber was available.

Would they have been built on location or transported in ready made sections?  It would seem to have been a heavy and awkward item to have transported.

Interested in your thoughts on this. I have a bell tent for my nurses' quarters for my WWI re-enactment and it bugs me not to have a floor in it when I know they were widely used. 

[Chasemuseum]

Wood floors for bell tents appear to have been prefabricated in quarters and in sixths and supplied when tents were used in semi-permanent encampments. Whichever they would have been fairly heavy as they appear to have been made from about 1inch nominal (about 20mm) or  1 1/4inch (about 25mm) board.

 

 

I have never seen a reference in field manuals nor in List of Changes, but they are probably buried in there somewhere.

[Pat Atkins]

Re EPIP tents, have just come across a mention of them in George Spill’s WW2 Royal Artillery memoir “Reluctant Q”: he claims the acronym was for ‘English Pattern Indian Police’. To me, the ‘English’ bit looks rather unlikely but Spill was presumably repeating the accepted derivation in an Indian-based Regular unit in late 1941.

[MaureenE]

 A few more meanings for EPIP

European Privates, Indian Pattern from glossary from Medical Services in New Zealand and The Pacific from The Official History of New Zealand in the Second World War 1939–1945 https://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-WH2PMed-_N134619.html

European Pattern Indian Personnel https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C10414 Australian War Memorial

And from a blog http://peabeehistory.blogspot.com/2015/02/epip-tent.html, comments at the bottom

"Can't provide 'official proof' but according to the Army Medical Department's Report for 1897,(1898 [C.8936] Army Medical Department report for the year 1897. Volume XXXIX.) British troops stationed in Candia (modern Iraklion) Crete, were encamped in "Indian pattern European privates' tents", and a different comment

"The actual acronym stands for Extended Pole Indian Pattern"

In relation to the first comment see https://britishinterventionincrete.wordpress.com/2016/07/ (or archived version https://web.archive.org/web/20220412105712/https://britishinterventionincrete.wordpress.com/2016/07/), in particular the words

 

[E.P. tent … according to The Soldiers’ Pocket-Book, there were three types of issue tent in India in the 1880s, the Staff-Sergeant’s tent, (S-S tent) the European (or English) Privates tent (EP tent) and the circular tent (bell tent). Native soldiers had a Lascar ‘pâl’.

The EP tent was made of multiple layers of white cloth, was 22 ‘ by 16′ and had two stout poles and a ridge pole and all together weighed between 600 and 630 lbs (4 pack mule loads, up to 40% over the standard load weight if wet….). In Bombay service it accommodated 22 men, in Madras service it accommodated 26 men. (see next note). When used outside India it became the EPIP to distinguish the Indian pattern tent from its British made equivalent. The 160 lb General Service tent was introduced later so as to be one standard pack-mule load. It was about 12′ by 8’. http://www.kiplingsociety.co.uk/rg_foreandaft_notes.htm]

I think the most likely meaning is probably European Privates, Indian Pattern

Maureen

 

[Pat Atkins]

That seems to be a fair conclusion, based on the evidence. The acronym was clearly in common use. Spill says these tents  had detachable side panels.

[battle of loos]

good morning,

here is a photo showing a Canadian camp with camouflaged tents
soldiers of the 8th Canadian Bat.
I guess summer 1916 because of the foliage and the pile of brand new Brodie :

regards

michel

[MaureenE]

A description of the tents "...known in India as "European privates." 

These tents are made of a thick white cotton fabric, and are double, so that, I think, no sun could ever get through them. The roof of the tent is supported by two stout bamboo poles standing about six feet apart, and there is a space of a foot or more between the two thicknesses composing it, both of which are again lined, the outer one with a deep maroon-coloured material, and the inner one with a pale yellow. A wooden bar connects the two poles, and forms a useful place for hanging things upon. The walls of the tent are about four feet high, and are made in four pieces. There are thus four doorways to the tent, each having an awning over it, which is fastened to the roof and supported by two bamboo sticks. This awning can be let down and the walls closed in at night if desired. As we had expected to find ourselves under double bell tents of the home pattern, we were agreeably surprised. We were four officers in a tent, so had plenty of room, the inside measuring about eighteen feet by twenty-three. The men were about twenty in a tent".

https://archive.org/details/suakin1885beings00parrrich/page/n51/mode/2up 

from page 41 Suakin, 1885 : being a sketch of the campaign of this year by Major E Gambier Parry 2nd edition 1886 Archive.org

[Buffnut453]

Just to add a little Royal Air Force flair to this thread, here's a trio of Sergeant Pilots, probably at Spich, Germany, in June 1919.  The original image was in rather poor condition but I still think it's a great group photo.  

I don't think there's anything particularly remarkable about the tentage, although I do wonder whether these men enjoyed slightly less cramped accommodations than their line infantry peers.  

 

[high wood]

1/8th Btn, Worcestershire Regiment, (T.F.), location unknown. The tents appear to have been camoflagued.

[P.Rhodes]

Here are a couple of mine. One has my uncle Reg standing far right, the other, I presume, are his superiors. He was in 1/3 West Riding Field Ambulance as a stretcher bearer. Date and location unknown. Definitely before 1917 when he was selected for officer training.

Peter

[aodhdubh]

Tents were used in the Bermuda Garrison for temporary accommodation at outlying facilities over a surprisingly long period given that tents are not very survivable in the frequently stormy weather. At the start of the 19th century, mail vessels passing through Bermuda from the West Indies repeatedly introduced mosquitos carrying Yellow Fever resulting in a few endemics that struck the armed forces personnel especially. Medical authorities investigated the question of why few civilians died but many soldiers, marines and sailors did and concluded that alcoholism was an exacerbating factor in the lethality of the disease. Not an entirely novel finding...during the French Revolution, the British Army had been sent into Haiti during the uprising of the enslaved population there and suffered terrible casualties, but a significant number of deaths were from disease, including yellow fever. High death rates there and in the West Indies generally for soldiers had been partially attributed to the high consumption or rum in preference to water (which, if unboiled, was potentially dangerous also), where the rum was produced cheaply in equipment built with a lot of lead pipes and solder. I digress...in Bermuda, it was determined that...with these endemics arriving during the summer months...that the warm (upper 20s C) and humid (up to 100%) conditions at that time of year and poor ventilation in barracks might be an exacerbating factor, hence soldiers were moved out of barracks and into tent camps which were thought healthier (see this 1867 print: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Royal_Artillery_and_Royal_Engineers_camp_at_Tucker's_Town,_St._George's_Parish,_Bermuda_in_1867.jpg).

 

From the 1860s, at least, Bermuda (which stretches roughly from North-East to South-West, then turns northward for a shorter length) was split into three military districts: eastern, controlled from St. George's Garrison with its extensive Royal Barracks...originally the only large army base); central, controlled from the newer Prospect Camp, where Bermuda Command headquarters of the overall garrison was also located, and which had the greatest barrack space; and western, controlled from Boaz Island and the co-joined Watford Island, with Clarence Barracks...originally built by the Admiralty to house convicts labouring at the nearby Royal Naval Dockyard. There were numerous outlying military facilities, with the largest being Warwick Camp (the only one still in military use today). Warwick Camp was established in the 1860s to provide rifle ranges allowing firing at up to 800 yards and field training areas. As units using it were only posted there temporarily from barracks (or vessels) elsewhere in Bermuda, only a handful of buildings were erected at first as mess areas, stores, and for other such uses. Tents were set up for accommodation, and this remained the case 'til after the First World War when some barracks were built. There were still tents there 'til after the Second World War when further barracks were added in the 1950s. Since then, there are normally one or two marquees to be seen there generally but tents for accommodation are only used for field training, when soldiers carry them about in their carrying equipment (in fact, in the 1990s, these were actually ponchos...no longer used as waterproof clothing since the introduction of DPM rain suits...with soldiers pairing up to use one's poncho as a groundsheet and the other's as a tent, usually quickly set up with bungee cords that were carried bound around the poncho roll. Tents were also long-term accommodation at other outlying military facilities. St. David's Battery, by example, completed in 1910 with two fixed 9.2" and two fixed 6" guns had a few buildings for various purposes, but accommodation was provided under canvas until the Second World War when barracks were constructed (the failure beforehand probably due to the battery being a short boat trip across St. George's Harbour from the Royal Barracks at St. George's Garrison where the personnel manning the batteries were accommodated in barracks. Tents had also been used for accommodation POWs during the Second Boer War. Tents were also noted as being used to house companies of newly arrived battalions during the exhange of battalions while the departing battalions vacated barracks to make way for the new arrivals.

 

The photos below are:

1867 RA and RE camp at Tucker's Town, St. George's Parish, Bermuda, with old Castle Harbour fortifications visible beyond.

1902 Second Boer War POW camp in Bermuda

1868 Warwick Camp...tents on what was to be the main 800 yards rifle range...accommodation area was to be fixed on the opposite side of the military road (now called South Shore Road) under construction at right (to right of frame) at the top of the slope.

1870 circa Warwick Camp stereo card

1895 Warwick Camp

1910 Warwick Camp

1938 Warwick Camp

1950s Warwick Camp

2020 Warwick Camp

1910s Darrell's Island, I believe (one of the islands that had been used for Boer POWs, but was otherwise used by the royal Navy beforehand, and often used by the army for training

1914 circa...three photographs of tents used by the Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps

1910s tents at Whale Bay West, I believe...the Whale Bay Battery and the older Whale Bay Fort ruin are to right of the frame

[healdav]

At a tangent to this, when the Kaiser was in Luxembourg at the start of the war, he invited himself to stay at the Embassy, but his Grand Headquarters was accommodated in bell tents.

Whether they had offices elsewhere or whether they had larger tents to use as offices has been lost to history