First field dressing cover, 1916 (c)

Field dressing cover manufactured by the Darton Gibbs Company, Oldbury, 1914 (c).

Drab cotton cover with fastening tapes, which would have contained two dressings. The cover is printed with the maker's details, opening instructions, contents, and directions for use.

On 5 April 1916, during fighting at Umm-el-Hannah in Mesopotamia, Private Thomas Hewitt of 6th Battalion Loyal North Lancashire Regiment was shot in the leg with a bullet from a Mauser rifle. A comrade tended to Hewitt's wound. Hewitt did not survive World War One (1914-1918), dying on 22 October 1918, aged 41.