Barrack Accommodation
An 1880s Barrack Room
A soldier is sitting on his bed in this rather sparsely furnished room cleaning his rifle. Pictures of home, thousands of kilometres away adorn the wall by his bed. His personal belongings are kept in a wooden chest by his bed. Over the beds are mosquito nets, a rare sight in Singapore these days, but in those days absolutely essential, as malaria was a real threat to health. A table and bench seats form the rest of the furniture. The room may be sparsely furnished, but in Victorian times, few working people had many comforts. Indeed, many soldiers of the day were better off than they would have been at home. They were guaranteed a roof over their heads, three meals a day, and pay — as poor as the pay was.
The soldier’s, mattress is neatly rolled, secured and placed at the head of his bed. Notice that the bed is un sprung, and not at all like most people today have. His blankets and sheets are folded and placed on top of the mattress. This was called ‘boxing’ your blankets. Boxing blankets was still prevalent in the British Army when I joined in 1960, although we did not have to fold our mattresses. One blanket was used to cover the mattress. It had to be pulled tight over the mattress, and an angled corner was made on the folds at the foot of the bed. Heaven help you if you got it wrong during an inspection.
1930s Accommodation
Two barrack blocks on Blakang Mati. These were built in the 1930s to house the soldiers for the new defences. They are of similar pattern to many other barrack blocks which were built in Singapore to house military personnel following the implementation of General Gilman’s plans for coastal artillery and the building of the RAF Station at Seletar. The two buildings still stand, but have been converted in to a hotel. Their location is by the Merlion. Changed days indeed.
Late 1940s
LEFT: Harold (right) with a comrade on Siloso Beach.
RIGHT: Harold Dursley lived in this billet during his posting to Fort Siloso from 1947 to 1948. The NCOs were accommodated behind the screen. He says that, “My bed was next to the lad on his bed.” Notice the sparseness of the furnishing and the lack of ceiling fans.
Soldiers Of The 60s
LEFT:A soldier plays his guitar in his attap billet in August 1966. The photograph was taken in Kuching, Sarawak, towards the end of Confrontation with Indonesia. Furnishing is sparse, but there is a table and chairs out of camera shot. The punkah has long gone, replaced by an electric fan in his side locker. Above his bed is a mosquito net, still very necessary in Kuching then. These billets were not permanent accommodation, as the units which used them were rotated from Singapore every few months. Despite the accommodation still being sparsely furnished, things had changed since the 1890s. Sanitation, food, the quality of the bed and bedding and recreation facilities had improved greatly.
The same guitar-picker in Barrack Block 139, Changi during 1967. This barrack block was built during the 1930s and was demolished in 2004 along with the remainder of what was once Roberts Barracks. He has a large locker in which he can hang clothes as well as a smaller bedside locker which cannot be seen in the photograph. His steel helmet, haversack and mess-tins are on top of the locker. Up to twelve men would share such a room. No air-conditioning, but at least there were ceiling mounted fans. A reading light was situated above every bed. One can just be seen on the right of the photograph.
Men of 55 Air Despatch Sqn RCT in Block 140 at Changi, passing the time watching TV, circa 1967. As can be seen, comfortable chairs were not available in the barrack rooms.
Another pastime was playing cards with a little illicit gambling taking place, but most of the games were just for pleasure. ‘Egyptian PT’ (lazily lying on your bed) was also quite popular.
Canteen and refreshment facilities were readily available on camp from the NAAFI, and Malcolm Club (RAF Stations only), but many men preferred to go to the local villages or into Singapore City where the bars and makan (food) stalls did good trade.