Thanks. Due to the detailed posting by gloff, I was able to get subtitles to work in VLC on the iPad. It was indeed cumbersome, and with some strange conditions, but it did work. Most appreciated.
How do you connect a .srt file to a video in VLC for iPad, version 3.3.7?
I have done this successfully in VLC for Mac, but in VLC for iPad the only option I can see is to download subtitles from OpenSubtitles.org.