Barke02 Posted 11 July , 2008 Share Posted 11 July , 2008 During recent renovations at a shop in Sevenoaks (Kent, UK) close to 500 glass plate negatives were discovered holed up in an old fireplace. The shop was once one of the photographic studios of the Essenhigh-Corke family. The collection has been bought by The Centre for Kentish Studies (Kent archives) and is currently being digitized for an exhibition later this summer.Hello,My name is Jonathan Barker, I work at the Kent archives and I'm the lucky person who's scanning this collection. As Kent is the county closest to France it hosted many staging camps. We are assuming there was one near Sevenoaks, as so far I've identified close to fifty different regiments, including Canadian, New Zealand and Australian troops. Whilst many of the badges were fairly easy to identify, some are a bit vague, so I'm asking for your help.Over the coming weeks I'll be posting lots of the photographs for you to confirm my deductions or ridicule my amateurish assumptions! The names given with each image were written on the glass plate itself, presumably the person in the photograph, but not necessarily. Firstly the Canadians.The name given with this plate is Selford. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barke02 Posted 11 July , 2008 Author Share Posted 11 July , 2008 Whoops, I've managed to get the images the wrong way around. That was the detail of his collar badge, here is the whole plate for Selford on the right. The name with this plate on the left is Bates. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barke02 Posted 11 July , 2008 Author Share Posted 11 July , 2008 This is a detail of the sergeant's cap badge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barke02 Posted 11 July , 2008 Author Share Posted 11 July , 2008 I think this could be Royal Highlanders of Canada, can anyone confirm this? The name on the plate is Evan Young. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
montbrehain Posted 11 July , 2008 Share Posted 11 July , 2008 Very nice clear photos , look forward to seeing some of the Aussie stuff. "MO" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barke02 Posted 11 July , 2008 Author Share Posted 11 July , 2008 Here is a close-up of the shoulder title. Any help you can give me with these and the many more that are going to follow will be greatly appreciated, Jon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ALDAWSON77 Posted 11 July , 2008 Share Posted 11 July , 2008 First shoulder badge (SELFORD) possibly CEF 11th Mounted Rifles. See link. http://www.militarybadges.info/pages/canada/cef13.htm Al. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barke02 Posted 11 July , 2008 Author Share Posted 11 July , 2008 Australians eh? OK, I've found three of them. The first two are named Mansfield. A close-up of Mansfield's collar badge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brett361975 Posted 11 July , 2008 Share Posted 11 July , 2008 I Think your right with the Royal Highlanders of Canada, Look forward to seeing more Brett Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barke02 Posted 11 July , 2008 Author Share Posted 11 July , 2008 The second has the name Blinkerhouse written on it. A close up of the Blinkerhouse badge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brett361975 Posted 11 July , 2008 Share Posted 11 July , 2008 Barke 02, Are you going to put all these in a Database? you may have pictures of men people are looking for. Would be great if you could build some sort of data base / site so they were all together and people could search for names etc. Im sure someone on this forum could help if you needed it. Great job your doing well done. Regards Brett Any named Giblin or Puddle or Vaines ? fingers crossed ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barke02 Posted 11 July , 2008 Author Share Posted 11 July , 2008 This one shows two guys, but I haven't included a close-up as it's not clear enough. The plate carries the name Young. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Procat Posted 11 July , 2008 Share Posted 11 July , 2008 The second has the name Blinkerhouse written on it. A close up of the Blinkerhouse badge. Hm, I don't think that is the name of the soldier. A search of the Australian WWI nominal roll did not find that name. Also, a search of the UK 1901 census did not return any hits. Doug Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisharley9 Posted 11 July , 2008 Share Posted 11 July , 2008 Jonathan the Australian photos you have published so far show the Australian Imperial Force collar badge - as far as I know this was the standard collar badge for all Australian soldiers under the AIF umbrella Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Procat Posted 11 July , 2008 Share Posted 11 July , 2008 Jonathan the Australian photos you have published so far show the Australian Imperial Force collar badge - as far as I know this was the standard collar badge for all Australian soldiers under the AIF umbrella Chris I would agree with that Chris. It was the cloth "Colour patch" (introduced c 1915) that was used to denote the specific unit. Unfortunately of limited value in a black and white photo. Doug Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dorisj7 Posted 11 July , 2008 Share Posted 11 July , 2008 Jon: Think this may be your Evan Young, although he is registered as Standford Evan Young . He was born in Sevenoaks, Kent on his attestation papers. Here is the link. Young There is also an Evan Young, but think Standford is your man! Evan Young Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barke02 Posted 11 July , 2008 Author Share Posted 11 July , 2008 Hi Al, thanks for your reply. That's the Babin book on Canadian badges isn't it? I trawled through that but nearly went maple leaf crazy! I couldn't find a really good match, but then they are drawings. What do other people think? Hi Brett, I haven't come across any named Giblin, Puddle or Vaines yet. If you could give me their regiments I could keep a look out. A database is a really good idea, I don't know if there are any plans yet. The first step is to get them digitized and display parts of the collection in an exhibtion at Sevenoaks library in August. After that I'm hoping a cd will be produced, or possibly to make them avaliable via the archives website. I'll keep you informed, but certainly as a government body the archives are keen to enlist the help of volunteers from the public. Better get back to my chores, I'll post some more tonight. Jon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dorisj7 Posted 11 July , 2008 Share Posted 11 July , 2008 Jon : I can not find any Selford on the Canadian site. Could it be Telford? There are 57 Telford's which is a name I know in the Ottawa Valley. Great photos, look forward to seeing more. Would you happen to have any Robbins? Doris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Procat Posted 11 July , 2008 Share Posted 11 July , 2008 There is also a book "Military Badges of the British Empire 1914-18" by Reginald H.W. Cox that you might find useful. Covers the Colonial forces as well as the Brits. Doug Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pighills Posted 11 July , 2008 Share Posted 11 July , 2008 What a fantastic find and what great photos!! Lucky you being able to research all this AND get paid for it too!! Sorry I can't help (not knowledgeable enough unfortunately) but I'm sure you'll get plenty of help from everyone else here. Thanks for posting them and looking forward to seeing more. Kim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles Fair Posted 11 July , 2008 Share Posted 11 July , 2008 What a thrilling discovery, I look forward to seeing the exhibition in due course Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Procat Posted 11 July , 2008 Share Posted 11 July , 2008 Unfortunately I think I'll have to wait for the CD - or the online exhibition. Doug Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ALDAWSON77 Posted 11 July , 2008 Share Posted 11 July , 2008 Jonathon, Belay my last. I believe Selford/Telford to be CEF Dental Corps Overseas. Al. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianw Posted 11 July , 2008 Share Posted 11 July , 2008 Excellent pictures. A great find. Why not put "Canadian and Autralian interest" as a sub-title to the thread to get our Imperial Pals attenton? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barke02 Posted 11 July , 2008 Author Share Posted 11 July , 2008 Hello all. Doug, you're right, I misread the name. Sorry about that. It should be Blinkhouse, not Blinkerhouse. Doris WOW! That's amazing. The fact that this chap's from Sevenoaks will make him the star at the exhibition. Thankyou very much. Al, a brilliant bit of detective work, well done. I think your spot on this time. I'm just going to resize some more images in Photoshop, then I'll post then post 'em up. Jon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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