Driver London Ambulance Column WW1

Little is recorded about this unit despite the massive contribution they made to the war effort. When researching the uniform I had to resort to finding comparisons with other female run units. The figure depicted wears a uniform made up of civilian clothing, old Boer war items and regulation issue clothing.

The Insignia

The hat badge thankfully  is easy thanks to the excellent site run by David Groen. With his kind permission I am able to reproduce these images from his website.

Hat Badge

badge2_300

Shoulder Badge

Similar to the alternative hat badge – but smaller.

badge1_300

Red Cross Arm Badge 

Many versions from this period this seems the closest.

images

Hat

This seems to be a standard item that was issued to many units, notably the Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps. Its colour varies in shade, but this is the closest I have found. The hat the figure is wearing appears to have a higher hat band (possibly ribbon or silk) in a contrasting darker colour.

large

Overcoat

After an exhaustive search, I was unable to find any reference to the overcoat. Its a guess, but I believe it to be a civilian item (possibly a Burberry trench coat, a popular private purchase in this period). The collar and cuffs seem again to be in a darker contrasting colour (possibly felt).

238.1L

Water Canteen

This was an easy find! Looks as though the War Department had a stock of army surplus canteens from the Boer war, our lady carries such an item.

13ca8168a3f48341d9c5393b82bf20d1.image.412x550

Gloves

White cotton.

Shoulder Bag

Your guess is as good as mine, cannot find anything similar.  A leather strap is apparent, yet the bag seems to be canvas. Not a big deal I feel – as long as it is in a darker colour than the overcoat it should be fine.

Boots

Civilian purchase. Found a rather good reference that shows all colours (my preference would be for black).

WV0413.6.017

← Previous Post

Next Post →

1 Comment

  1. Kjeld Buchholtz

    Thanks Rich for putting “some colour“ on your sculpt

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.