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Remembered Today:

British and Empire Tents and Shelters of the Great War


thejungleisneutral

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I recollect that tents were used to accommodate contingents sent to London during one of the coronations...Edward VII...possibly also George V. Not enough barrack space in the capital for the numbers of soldiers that converged...actually, I recollect I have a photographs...yes, both 1902 and 1911 Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps contingents to the Coronations at London are shown accommodated in tents. The same would have been true for the Bermuda Militia Artillery. Perhaps these tents were still in use during the coming war.

1902 BVRC Coronation Contingent cr.jpg

1911 BVRC King George V Coronation Contingent.jpg

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On 14/08/2022 at 03:00, Adrienne A said:

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. 

Royal Artillery "Spring Cleaning" the wooden floors from Bell Tents, these appear to be in 3 sections.

J. Rees. R.G.A. (3).jpg

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Probably pre-war. Tents at Fort Hamilton in Bermuda. The guns stored in foreground appear to be Ordnance BL 12-Pounder 7 cwt.

 

P1160373-1902-08 Ordnance BL 12-pounder 7 cwt cr.jpg

Edited by aodhdubh
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  • 1 year later...

An article from the Washington Post in 1990 by Emerson P Brown defines  an IPEP tent as Indian pattern European personnel.

".....my 14-month experience of life in a tent in the Sinai Desert in 1946 and 1947.

Daytime temperatures were as high as 120 degrees Fahrenheit (nights were beautiful and surprisingly cool), but I never suffered real discomfort. I never had prickly heat. My shelter was a British Army tent, called an IPEP (Indian pattern European personnel). Intended for 10 other ranks, as the British called them then, the tent was about 18 feet square, with a coir matting floor, four-foot sidewalls and a separate fly making a two-layer roof that effectively shielded against the sun's rays. Refugees at the camp lived six to 12 per tent and found the tents both comfortable and a ready source of clothing (the sidewalls were three-ply; the middle one of blue cloth worked up easily into shorts and skirts)".

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/opinions/1990/09/22/soldiers-life-in-the-desert/8acffb48-5113-4c30-9ee4-76856288cc55/

(archived version https://web.archive.org/web/20231004061813/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/opinions/1990/09/22/soldiers-life-in-the-desert/8acffb48-5113-4c30-9ee4-76856288cc55/ )

 

 A number of the earlier images in this topic are no longer viewable, perhaps they will be seen in archived versions of this topic

https://web.archive.org/web/20200803152217/https://www.greatwarforum.org/topic/252797-british-and-empire-tents-and-shelters-of-the-great-war/  (August 2020)

https://web.archive.org/web/20210321110125/https://www.greatwarforum.org/topic/252797-british-and-empire-tents-and-shelters-of-the-great-war/ (March 2021)

https://web.archive.org/web/20221204092456/https://www.greatwarforum.org/topic/252797-british-and-empire-tents-and-shelters-of-the-great-war/ (December 2022)

Maureen

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  • 4 weeks later...
On 28/08/2022 at 14:55, battle of loos said:

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 :

1330206561_Ration-8thWinnipegBattailon-Copie(4).jpg.f9188238b4b77f5f95ca44f1bee68c11.jpg

regards

michel

Also notice , no liner in the helmet being held.

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