I suspect this stove was used by my wife's parents in their young days, before 1935. I lost the flame plate and made a replacement which works well. I have a Primus windshield in the kit now and I wonder if that could possibly have been in the tin originally?
The Optimus 96 use to have a folding 4-plate windshield somewhat similar to the earliest Primus 96 but your old photo clearly shows a 96 style stove of unknown brand with a shiny Primus windshield so I think the windshield has been around for a very long time. Maybe they just wanted a better windshield and bought the more practical Primus version as it was quite affordable back then and it looks brand new in the photo.
I went backpacking in Derbyshire in a tent like that in 1965 and used a paraffin stove. Unfortunately I didn't take photos and I don't know if it was a 96.
Another photo of my stove taken in 1989 in the Sierra Nevada. I was backpacking with my wife and was descending from a 3000m peak when we felt we needed a tea break. The pan was black with soot after using it on fires because we had failed to buy any paraffin in Spain. Our only supply was in a one pint Sigg bottle which we carried on to a plane. Airport security wasn't so crazy then!
