blanket, dog

WW1 dog blanket

name marked and embroidered "Sam" / V.M. / TO / NZ ARMY SERVICE CORPS.

Sam was a manx collie presented to the Auckland Contingent of the ASC (Main Body) before they embarked for overseas in 1914 by Mrs J. MacMahon, wife of Joseph MacMahon, Auckland theatre proprietor. A film of the dog's presentation was shown in MacMahon's Princess Theatre.

References: 'The Lorgnette', Observer, 26 September 1914, p6, https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/TO19140926.2.9

Mention of Sam & a film clip "Sammy, My Old Firend Sam', is made in the notes to the digitised film clip, ‘Auckland’s Expeditionary Force: The Minister for Defence Reviews the Troops’, F38469, avaiable to view online at Nga Taonga Sound & Vision, https://www.ngataonga.org.nz/collections/catalogue/catalogue-item?record_id=90251. The dog running loose at the beginning of the march past, and later in the clip, is believed to be, but not identifed as, Sam. The short film 'Sammy' is not part of this digitised film clip, and it isn't clear that it is the same one mentioned in the Observer although that seems likely.

Dog blanket, World War 1

material: textile: felted cloth and leather with silk flags and embroidery thread

construction: two pieces of cloth joined at centre with heavy tape; shaped with flaps at rear; with two leather straps and buckles for fastening; small cloth straps on each side with strap and buckle for fastening under belly

embellishments: two miniature silk flags attached on either side, a Union Jack with portrait of Kitchener and New Zealand Ensign printed on damask weave silk; rhs of blanket is embroidered in red : "Sam" / V.M. / TO / NZ ARMY SERVICE CORPS"; lhs marked similarly in white paint: "Sam" / V.M. / TO / NZ ARMY SERVICE CORPS"