Ryde Social Heritage Group research the social history of the citizens of Ryde, Isle of Wight. Documenting their lives, businesses and burial transcriptions.
RYDE SOCIAL HERITAGE GROUP
Based at Ryde Cemetery Heritage & Learning Centre. Preserving, documenting and promoting the social history of Ryde on the Isle of Wight.
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Presentation to Captain Trodd 1915

Sam Browne Belt 1915 British Officer

Saturday 4 September 1915
On Tuesday evening at the usual parade of the local Volunteer Training Corps, Captain J. W. Trodd was presented with a Sam Browne belt and water bottle as a slight recognition of his much-appreciated services in connection with the Corps.

Company Commander W.E. Weeks, who made the presentation, congratulated Captain Trodd on his well-deserved appointment.  He said that the high state of efficiency to which the Corps had attained showed the good work which Captain Trodd had done, and he was sure that though he was leaving the Corps his advice and support could always be depended upon.

Capt. Todd suitably responded and expressed the hope that the members of the V.T.C. would do all they could in assisting him to raise the Cadet Corps to full strength.

Note:
Mr J. W. Trodd an ex-schoolmaster and one of the oldest and best-known members of the teaching profession in the Ryde district. He was many years under the Borough Education Committee in charge of Bettesworth Road Schools from which he retired on superannuation, since which he had been living in retirement and about 1914 built a bungalow in Ashey parish where he resided with his wife up to his death in 1924.  He did honourable service during the war, being drafted to a Labour Corps at Swindon where he obtained a commission and retired with the rank of captain. He belonged to the British Legion and always displayed deep interest in the welfare of the ex-service men and their families.

Note:
General Sir Samuel James Browne was a 19th-century British Indian Army officer who lost his left arm to a sword cut during the Sepoy Rebellion: the lack of a left hand to steady his scabbard made it difficult for him to draw his sword, Browne devised a supplementary belt that hooked into a waist belt with D-rings and went over his right shoulder to steady the scabbard. The waist belt also securely carried a pistol in a flap-holster on his right hip and included a binocular case with a neck-strap. Other officers began wearing a similar rig and eventually it became part of the standard uniform. During the Boar War, it was copied by other troops and eventually became standard issue

More about Captain J. W. Trodd here

Source: RSHG, IW Observer, Wikipedia
Image: Dear Old Blighty
Article: Ann Barrett