Other Ranks 1888 Pattern Valise Equipment .303 inch 40 round ammunition pouch : British and colonial forces

Buff leather ammunition pouch,1888 Pattern Valise Equipment (described in List of Changes 5875 29 June 1899), designed to carry 40 rounds of .303-inch rifle ammunition. The pouch is made from six pieces of leather: front flap and back, front, two internal dividers, and two gussets, stitched together with four reinforcing tin-plated copper rivets at the top corners. The measurements of the pouch are as per the sealed pattern being 6 inches wide and 3 3/4 inches high from the bottom of the pouch to the top edge of the gusset. The front flap has no darts for shaping and is secured with a leather strap which has been attached with a single rivet. The strap has two tear-shaped holes which fit over a brass stud sewn into the front gusset seam. The flap is sewn to two 'ears' of leather to cover the ammunition neatly. Two deep strips of leather lie between the inside front of the pouch and two internal dividers. These strips have been formed and sewn into tubes with two rivets on each to carry ten separate cartridges. A leather strip sewn across the pouch behind the innermost divider, separated two unbroken packets of ammunition when carried. Two brown hogskin drawstraps for facilitating ammunition removal are secured by rivets to the internal divider. The free ends of the drawstraps were designed to pass underneath the ammunition packets and are threaded through their own horizontal leather guide loop rivetted to the inside back of the pouch. A single leather cartridge tube is sewn over the rear seam of the rear gusset on each side. Two vertical leather loops are secured with two rivets each on the back of the pouch to enable it to be carried on a waist belt. A small horizontal stitched loop lies along the lower back to take the free end of the front strap when the pouch was empty. The top of the pouch has two brass ‘D’ rings secured under stitched leather tabs to thread the braces through when worn. The following markings have been stamped and impressed on the inside of the flap: '1384', '00', 'S.F.103', 'CD', '9 96', 9 97' (possibly indicating acceptance and/or issue as September 1896 or 1897), and some other illegible markings. There is pipeclay residue on the surface of the pouch.

The 1888 Pattern Valise Equipment was also known as the Slade-Wallace equipment, after its two designers, Colonel Slade and Major (later Lieutenant-Colonel) Wallace. The complete equipment consisted of a waist belt, two ammunition pouches, a pair of braces with movable buckles and a keeper, two greatcoat straps, a mess-tin strap, and a valise to carry clothing, cutlery and other personal equipment. This pattern was issued to British and colonial forces but was replaced with 1903 Bandolier equipment after its performance was criticised in the Boer War. The 1888 Pattern equipment was in service at most for 15 years though some parts such as waist belts, were retained for ceremonial purposes.