The Haversack is an important and often overlooked part of the soldiers gear. In the British Army, it is also known as a bread bag and was used to carry the soldiers food rations.
Haversacks have been used for a long time, but by the 1700's the British Army started to standardize the sizes so that each soldier could carry the prescribed amount of food that was issued, and no less.
What is now commonly known as a Haversack, in the British Army, was referred to as a bread bag. It is generally defined as a small bag with a single shoulder strap. In military use, it was usually made of undyed canvas, or black canvas if you were in a British or Commonwealth rifle regiment, and was used to hold a soldiers food rations. (There will be a lot more about the haversack and it's history, plus all about what was actually carried inside in a future blog post...)
The pattern for this haversack came from, "Soldiers' Accoutrements of the British Army 1750 - 1900" by Pierre Turner. It is the 1880 General Service model. I'm using a 100% cotton canvas in black this time.
(Picture heavy post)
