British/ Canadian WWI(?) Canteen FOUND IN GARBAGE!

[GIZMO8Z]

Hi Folks!

This beauty was pulled out of the trash heap this morning. It's in such great shape that I think it may be a repro. It's marker marked: H.M.Co. 1915, an ink stamp on the bottom of the wool cover, AND it seems to be named: "9/1918 N. MC (//) OUALD" (?)




What exactly do I have on my hands here? Any help is always greatly appreciated!

[M1910]

Take a look here.

Pattern 1903 Bandolier Equipment Haversacks and Packs

[diver99]

Ooh,, nice. The leather strapping is fine, different dates but pieces break so you cobble together. If I could find my books I could identify the bottle better. Looks fine to me.

[Jerry B]

Looks good. Try this site for information.

Karkee Web

[Blunter]

I know this is very late, but I've only recently joined and have been reading some pretty old threads

Anyway, I hope you still have the bottle, as previously mentioned it was used with the Pattern 1903 Bandolier Equipment, it's had the cork replaced at some stage, the original cork used was the same as a standard wine bottle cork, so easily replaced.

From the information you provide it was possible to identify its previous owner -

9/1918 L/Cpl Alan Edward Crichton McDOUALL (1895 - 1964) of 9th Reinforcements, Otago Mounted Rifles 'D' Company, of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force.

His regimental number could easily be confused with the date 'September 1918'. The numeral prefixes used by the Kiwis were as follows -

1/ - Samoan Advance
2/ - Artillery
3/ - NZ Medical Corps
4/ - Engineers
5/ - Army Service Corps
6/ - Canterbury Infantry
7/ - Canterbury Mounted Rifles
8/ - Otago Infantry
9/ - Otago Mounted Rifles
10/ - Wellington Infantry
11/ - Wellington Mounted Rifles
12/ - Auckland Infantry
13/ - Auckland Mounted Rifles
14/ - Army Service Corps Divisional Train
15/ - Headquarters
16/ - Maori Infantry
17/ - Veterinary Corps
18/ - Chaplains Department
19/ - Samoan Relief Infantry
20/ - Samoan Relief Mounted
21/ - Pay Department
22/ - Nursing Department
23/ - 1st Battalion NZ Rifle Brigade
24/ - 2nd Battalion NZ Rifle Brigade
25/ - 3rd Battalion NZ Rifle Brigade
26/ - 4th Battalion NZ Rifle Brigade

Cheers,
Dan

[Anderson]

Correctly identified. Just to clarify 9/1918 was Alan McDouall's service number with 9th Reinforcements of the Otago Mounted Rifles, nothing to do with the year. The embarkation of the 9th Reinforcements from New Zealand was on 8 January 1916. They disembarked at Suez Egypt, but later sent to the Western Front and saw action during the battle of Somme.
McDouall's occupation when he enlisted was clerk from town of Oamaru. The photo below shows the Otago Mounted Rifles meeting the New Zealand Prime Minister, Massey in France in July 1918.
It's an interesting question how the water bottle ended up in the USA? Possibly McDouall traded it with an American soldier for some other souvenir.