The pouch now has a king's crown badge, but is almost certainly of earlier vintage than the badge, on account of the tin liners, which were typically provided to hold paper cartridges in good shape in the Victorian period. Such a pouch could have held ammunition for a Westley Richards monkeytail carbine of the capping, breach loader variety.
The Border Light Horse was officially raised as a unit in February 1900, in the early stages of the Boer War. Their title at that time was simply Border Horse. They had a distinguished fighting record, being involved, among other things, in pursuit of De Wet in Cape Colony.
The pouch has a wide black patent leather cross belt with white metal fittings, the maker mark 'SPENCE' impressed on the reverse. Condition throughout is excellent, except that there is some crazing to the patent finish, consistent with age. Each tin compartment measures: 6 cm deep (length of cartridge) x 7 x 3 cm. The standard WR paper cartridge for this breech loader was 3.08" long, the carbine version being a little shorter.
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[Militaria : Equipment : British : 19th Century]
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