The Sam Browne Equipment was Invented in 1852 by General Sir Samuel James Browne VC, GCB, KCSI who was a British officer in the Indian Army . It was first used in the Indian Army originally by Browne and his fellow officers, but gradually gained popularity with officer's of many armies, it was officially excepted in the Indian Army in 1882, then officially adopted by the British Army in 1900.

The Sam brown belt on the top of the picture is dated 1916 and the one on the bottom is a more modern one undated. The main differences that I can see are the older one has an extra D ring on the top and the style of the hook . I would like to thank Paul Green for donating the more modern Sam brown to my collection.

Thanks to Mel Dundas-Taylor for the following information.The older belt has an extra D ring because the original belt had two shoulder straps and was used up to through WWI. This balanced the load better but when it became less used and only carried a sword or pistol instead of all the equipment only one strap was needed.