1943 dated Light Weight respirator issued to R.N Submariner John GOSCOMBE.

Absolutely mint example of Respirator Light, Mk. II  1943 made by Avon. The rubber is completely supple without any cracks, the elasticated straps still work perfectly, I am guessing that this mask would have been useful defence against the noxious gases encountered in a submarine.

it is named and traceable to;

John Goscombe, Lieutenant Commander, Royal Navy — a submariner’s career

John Goscombe entered the Royal Navy and the first record  record I have found shows him as a midshipman in 1943. He progressed quickly, reaching Acting Sub-Lieutenant by 3 August 1944, at which point he was serving aboard HMS Satyr, an S-class submarine built by Scotts of Greenock and launched in September 1942. Satyr spent her wartime career largely in home waters and the Norwegian coast, where she was credited with sinking the German submarine U-987, before later being converted to a high-speed target submarine.
By October 1944 his records show him serving aboard HMS Unbending, a U-class submarine. By 31 December 1944 he is recorded aboard HMS Visigoth, a V-class submarine (P76) launched in 1944, which by that time had already seen active service, including operations in the Mediterranean and Aegean.
He is also recorded serving aboard HMS Spearhead, an S-class submarine built by Cammell Laird, launched October 1944 and completed December 1944 — one of the last S-class boats of the war.
He went on to retire as a Lieutenant Commander around 1960.
This is a genuine, confirmed run of four separate WWII-era Royal Navy submarines across barely more than a year — a career pattern entirely consistent with a young officer moving rapidly through sea-going submarine appointments during the last two years of the war, likely as part of a training and posting pipeline through the Clyde/Holy Loch submarine base area, which is where all four boats worked up.
The gas mask itself
The Light Anti-Gas Respirator, its container, and its filter are all dated 1943 — an unusually complete and internally consistent survival, since most surviving examples mix components of different dates as parts were serviced or swapped over time. Given that the Royal Navy issued this pattern of lightweight respirator (including a dedicated “Container, Light, Mk. II” variant specifically associated with RN use), and that Goscombe’s earliest submarine posting traces to 1944, it’s a reasonable inference that this kit was issued to him near the start of his active service and that he retained it as personal kit through his subsequent submarine postings. His name written on it in several places supports this, as does the presence of the correct anti-gas ointment for mustard gas exposure in the accompanying bag. That’s a plausible reading of the object rather than a documented fact, but it fits the pattern well of a young officer keeping his personally marked kit with him as he moved between boats.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​