Postcards

[busterfield]

2 hours ago, Raster Scanning said:

 

Three old Sgt's of the 7th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment in England 1915. Charles Kitchener CSM 3/8491. Sgt. Germany and Sgt. French. None of them went to France with the battalion.

Kitchener served with the 7th and 8th Battalions and then at The Ampthill Command Depot (Bedfordshire Training Depot). He came from Luton and was sadly admitted to an asylum in 1922. The other two also appear on a named group photo of the NCO's of the battalion and as they were not issued medals I am having trouble tracing them.

 

 

 

In familysearch(registration needed) there is a William Germany.

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVBR-WZ79

Going by DOB and place of birth he was in the Coldstream Guards previously. No MIC for Bedford nuber 499426

[Raster Scanning]

28 minutes ago, busterfield said:

In familysearch(registration needed) there is a William Germany.

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVBR-WZ79

Going by DOB and place of birth he was in the Coldstream Guards previously. No MIC for Bedford nuber 499426

It is him! Thanks for your help. I have found his Pension Record and it confirms all his pre war service and 7th Battalion Service in 1914/15 too. Really appreciate this.

[busterfield]

There is also a William French DOB 1876 Northampton number 25142 home service 1916-1919. My grandfather was in the 9th Bedford.

[Raster Scanning]

25 minutes ago, busterfield said:

There is also a William French DOB 1876 Northampton number 25142 home service 1916-1919. My grandfather was in the 9th Bedford.

Sadly not him. But thanks for trying.

[Raster Scanning]

"Somewhere in France, 2 Platoon, 'A' Company, 6th Bedfordshire Regiment" Two men wear Stretcher Bearer Brassards. Some men have economy jackets so I am estimating this at 1915-1916

[Raster Scanning]

2nd Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment in billets, Burie-Au- Bois France, 9th May 1917. 9517 Robert Gladstone Kirby MM (MM announced in War Diary 19th September 1916) is sitting on far left of second row (from bottom). The battalion was billeted here from the 3rd to the 20th May 1917. Entry from War Diary for this date. 
"Photo's were taken of Companies and various groups. Copies for records when received."

78 days later Kirby was killed by shellfire when leading a group of 17 men near Bedford House. Extract from the War Diary 
"26 Jul 1917 Battalion in the Line at ZILLEBEKE and Reserve at CHATEAU SEGARD. Major R.O.Wynne, D.S.O. proceeded to 30th Division as Liaison Officer. Lt.Colonel C.H.de.St.P. Bunbury proceeded to Trenches to Command Battalion. At 5 p.m. the 2nd Bn.Yorkshire Regiment and 18th Bn.Manchester Regiment carried out a raid in front of this Sector with successful results. No.8718 Cpl.F.Aveling, 2nd Bn.Bedfordshire Regiment, awarded the Military Medal for gallantry in this raid. Casualties. 2nd Lieutenant G. Lenton wounded. Other Ranks: 11 Killed 19 wounded. These included a party under C.S.Major R.Kirby who were returning to CHATEAU SEGARD (17 Strong) and were knocked out by a shell near BEDFORD HOUSE, of which 6 were Killed. 5 Died of wounds. 6 Wounded." The 6 killed were:
18674 Pte. E Marshall, 29269 Pte. E Tompkins, 25238 Pte. W Clark. 9517 CSM R Kirby, 201524 Pte. H Creamer and 29264 Pte. S Hewitt. Kirby, Creamer and Hewitt are buried in a single plot, sadly indicating they were not able to be individually identified.

Kirby's medals and those to his 3 brothers are in my collection.

Robert Gladstone Kirby MM  is standing on far left back row.

Edited 6 September , 2022 by Raster Scanning

[FROGSMILE]

11 minutes ago, Raster Scanning said:

"Somewhere in France, 2 Platoon, 'A' Company, 6th Bedfordshire Regiment" Two men wear Stretcher Bearer Brassards. Some men have economy jackets so I am estimating this at 1915-1916

1916-17 I’d suggest, as none of the men have the 1915 trench caps (ear flaps, etc.).

A very poignant group photo including Kirby. Thank you for posting.

Edited 6 September , 2022 by FROGSMILE

[58 Div Mule]

2 hours ago, Raster Scanning said:

"Somewhere in France, 2 Platoon, 'A' Company, 6th Bedfordshire Regiment" Two men wear Stretcher Bearer Brassards. Some men have economy jackets so I am estimating this at 1915-1916

The lad sitting on the ground crossed legs second from right looks very young to me?
 

58 DM.

[FROGSMILE]

2 hours ago, 58 Div Mule said:

The lad sitting on the ground crossed legs second from right looks very young to me?
 

58 DM.

There were a startling number of underage soldiers then, far more than realised even in the Richard Van Emden book “Boy Soldiers” (which as an aside is arguably a misnomer).  One of the forum members has done an excellent and painstaking study of the statistics for one regiment or battalion (I forget which) that brings the matter into stark relief.  It makes for recommended reading.

I’d reckon the lad to which you refer to be in his late teens. 

[ianjonesncl]

RFA Battery on Parade

Australians ?

[FROGSMILE]

27 minutes ago, ianjonesncl said:

RFA Battery on Parade

Australians ?

It shouldn’t say RFA if it were.  The slouch hat was decreed as universal service dress headdress until the 1905 SD cap was on general issue.  Is there any inkling of the date of the photo Ian?  It looks like a page from Navy and Army Illustrated.

Edited 6 September , 2022 by FROGSMILE

[ianjonesncl]

5 minutes ago, FROGSMILE said:

It shouldn’t say RFA if it were.  The slouch hat was decreed as universal service dress headdress until the 1905 SD cap was on general issue.  Is there any inkling of the date of the photo Ian?  It looks like a page from Navy and Army Illustrated.

No dates.

The back shows it is from the Wellington Series Postcards .... which on reflection means they may be Kiwis. 

[PRC]

The photographers and printers Gale & Polden had extensive contracts with the Army in the Aldershot area as well as the Navy in the Chatham area. In 1893 they even moved their main factory to Aldershot where it remained until 1981. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gale_%26_Polden

Cheers,
Peter

[FROGSMILE]

13 hours ago, ianjonesncl said:

No dates.

The back shows it is from the Wellington Series Postcards .... which on reflection means they may be Kiwis. 

That would be interesting if they are Ian.  Most NZ wore lemon squeezers, although mounted infantry (light horse) favoured the entirely flat brim slouch hat, only rarely it seems with one side pinned up.

Edited 7 September , 2022 by FROGSMILE

[ianjonesncl]

This one is annotated Australian Heavy Gun at work 

The gallant Australians at their gig gun working in the heat of a summers day. Their waggons are dashing up as the gun is being laid.

 

 

 

 

[Raster Scanning]

7 hours ago, ianjonesncl said:

RFA Battery on Parade

Australians ?

This is I believe earlier than WW1 around 1905 I think. I am no expert on RFA during this period,  but as a Pc collector of many years, it just feels early. Here is a similar style card from 1903 of the Bedfordshire Imperial Yeomanry, note the hats. In addition I just checked eBay, there is a Wellington Series PC of the Gun Carriage used at Queen Victorias funeral (1901) and posted 1904. I believe many British Army units serving in South Africa wore slouch caps and retained them for a while after they returned.

Edited 7 September , 2022 by Raster Scanning

[FROGSMILE]

7 hours ago, Raster Scanning said:

This is I believe earlier than WW1 around 1905 I think. I am no expert on RFA during this period,  but as a Pc collector of many years, it just feels early. Here is a similar style card from 1903 of the Bedfordshire Imperial Yeomanry, note the hats. In addition I just checked eBay, there is a Wellington Series PC of the Gun Carriage used at Queen Victorias funeral (1901) and posted 1904. I believe many British Army units serving in South Africa wore slouch caps and retained them for a while after they returned.

Yes, the slouch hat remained in use as universal service dress headgear until 1905.

[knittinganddeath]

On 28/08/2022 at 17:42, FROGSMILE said:

might be able to help.

Sorry it's taken so long to reply, I think I closed the tab on my browser by accident. Anything prewar is hard for me because of the total lack of context, and I also can't really read the writing that easily. The return address says Thorn, which is now Torun in Poland; IIRC a number of regiments had their home there.

[Raster Scanning]

This picture of RE signallers was most probably taken in the winter of 1916/17 in France or Belgium. The men wear goatskin jackets that were generally not worn after 1916. The wearing of helmets (issued from March 1916 onwards) indicates they are not far from the front line. The man crouching at the front is a New Zealander with his distinctive 'Lemon Squeezer' hat. 78416 Sgt John Wainwright is in the middle at the front.

[FROGSMILE]

1 hour ago, knittinganddeath said:

Sorry it's taken so long to reply, I think I closed the tab on my browser by accident. Anything prewar is hard for me because of the total lack of context, and I also can't really read the writing that easily. The return address says Thorn, which is now Torun in Poland; IIRC a number of regiments had their home there.

No problem, but thank you for taking the time to reply.  Very unusually I didn’t get a response from any of the three that I tagged and I wondered if it (the card) was all too difficult. 

[FROGSMILE]

22 minutes ago, Raster Scanning said:

This picture of RE signallers was most probably taken in the winter of 1916/17 in France or Belgium. The men wear goatskin jackets that were generally not worn after 1916. The wearing of helmets (issued from March 1916 onwards) indicates they are not far from the front line. The man crouching at the front is a New Zealander with his distinctive 'Lemon Squeezer' hat. 78416 Sgt John Wainwright is in the middle at the front.

Yes it’s a cracking image and I’ve gained the impression from looking at it that it was considered a jolly and amusing wheeze to have a photo taken of everyone lined up in their goatskins as a ‘herd of signallers’.  The joke is palpable.

[GWF1967]

"Turkish Gun Gallipoli"

"Some fellows went over to Gallipoli when E. of I was at Mudros a few weeks ago.  V.B.J." 

[aodhdubh]

No soldiers in this one, but the typed caption is interesting. The liner SS Bermudian was taken off its pre-war route to Bermuda at the start of the war for employment more useful to the war effort. This visit would therefore have been more remarkable. Not immediately obvious why this is significant to the 2/4 Bn. East Yorkshire Regiment.

Edited 11 September , 2022 by aodhdubh

[FROGSMILE]

50 minutes ago, aodhdubh said:

No soldiers in this one, but the typed caption is interesting. The liner SS Bermudian was taken of its pre-war route to Bermuda at the start of the war for employment more useful to the war effort. This visit would therefore have been more remarkable. Not immediately obvious why this is significant to the 2/4 Bn. East Yorkshire Regiment.

The battalion had been sent to become the Bermuda standing garrison in November 1916.  The refuelling station enroute was usually Hamilton, Ontario, and as it was January 1st I imagine that they anticipated picking up their Christmas mail there, which might perhaps have arrived ahead via a fast passage steamer undertaking the mail run.

Edited 10 September , 2022 by FROGSMILE

[aodhdubh]

On 10/09/2022 at 15:12, FROGSMILE said:

The battalion had been sent to become the Bermuda standing garrison in November 1916.  The refuelling station enroute was usually Hamilton, Ontario, and as it was January 1st I imagine that they anticipated picking up their Christmas mail there, which might perhaps have arrived ahead via a fast passage steamer undertaking the mail run.

Yes...I suppose the explanation is as simple as she was bearing mail, at least some of which was doubtless Christmas letters and parcels for the battalion. I wonder if the card was produced for the battalion? The battalion had arrived in November, as you wrote, at the Royal Naval Dockyard along with Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps soldiers invalided from the Western Front aboard the SS Metagama, and were transferred to the town of Hamilton by the former gunboat HMS Ready, marching from there to the neighbouring Prospect Camp.