General Service (Mark II) bayonet frog : British and colonial forces

Buff leather General Service (Mark II) bayonet frog (described in List of Changes 9985 6 October 1899 and 16976 29 September 1914). The frog is made from two pieces of leather: the loop which passes over the belt, and the front of the frog. It measures 9 1/2 in (240 mm) in length. A small buff leather strap with brass buckle and keeper lies across the top of the front for securing the bayonet and is reinforced at each end with a tinned copper rivet and washer. The loop part in this example is secured only with four tinned copper rivets and washers with two more at the bottom corners. Other examples also have stitching extending 2/3rds up the sides of the frog. The cut for the bayonet stub is of a circular shape with a straight cut above. This frog has been made to fit the P 1907 bayonet and scabbard by adding two layers of 1.5in (38 mm) leather squares stitched together and secured to the frog with two rivets behind the front section. There are no marks or inscriptions on this frog except for some faint purple handwriting which may be a name but which is now not legible. Residual of the original pipeclay coating is present on the leather and rivets.

In 1899 a new frog was introduced to carry the Pattern 1888 bayonet. At 9.5in (240mm) it was slightly longer than the previous General Service pattern with longer loops to fit the belts more easily. Further modifications were made to the General Service pattern in 1914 to force the scabbard further out causing a sharper curve in the front section, which allowed the hook quillon on the Pattern 1907 bayonet to clear the leather.