Body Armour, Dayfield Body Shield (light model): British

Metal front and back plates sandwiched between fabric, worn over the head and tied at the sides by fabric ties.

At the outset of the First World War no army was prepared for the challenges that were to unfold where thousands of men died as a result of wounds that they might otherwise have survived if they had have worn better protective personal equipment. Such high dependence on high explosive artillery shells throwing splinters, shrapnel and other fragments on the Western Front inflicted horrendous wounds on those clothed in soft uniforms with little head protection. Protective headwear in the form of steel helmets was adopted by most combatant armies by 1916 and that precaution enabled many to survive wounds caused by low-velocity and secondary impact missiles that earlier would have claimed one in four as fatal. Of all wounds 60% were to the extremities with 20% to the head and neck, and 20% to the torso, therefore other protection in the form of body armour was given consideration. In Britain no fewer than eighteen designs were commercially produced, made for sale and often purchased by anxious relatives for sons serving overseas. First tried in battle in 1915 body armour was, as far as British usage were concerned, used mainly on an individual basis as it never became a universal issue (it is understood that only enough body armour was available to equip 2% of the army). Of the types used by British personnel, there were three main categories: Rigid 'hard' armour (often comprising of metal plates sandwiched between fabric and worn as a vest or waistcoat); Intermediate armour (various forms of small square plates of metal attached to a canvas support to form a protective waistcoat); Soft armour (made of layers of silk/cotton/tissue & linen scraps sandwiched in fabric waistcoat). All three general types had inherent problems: Rigid armour was heavy and thus uncomfortable and not practical to wear in the assault, whilst the separate metal links of the intermediate if hit with sufficient energy could embed in to the man's body with the projectile, and the latter although sufficient to absorb the impact of low-velocity strikes (as intended), was rendered useless in wet weather when saturated. This item is of the 'rigid hard' variety, the Dayfield Body Shield (light model). Comprising metal plates sandwiched between fabric, it weighed at around 4 pounds and could be worn under the service dress jacket or over it, and permitted greater movement than its predecessor (see UNI 3341). Apart from that advantage, the light model suffered the consequences of not having the stopping power for anything other than spent missiles of low velocity. This example is known to have ben worn by Rifleman EJ Holland of 1/6th (County of London Battalion), Queen's Westminster Rifles, The London Regiment, in the actions at Leuze and Bouleux Woods, September 1916.