Mervyn Mitton

Whilst not exactly a Police subject - none-the-less Fire and Ambulance are part of the Emergency services - and in my humble view - have a right to be included with us. Apart from that, I've only got this one subject to post ! Durban Fire Department (in South Africa) was formed in 1898 and serves a community of some 400,000,today. There have been a number of changes since 1992 when Mandela came out of prison and the items I am showing here are basically pre 1992. The helmet is an officer's and the brass 'S' at the top of the helmet plate is for the rank - in this case Station Officer. The two pips go with this rank. The epaulette with the bar is for a Senior Fireman and the helmet badge with crossed axes is for a fireman. The shoulder title - in enamel - is typical of South Africa for that period. They are now mostly pressed plastic and these early ones are going to be a collectable field quite soon. The nicest item is the helmet - clearly marked for an officer, with the red band - it has a very nice leather helmet plate with brass details. This belonged to Father and then his Son and was first issued in the 1960's. The Father retired as a Divisional Commander. Today, helmets are plastic - but, this is one of the earlier type of fibre glass. The helmet is in exceptional condition - despite being worn for nearly 40 years on active duty. One thing that did surprise me was the brass fittings on the badge - I always thought anything that could attract electricity was kept off the work uniform ? Finally , the son's (his name is on the front of the helmet) two long service medals - 5 and 10 years are shown. DFD stands for Durban Fire Department.

Bob - as Brian says - a nice item. You give the weight, does that mean you think it is silver ? If it is , then that would be a lot of silver for all of the Forces - perhaps a special guard ?

Hello, Ian. Yes , probably a Wilkinson - they seemed to supply most of them. However, I have even seen 1882 heavy cavalry swords being pressed into service - probably cheaper to buy second-hand.

I think we will find the one on the left is a German or, French 15 cm. shell used by the Boers. I will check tomorrow. The one on the right looks loke a British ( has the Board of Ordnance Broad Arrow) shell and probably a shrapnel one that had balls inside.

This interesting photo was in today's Durban Sunday Tribune. The idea is being tested in the UK , but it looks to have great potential - I presume the goggles on the operator, are seeing what the drone is looking at ? Personally, I think it should be fitted with heat seeking missiles and machine guns....

You wouldn't me doing that - not a pretty sight....

Thanks - guys. I'll try to do the other half next week - but it is a lot for me at one go. Leigh, the book was published in 1897 - the artist was a young R.A. officer - who was obviously an artist and history buff. I didn't think a lot of his faces - but, it is the uniforms which count - and, he gives refs. for authenticity of each one. I knew I had acc. pressed send twice and was going to ask someone for help - are you able to delete ? If so, thankyou. I had wondered why RA didn't have a thread from you - let me finish all of the uniforms and then all the other info. will fall into place. Do you think I should do a separate post - or, continue on this one ? I don't want it to run too far. Merv.