Magazine lamp, wall, sealed pattern, dated 1901

Manufactured by J M Timmis and Company, Birmingham, 1901.

A 'sealed pattern' is a prototype of any item that the British Army issued to soldiers. It provided clothing or equipment suppliers with an example to copy.

These types of lamps were first introduced in 1870. It was employed for lighting magazines by placing the lamp in a glazed recess, preventing naked flames being taken into powder, and later cordite, magazines. These used candles which could burn for up to eight hours. It could also be hung using the handle onto brackets fitted into walls of passage ways and barrack rooms. By the time this lamp was made it had gone through a number of modifications, making this the Mark IV lamp.

Despite the introduction of electricity into fortifications from the 1890s candle and oil lamps were still used in many locations throughout the Second World War (1939-1945).