The photo is a detail from a panoramic shot of a company parading on the Depot Square at The Barracks, Berwick‑upon‑Tweed, taken at some date between 1903 and 1908. The men are wearing khaki service dress in marching order, while the officers are in drill order. Two officers appear in this detail. The company commander, a major, stands in the foreground. His khaki tunic is buttoned to the neck and has the Scottish pattern cut‑away skirts and gauntlet‑style cuffs. Three lines on the cuff and a single crown badge denote his rank. He wears a Sam Browne belt with a single shoulder strap, and his broadsword has the basket hilt removed and replaced by the cross hilt. As he is entitled to be mounted on parade, he wears leather Stohwasser leggings. The other officer is a lieutenant with a single line on his cuff and two star badges. He has puttees like the other company officers below field rank.
The men are armed with two different types of rifle, as indicated by the position of the white rifle sling. Rifles with slings fitted higher, from just above the magazine, are Lee‑Metfords dating from 1887. The other rifles, with slings attached to the butt, are Lee‑Enfields dating from 1896. Both rifles used .303 ammunition carried in small pouches on the bandoliers and waist‑belts. The Home Service Bandolier Equipment was only in service from 1903 to 1908, making this photo a rare piece of evidence in the development of British Army accoutrements. Each of the five pouches on the bandolier carried 10 rounds, while the leather waist‑belt had five pouches: two held 15 rounds, two held 10 rounds, and the fifth contained cleaning items, oil and rag. The rounds were in five‑round chargers for easy loading.
The khaki service dress worn by the men is the universal pattern, without the cut‑away skirts of the officers. The top of the sleeves had red curved shoulder patches with white ‘K.O.S.B.’ embroidered. In 1908 these were replaced by brass titles on the shoulder strap. The men carry folded khaki greatcoats high on their backs, attached to webbing straps clipped onto the waist‑belt. They would also have mess‑tins attached to the back of the belt. Two diagonal slings can be seen on their chests: one is the canvas haversack strap, and the other, narrower strap is for the oval water‑bottle on the right hip.
The photo and information come, with the author’s kind permission, from Borderers in Uniform from 1689 by Hiram Dunn (2018).
