Blanco was a

compound Compound may refer to: Architecture and built environments * Compound (enclosure), a cluster of buildings having a shared purpose, usually inside a fence or wall ** Compound (fortification), a version of the above fortified with defensive struc ...

used primarily by soldiers throughout the Commonwealth from 1880 onwards to clean and colour their equipment. It was first used by the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

to whiten Slade Wallace buckskin leather equipment, and later adapted to coloured versions for use on the

cotton Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor pe ...

Web

Infantry Infantry is a military specialization which engages in ground combat on foot. Infantry generally consists of light infantry, mountain infantry, motorized infantry & mechanized infantry, airborne infantry, air assault infantry, and mar ...

Equipment, Pattern 1908

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. Blanco became widely used throughout both world wars. Blanco 2019IWM

Description

Blanco initially came in either

powder A powder is a dry, bulk solid composed of many very fine particles that may flow freely when shaken or tilted. Powders are a special sub-class of granular materials, although the terms ''powder'' and '' granular'' are sometimes used to distin ...

manufactured by the Mills Equipment Company (who designed and were a primary manufacturer of the

it was used on), or round cake form, much like

soap Soap is a salt of a fatty acid used in a variety of cleansing and lubricating products. In a domestic setting, soaps are surfactants usually used for washing, bathing, and other types of housekeeping. In industrial settings, soaps are use ...

, manufactured by Pickerings and which used the tradename "Blanco" and was used as a cleaning and colouring compound. (The compound was manufactured in Canada as "Capo".) Blanco was applied with a brush and water, and rubbed into the

woven Woven fabric is any textile formed by weaving. Woven fabrics are often created on a loom, and made of many threads woven on a warp and a weft. Technically, a woven fabric is any fabric made by interlacing two or more threads at right angles to on ...

cotton material of load bearing equipment, to provide a consistent colour to equipment worn by soldiers in the same unit, and as a method of cleaning the gear. Post-war experimental rectangular waxy blocks became available with greater waterproofing abilities but after 1954 Joseph Pickering & Sons Ltd introduced a tinned paste product that didn't need the addition of water and could be applied directly from the tin. Other manufacturers made competing tinned paste products until the 1980s. Blanco came in many different colours, the most common being either the original No. 7 (British No. 61 Buff), a "

khaki The color khaki (, ) is a light shade of tan with a slight yellowish tinge. Khaki has been used by many armies around the world for uniforms and equipment, particularly in arid or desert regions, where it provides camouflage relative to sandy ...

" colour which in practice was a tan shade, or one of two shades of green, either No. 9 or British No. 3 Khaki Green. Other colours included black (used by Royal Armoured Corps and rifle regiments per regimental custom), white (for ceremonial duties or military policemen on traffic control duty) or blue (by air force units), the latter being a shade known as "RAF Blue" for use on the RAF blue-grey web equipment.Storey, Ed "'37 Web: Equipping The Canadian Soldier" (Service Publications, Ottawa, ON, 2003 p.8

Post-war use

A post-war blanco colour adopted by at least one unit of the Parachute Regiment (5th - later renumbered 15th Scottish Battalion) was maroon, using the waxy form of blanco to give a shiny scuff-resistant finish. As the use of cotton webbing declined, and was replaced by nylon and other synthetic materials, the need for blanco, and its complementary product,

Brasso Brasso is a metal polish designed to remove tarnish from brass, copper, chrome and stainless steel. It is available either directly as a liquid or as an impregnated wadding pad. History Brasso originated in Britain in about 1905. Reckitt & ...

, in maintaining personal military equipment, disappeared.

Impact

The word "Blanco" itself also became used as a verb, as in "to blanco a piece of equipment". The past tense of blanco is usually seen in print as "blancoed". It appears in the phrase "

Bull A bull is an intact (i.e., not castrated) adult male of the species ''Bos taurus'' (cattle). More muscular and aggressive than the females of the same species (i.e., cows), bulls have long been an important symbol in many religions, includin ...

, Blanco and

" to refer to the methods used to bring uniform to immaculate condition.

References

{{reflist Cleaning products British Army equipment