Possible British Army blanket

[Warspite]

I'd like your opinions on this blanket i picked up at lunchtime. It is grey and the same size as army blankets, but its a lighter shade than I've seen before and has green rather than red binding. I know there were a lot of variations so is it British Army or civilian?



For £4 I don't mind if it is civvy as it will do until I find a military one but I am curious.

Thanks

[ynot]

Didn't British army blankets have a stripe or two going down the centre? I think my wife used a cream coloured British blanket for her horse years ago, as far as I can remember it had light grey/blue stripes down the centre, I think the binding had the same colour as the blanket but like you said, there are probably plenty of variations.

Tony

[Warspite]

Thanks Tony, doing some research online it appears they come both with and without stripes, with and without labels and with or without stamps.... doesn't make it easy to get a positive ID!

[Warspite]

I've had chance to compare the blanket with the colour plates in Gordon's "Equipment of the WWII Tommy". I am less concerned about the colour now as they have a Canadian blanket with the same lighter shade.

[Watchdog]

Thanks Tony, doing some research online it appears they come both with and without stripes, with and without labels and with or without stamps.... doesn't make it easy to get a positive ID!

Yep, I can confirm this from my years of experience making bed blocks as a young "Tom" albeit post war. Most of the blankets we had were old enough to be our fathers!!
They came in many different shades from crappy grey brown to almost blue. We had three each and I don't think anybody ever had two the same. There were one, two or three stripes or no stripes at all in black, blue or red and the edging came in many different shades although I can't recall seeing green I wouldn't rule it out. Some had labels attached at the edges (we tended to cut those off for presentation reasons during inspections) and others had "broad arrow" stamps but some had nothing at all.

The creamy white ones were WRAC (Womens Royal Army Corps), got a closer look at them eventually , married quarters or officers mess issue.

There was also the "Blanket Lightweight" which was issued with '58 Patt webbing for use in the field. It was olive green with grey edging I think. I'm sure I still have one, I'll dig it out if it would help.

I think it would be very harsh to dimiss yours as non military

I hope this helps.

Regards

Mark

[Warspite]

Thanks Mark, luckily they had done away with blankets by the time I did my training at HMS Raleigh, although we still had to put a crease through the middle of the sheet, duvet cover and pillow case and then make them all line up perfectly for rounds.

[Watchdog]

Thanks Mark, luckily they had done away with blankets by the time I did my training at HMS Raleigh, although we still had to put a crease through the middle of the sheet, duvet cover and pillow case and then make them all line up perfectly for rounds.

Haha! Yes, I was being very diplomatic and not mentioning the duvet thing which apparition thankfully did not appear until after I had eventually done a tour as a recruit instructor myself!

The old making up and making down of beds was such a good tool in the management of discipline

The bed block is dead, long live the bed block!!

Regards

Mark

[kradman]

Dont forget the hosptial folds , such happy times

[Watchdog]

Dont forget the hosptial folds , such happy times

Oh my god! Hospital corners, even on the sheets when the bed was made down

I'm getting hot under the collar now so best stop this before we go too far off topic

Mark

[Watchdog]

Well, this thread kind of sparked my curiosity and thinking that if you want an army blanket you likely need more than one for the simplest of displays so I decided to look around a bit and was amazed at how hard these seem to be to find when there were literally millions in use!

I did find this site that has them but it is in the US which is not ideal I know;

https://shop.vtarmynavy.com/british-...et-p15440.aspx

I also did find my old blanket lightweight and just for interest;

It measures 1.45m x 2.00m. It is about half the weight of a standard blanket GS (maybe more or less as mine is a bit worn) and has whipping at the ends as does the standard. There are no labels or markings.
I can't really recall when I was issued it but I think it was likely late '70s - early '80s and it was a much better supplement to the '58 patt sleeping bag (awful smelly items usually) than the nasty nylon liner that tangled you up like a spider web.



I hope this is of interest and would be pleased to know what you intend to do with the blanket(s) by way of display etc?

Regards

Mark