british wood case dated 1915 to be identified

[battle of loos]

good morning,

Let me take the liberty of soloquoting you in order to identify this type of crate dated 1915:

length : 420 mm
Each cell is 95 mm long

Thank you in advance.

Kind regards

michel

[Chasemuseum]

The critical marking appears to be "E815"

 

Unfortunately I don't know this number.

[GRANVILLE]

From the colour and construction I don't think there can be much doubt they were made to carry ammunition - best guess would be Mills Bombs. There is a letter E stamped on one end - possibly signifying Explosives - but that is purely a guess. It crossed my mind they might have been made with the Gallipoli campaign in mind where there would have been a lot of heavy lugging to get munitions up the cliff faces to the front - possibly looking to reduce the weight per lift?

David

 

[Chasemuseum]

There were a large number of types of grenades and I expect that these boxes were made for grenades. The mills bomb was an evolving weapon, the No 5 the No23 and No36 grenade, with each version having several significant changes in the production cycle. The late war ammunition box for the No 36 grenade is very well documented. It included space for a tin to hold the fuzes and accommodation for the grenade tool to be fitted to the lid of the crate. These boxes look like they were made for something bigger than a mills.

[battle of loos]

Is it possible that this is a box for the Cricket Ball grenade?
 

These box come from the north of France
 

[battle of loos]

here is for comparison my case of Mill's bomb.
khaki with a red stripe, same color.

[Chasemuseum]

A lovely example of a classic Mills box. I don't know if a different box was used before this model but this design remained in use throughout for the life of the Mills grenade.

Mine is a WW2 example and has a simplified attachment of the lid, but is otherwise the same.

[14276265]

3 hours ago, battle of loos said:

here is for comparison my case of Mill's bomb.
khaki with a red stripe, same color.

A good clean example (albeit slightly hacked) of a G5 MkII box for No.5 grenades. On the underside there might be G5 II branded or impressed into the wood.

A photo of the top of the lid where the clasps secure the rope handles, would be helpful, please.

[14276265]

On 23/01/2024 at 13:38, battle of loos said:

good morning,

Let me take the liberty of soloquoting you in order to identify this type of crate dated 1915:

length : 420 mm
Each cell is 95 mm long

 

The boxes look like T series boxes for holding cartons of artillery friction tubes. They are not grenade boxes, as the lids shown are secured with screws. The initials (HL?) are those of the manufacturer, and the 1915 the year of manufacture. There may be a branding or impression on the underside denoting the type and mark of the box.

The E within a diamond stamped on the end indicates the Store has not been fully inspected.

[TullochArd]

I like these mysteries.  I'll start by saying 14276265's observations make a lot of sense.  The cells are indeed tiny ....... about 4" and number a meagre four.  I too do not believe it is an act of war to house four grenades in a single transit/storage box. The red band indicates explosive.  So what was also around in 1915 in large quantities ,...... Gun Cotton.......which was used for all sorts of business.  However, the Field Service Pocket Book, 1914, p.116 states that slabs for field service are 6" x 3" x 1 1/2" so they don't fit,  Each Gun Cotton slab has a pre drilled hole for the small but sensitive No. 8 detonator.  Explosives and Detonators do not live well together.  I'm guessing, as I've never seen one, but I suspect we may be looking at a transit/storage box for holding tins of detonators to be issued alongside Gun Cotton slabs.   

 

 

 

Edited 25 January by TullochArd