Royal Navy Tropical Flannel

It is odd to think that despite many advances in the understanding of the human body and illness in hot climates, even as late as World War Two spine pads were considered essential in the tropics. The spine pad had been introduced in the late nineteenth century on the spurious thought that by protecting the vulnerable spine, the effects of sun stroke could be reduced. For a fuller history on this garment please take a look at this excellent post on ‘Military Sun Helmets’ here. It was not just the army which used the spine pad, the Royal Navy included it on their rating’s ‘tropical singlet’ which was an oval necked and heavy garment issued to sailors in the tropics. This was unpopular and sailors frequently wore the standard white cotton flannel instead as it was more comfortable. The Admiralty finally bowed to the inevitable and replaced the tropical singlet with a new shirt, based off the standard flannel in 1938:From the front this garment looks identical to the standard cotton flannel (as indeed it is), with the same blue edged square neck hole:However the rear shows that it has been ‘tropicalised’ by the addition of a spine pad:The spine pad here is a separate shaped piece of cotton sewn to the back of the flannel, rather than a removable piece of quilted cloth common on army shirts:The remarkable thing is that this was ever introduced at all, as early as June 1937 the Admiralty Medical Director had reported, ‘the spine pad is completely useless as an extra protection against the sun’s rays, and only adds to the cost and weight of the article; it should be abolished’. The response from the Director of Victualling replied, ‘there appears to be a considerable predilection for the spine pad amongst personnel of the fleet.’ The spine pad remained and was carried forward!

This tropical flannel was manufactured by B.W. & Co Ltd:Sadly I have been unable to ascertain which company used these initials, but having seen a number of other garment with the same initials they seem to have been contracted by the Admiralty to manufacture rating’s uniforms.

This particular garment was issued to a man named ‘D Lyth’ and his name is stamped into the inside at the back:Sadly this particular tropical flannel has suffered over the year and has been stored in a metal trunk resulting in extensive rust spots.