From a heraldic reference of the late 19th C. the motto is associated with several families, but only one which uses a wolf motif, and surprise, their name was Wolff. Attachment 139710
I believe that is either a Boar or a Bear's head, not a wolf Surp. If there's any Germanic influence in that crest it's unlikely to be a wolf as they were extinct in Germany for virtually the entire 20th century and have only just started returning in the last quarter century. I have many German friends in Canada, all avid hunters and they love to hunt hogs and bears.
I believe that is either a Boar or a Bear's head, not a wolf Surp. If there's any Germanic influence in that crest it's unlikely to be a wolf as they were extinct in Germany for virtually the entire 20th century and have only just started returning in the last quarter century. I have many German friends in Canada, all avid hunters and they love to hunt hogs and bears.
Could be Sapper, but boar's heads almost always display tusks and I don't see any there. Nor was the artist a professional so more license than usual?
Fairburn's Book of Crests or something close to that; it's on archive.org if you want to take a look. The second volume is just illustrations which are just numbered to the appropriate citations in the first volume, so a bit cumbersome.
“There are invisible rulers who control the destinies of millions. It is not generally realized to what extent the words and actions of our most influential public men are dictated by shrewd persons operating behind the scenes.”
Does anybody know where I can find a list of companies that manufactured original No. 15 chests? Can't find one on the net. I suspect no list exists since it seems likely the chests were primarily fabbed by mom and pop woodworking shops around the UK.
Need this info because the manufacturer name on my 1944 chest is only partially readable, for a very interesting reason. As ArtioZen points out on his website (Chest S.A. No15 Mk1 - Transit Chest for the Lee Enfield No 4T Sniper Rifle), per the official drawings the the end caps for these chests were made from thicker wood up through Feb 43, thereafter from thinner wood.
This is the proximate cause of my inability to read the manufacturer name on my chest: the crenelations (protrusions) of the front & back panel dovetails extend about 1/32" to 1/16" beyond the surface of the endplate (observable on many No. 15 chests).
As the result, when the embossing tool was pounded into the endplate, the letters only embossed onto the protruding ends of the front plate crenelations that stand proud of the endplate, but the embosser was not struck hard enough for the letters to be embossed on the crenelations of the thinner endplate. Therefore there are gaps in the embossing where it crosses the crenelations of the endplate that are lower than the protruding ends of the frontplate crenelations. Hope this description makes sense!
As mentioned in my earlier post, I think I can make out an O, then a blank space covered in caked paint, then a three letter grouping (illegible-R-H), then another blank space covered in caked paint, then an E. It's possible the E is an artifact in the wood grain, but it's the same size as the R & H and I'm convinced it's embossed. This is all that can be seen, which is why I'm hoping a master list of chest manufacturers exists.
I seem to recall that there were three manufacturers. Remploy, Papworth Industries and Elliots of Newbury who's were marked EON. They also made Horsa Gliders too
And I think Warren has a note somewhere of the Canadian transit chest manufacturers. IIRC I think one was HCF (Hall Clark Francis ???)...... but I'm stabbing in the dark a little here. Warren?!?
I have found 5 different UK (3 of them currently unknown) and 3 Canadian manufacturer stamps on No. 15 chests; yours is from Papworth Industries. Illustrations forthcoming if I can find the time to finish these damn books!
I'm surprised so few manufacturers made these chests--would have expected them to be made by mom & pops since they were rather simple woodworking projects.
I'm surprised so few manufacturers made these chests--would have expected them to be made by mom & pops since they were rather simple woodworking projects.
Papworth Industries.
During the First World War, the Welsh physician Dr Pendrill Varrier-Jones was appointed temporary county tuberculosis officer for Cambridgeshire. He set about establishing a self-supporting colony where TB sufferers could learn to live with their disease under medical supervision and do a level of work that did not worsen their condition, and be paid for doing so.
What began in February 1916 at a house in Bourn as the Cambridgeshire Tuberculosis Colony with six patients soon won official backing. Then, with the support of almost £10,000 in donations, the colony was able to acquire Papworth Hall at Papworth Everard, some five miles away and move there in February 1918. By the time of Queen Mary's visit, the first of many royal visits, on 9 October 1918, there were 25 wooden shelters for the more stable patients, 60 beds in the hall itself for the seriously ill, 8 cottages for patients' wives and children and facilities for five separate industries: a carpentry and cabinet-making workshop; a boot-repair shop; a poultry farm, a fruit farm and a piggery. Patients whose health was improving were assigned paid work under medical supervision and the goods manufactured were sold at commercial rates on the open market. In 1919 further industrial facilities were added, among them: a printing shop; a bookbindery; and a trunk-making workshop, this latter the origin of Pendragon Travel Goods.
"In 1930 there were 200 men and 80 women patients," wrote Rowland Parker; "294 on average were in daily employment; the Industries had an annual turnover of £68,000." The development of the colony was nevertheless costing far more than the Industries could make. In an appeal on the wireless in 1932, Stanley Baldwin said of Varrier-Jones: "For years he has struggled on, entirely without endowments, harassed by the conflicting claims of finance and humanity. His humanity has won, but his overdraft is enormous."
On 17 December 1935 at the royal premiere at the Leicester Square Theatre, London of René Clair's The Ghost Goes West before Queen Mary, the whole of the proceeds was devoted to the provision of a nurses' home at Papworth. A short film by Anthony Asquith, The Story of Papworth, the Village of Hope had its premiere at the same performance.
During the Second World War, the carpentry section of the Industries switched mainly to the making of aircraft parts.
Remploy was set up during WW2 to rehabilitate and provide an income for disabled soldiers - from loss of limbs to blind or metally handicapped. They manufactured quite an assortment of military goods from canvas. webbing to woodwork and metal items, They later expanded into civilian work supplying a huge range of items from something like 100 factories.
Last edited by Alan de Enfield; Today at 09:00 AM.
Mine are not the best, but they are not too bad. I can think of lots of Enfields I'd rather have but instead of constantly striving for more, sometimes it's good to be satisfied with what one has...
Originally Posted by Surpmil
for virtually the entire 20th century and have only just started returning in the last quarter century. I have many German friends in Canada
PM
