Anti-dimming kit for Small Box Respirator : Lieutenant E C Dockar, 43 Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force

Waxed cardboard box containing anti-dimming kit for the British Small Box Respirator. The outer box has a white paper wrapping printed with the words 'GLASSO ANTI-DIMMING COMPOSITION. Instructions for use. Wipe the inner surface of the eyepieces of the Box Respirator or Sponge Goggles until clean and dry. Apply a little of the composition from the tube to the cleaned surface, rub it in with the finger and then polish gently with a soft rag until the eyepiece is clear. Do not use the mask material for polishing. When to use Anti-Dimming Composition. The composition is to be applied to eyepieces of Box Respirators or Sponge Goggles once weekly, or after each time that the Respirator or Goggles have been worn.' The sliding inner box contains a 100 x 225 mm piece of soft denim fabric, (probably cut from a PH gas helmet) with brown and yellow stains from the anti-dimming paste. Wrapped in the denim is a 20 x 65 mm plain aluminium tube with a screw cap, which contains the Anti-Dimming Composition.

Associated with the service of Lieutenant Edmund Clegg Dockar, who served with 43 Infantry Battalion ('The Cameron Highlanders of Canada') of the Canadian Expeditionary Force during the First World War. 43 Battalion, which was raised in 1914, and served entirely on the Western Front, was recruited in the Winnipeg area of Manitoba, and reinforcements were also drawn from this region. Post war, Dockar settled in Australia, and is thought to have died in the 1950s. The anti-dimming kit was also probably used by 2129257 Private Harvey McIntosh, CEF.