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Dennison Cased Compasses

The Dennison Watch Case Company was founded in Birmingtham, England by Mr. Aaron Dennison.

During WW1 the Company led the way in the production of British watch style compasses.

The dial has luminous cardinal points and a luminous arrow is painted on the inside of the crystal.

The design was used on Swiss compasses as well. The Dennison compass was manufactured for three years in 1916, 1917 and 1918.

Here I have grouped three compasses together - F. Darton and Co, Terrasse. W and Co and an unmarked compass all with the same compass insert.

Apparently Darton, Terrasse and other companies purchased cases from Dennison of Birmingham and put their own compasses in the cases. Darton and Terrasse were recognised suppliers to the British War Department.
The broad arrow shown on the compass means that it would have been issued to an Officer by the Government.
Officers carried the compass for several purposes which included the following:
*Taking a bearing on a feature in enemy lines to report to artillery or machine gun support that they were being fired upon by a machine gun at a nominated bearing from a nominated position. In turn, another Officer would also take a bearing and by quick triangulation on a map the position of the enemy fire could be established to allow an artillery shell to be dropped on that position
*The compass was also used by an Officer to lead an attacking party to exactly the enemy position that they were required to attack. The area of no mans land that they needed to traverse was devoid of features and was often as as wide as half a mile where it was easy to lose direction.
*A lot of movement was made at night and the luminous dial was essential to allow movement not only behind friendly lines but enemy lines as well.

Note that the compass attachment rings are of slightly different diameter.