UKH

Just out of curiosity.  I've recently read an article by Jock Nimlin writing about pre-WW2 times when he stated that the outdoor crowd didn't use sleeping bags - they just slept in their clothes on bracken, sometimes under a tarpaulin.  An even older book (early 1900s) by Ernest A Baker makes it clear that hillwalkers didn't carry much in the way of kit, expecting to be able to get accommodation at the various occupied cottages (many now bothies or gone) and lodges, including beds and meals, despite often arriving unannounced.
By 1966 I had a sleeping bag for use in our family's caravan - one of those with a zip on one side and bottom - and by the time I left Scouts, about 1970, I had a Blacks Icelandic sleeping bag.  By the time I had started using bothies in the mid-1970s, I had something even better, a down 4-season bag.
So does anyone have idea when folk taking to the hills starting taking sleeping bags and primus stoves and billies and/or mess tins with them?

1930s

No idea, but they sure are snug on a frosty night.

Crikey, that must have been cold.  I have forgotten my sleeping bag to a Scout camp before, and so slept in clothing (lots of layers), and I was absolutely freezing - I ended up driving home to get it (fortunately we were fairly local).

That said, sleeping mats are a newer thing.  In the 80s growing up we didn't have them, just sleeping bags on the groundsheet, and maybe a traditional woollen blanket underneath if it was particularly cold.  My Dad had an early Karrimat and despite just being "polystyrene" type foam it was really quite expensive if I recall.

Blacks Icelandic sleeping bag.  Classic bit of kit and I remember it being one of my 1st decent bags.  (1960s or early 70s.)

I remember getting my first Karrimat when in the Venture Scouts before going to University, so early to mid 1970s. Made a huge difference to winter camping.

edit to add that I've just searched a little, seems Karrimat was invented in 1968 - https://www.outdoorgearcoach.co.uk/innovation-history/sleeping-mats-the-kar... 

Interesting that they date back that far.  Nobody had one in my Scout Troop though.

I bought a wartime Airborne sleeping bag from an army surplus store in the 1960 when I started proper camping in the 1960s. Before that we had family camping sleeping bags from Lillywhites  in London. The only slight problem with the ex-paratroop sleeping bag was it wouldn't fit in my Brown Best Cresta rucksack. I had to carry it on a separate sling over my shoulder.

I then did a winter Outward Bound course in 72 and was amazed to find the issued sleeping bags were only the size of a loaf of bread (Fairydown from New Zealand- rumoured to be left over from the 53 Everest Expedition). There was also a short yellow Karrimat but all the instructors had their own 'unkippered' white ones.

Keen to get my own when I got to University, I found the climbing club did trips down to Haslington to get factory seconds from Mike Parsons. I bought one where the joint wasn't perfectly aligned but was really long. Within the year this had been joined by a Point Five Mountain sleeping bag from Alpine Sports in the Old Brompton Road. I still have and use both sleeping bag and mat.

One of my earliest memories of Cubs was being shown how to fold a camp blanket into a sleeping bag with blanket pins holding the edges together!

Started off with the standard rectangular sleeping bags with "L" shaped zips, but the first "proper" mummy sleeping bag I remember having was a green and purple "Snow Cat" from Blacks.

Before I got that, though, I remember doing my Chief Scouts Challenge hike and borrowing a sleeping bag from a mountaineering neighbour - a nice Vango "Marco Polo" bag - as the Snow Cat wouldn't fit in my rucksack.

My first sleeping mat was a cheap (and very inferior) foam copy of a Karrimat that my Dad got from an army surplus shop somewhere, but had it for years.

Both these came to a head in my first term at Uni, where we ended up sleeping in late November in the old barn near the Grouse Inn in Grindleford - 3 sides, a roof and a concrete floor. It snowed that evening and I've never been so cold - first things on my Christmas list were a new sleeping bag and an upgraded sleeping mat!

Kept the Snow Cat for many years for summer camping and sentimental reasons, but was eventually superceded and finally donated to charity in a house-move clear out.

Urgh! The bedding roll that had to be made up every day, all encased in a loose groundsheet.

Was not impressed having to roll my nice mummy stuff sleeping bag that certainly didn't need extra blankets for warmth, also no mat or airbed for insulation/comfort.

Guide camps in the early 90's were a huge step backwards compared to the luxury I was used to, having grown up car camping with my parents.

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I have a palliasse left me by my mother from when she was in the guides (late 30's). In effect, a stitched up old sheet, open at the top for hay / straw to be inserted to produce a mattress of sorts. I've done similar with dead bracken, surprisingly cosy

My dad took me, then my brother camping from about 1963 onwards. He had a sleeping bag I think. But he had an Air Force down flying suit and I used to wear that at night. Don't know where he got it, he did National Service, but in the Army. It kept me warm!