Ernest Ibbetson

One of a number of excellent artists of the first half of the 20th century. This post has a number of his post WW2 illustrations http://uotw.heavenforum.org/t463-ibbetson-postcards




Essex Regiment pre-WWI


Royal Marine Light Infantry

https://i.servimg.com/u/f42/12/22/09/10/nt316310.jpg

Interestingly the last picture shows the TA version of the 1908 webbing equipment with its double pouches as opposed to the usual 5. Also an LMLE rifle.

 

wfrad wrote:

I can't imagine that too many officers would've worn enlisted men's webbing, including the rifle pouches.

But then again, the ones that did would've been that much less conspicuous to snipers.

Towards the end or the war there's mention of officers wearing OR's tunics (possibly those late on who were promoted from the ranks), so maybe they went the full hog and wore the webbing also.
As for the rifle, I would have thought that by mid war most officers would have seen the advantage of a rifle.
Since the French Cuirasiers aren't wearing their covers, it would seem that either it's very early on in the war, or well away from the front.
Ibertson may have taken it for an actual b/w photograph.
He's a another couple of cards.

Nice to see that you're still kicking, make sure you keep it that way and stay safe.

Still haven't found anything to confirm that officers wore enlisted men's webbing.
So did Ibbertson use his artistic licence, or did he take it from some source material from his own collection?