Ammunition pouch : British and colonial forces

-Brown vegetable-tanned leather ammunition pouch based on an 1870 pattern designed to carry 20 rounds of ammunition in two packets.The pouch is made from five pieces of leather: front flap and back, front, left gusset, right gusset, and bottom gusset, stitched together.The pouch measures 6 1/2 inches wide, 4 1/2 inches high and 1 1/2 inches deep and has a slightly outward curving profile.The leather used on the front, sides and base is very stiff and provides rigidity to the pouch. The front flap has no darts for shaping and is secured with a short pointed leather strap which has been sewn with a single horizontal row of stitching to the underside of the flap.The strap has a single tear-shaped hole which fits over a brass stud sewn into the centre of the bottom of the pouch. Inside a strip of leather should lie acoss the centre of the pouch to divide it into two compartments. This is missing but the stitches remain.Two flaps have been stitched inside the pouch to prevent ammunition falling out. Two vertical leather straps with pointed ends are stitched to the top back of the pouch.The end of the strap is secured over a brass stud sewn into the base of the pouch to form a loop so the pouch can be worn on a waist belt. All edges of the leather pieces have a decorative incised (tooled) line.The maker's details 'MIDDLEMORE C&M 1885' have been punched into the grain of one of belt loop straps. 'W D' indicating that the item was the property of the War Department has been stamped into the front of the pouch underneath the flap.

While this particular ammunition pouch is associated with other naval accoutrements in the Memorial's collection, pouches of this type were first noted in the List of Changes 2008 9th October 1870 for the Transport Branch of the British Army Service Corps. The Army Service Corps continued to wear brown accoutrements until the late 1880s or early 1890s when they changed to buff leather. Other units that wore brown leather accoutrements were Hospital, Commissariat, and Ordnance Corps. Naval accoutrements were also made from brown leather. However, this particular example does not match those described for the Navy in the List of Changes.