Moonraker Posted 7 January , 2013 Share Posted 7 January , 2013 I think that these men are members of the First Canadian Contingent helping to build their own huts at Lark Hill or very close by in the winter of 1914-15. Does their clothing confirm this, please? The card was published by G Rosener, the local German (!) photographer who pretended he was a Dane until he was rumbled. Certainly he published other photographs of the Canadians. Moonraker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Sweeney Posted 7 January , 2013 Share Posted 7 January , 2013 Uniforms look like Kitchener Blues. I acn't make out the cap badge, but tyhese folks leeok British to me. Joe Sweeney Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
servicepub Posted 7 January , 2013 Share Posted 7 January , 2013 Soldiers in the CEF were not issued with field service caps so I don't believe that this photo depicts Canadians. Plus, I would expect to see a few 7-button tunics if this were actually winter 1914-15. Clive Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonraker Posted 7 January , 2013 Author Share Posted 7 January , 2013 Could be, Joe. Though I can't recall specific descriptions of British battalions building huts on the scale of the First Canadian Contingent, there are many references to them providing working parties to do less ambitious work on new hutments. Moonraker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonraker Posted 7 January , 2013 Author Share Posted 7 January , 2013 Best I can do to blow up a cap badge. Moonraker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonraker Posted 7 January , 2013 Author Share Posted 7 January , 2013 My list of British units in Wiltshire during the war has the 5th South Wales Borderers (Pioneers) at Sling (next to Bulford Barracks) from March 4 to April, 1915 and the 6th at Lark Hill in March 1915, but I don't claim the list is infallible. (it doesn't have the 11th anywhere, but I'm happy to accept Tocemma's statement. Perhaps the 5th being Pioneers is significant? Rosener was based in Durrington village, between Lark Hill and Bulford/Sling. I would say that the huts are the usual Armstrong design. I associate "infamous chicken sheds" with the Aylwin huts, "a species of rabbit hutches", easily erected but very primitive. Each could house six men . There were lines of them at Hamilton Camp, west of Lark Hill, but the army soon stooped buying them. (Google or search the Forum for Aylwin for more info.) Moonraker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerry B Posted 7 January , 2013 Share Posted 7 January , 2013 Looks like South Wales Borderers Tocemma That was my thought as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Sweeney Posted 8 January , 2013 Share Posted 8 January , 2013 How do you know they are helping build huts I see picks and shovels and no carpentry tools and the huts look finished. Excavating foundations? Joe Sweeney Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackblue Posted 8 January , 2013 Share Posted 8 January , 2013 I agree SWB and I think Pioneers is a good bet. The 2nd LT looks pretty old for that rank and a very young lad middle row far left. What is the pattern on the uniforms two lads behind the CPL? Are they soup bowls and what are the pales for? Rgds Tim D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Upton Posted 8 January , 2013 Share Posted 8 January , 2013 What is the pattern on the uniforms two lads behind the CPL? It is the broad arrow, eg /I\ - a Government property mark found on a multitude of items. It could be a joke based on them now being Government property, but prisoners uniforms at one time were also covered with the same mark (being both very distinctive and an indicator of the uniform also still being Government property), and I personally think some has attempted to replicate this in chalk temporarily: http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.penandclink.com/mjmuseum/images/ajakt.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.penandclink.com/mjmuseum/choice.htm&h=200&w=139&sz=29&tbnid=kuKwSpbqVfrguM:&tbnh=95&tbnw=66&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dbroad%2Barrow%2Bprison%2Buniform%26tbm%3Disch%26tbo%3Du&zoom=1&q=broad+arrow+prison+uniform&usg=__UHZ2Frhu8CV605r-P6w_i1XVtZs=&docid=dtRw5FiAb4cwNM&hl=en&sa=X&ei=g3LrUNfIBcrSsgauzoGwAQ&ved=0CEYQ9QEwBA&dur=150 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackblue Posted 8 January , 2013 Share Posted 8 January , 2013 Thanks Andrew, That's what I thought it was but couldn't understand why some of them seem to have painted it on their uniforms. Rgds Tim D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonraker Posted 8 January , 2013 Author Share Posted 8 January , 2013 How do you know they are helping build huts I see picks and shovels and no carpentrngng posty tools and the huts look finished. Excavating foundations? Joe Sweeney I made two false assumptions in my opening post - that the men were Canadians and that they were building huts, partly because I'm dim and also because I link together the Contingent, hut-building and Rosener - though he did photograph British troops locally before he was arrested. Moonraker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abbrover Posted 20 January , 2013 Share Posted 20 January , 2013 Hello Moonraker, The men in the photo belong to the South Wales Borderers, and belong to one of the Service Battalions. One way of almost positively identifying the unit is to look at where the photographer was from. This will give you a ball park area to be looking in, and then you can cross reference this with a reference work such as "British Regiments 1914-1918 - By Brig. E. A. James". Absollutely fantastic photo! I like the way some of the lads have drawn arrow's on their emergency blue uniform to signify they are "convicts"! Take care Pete Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonraker Posted 20 January , 2013 Author Share Posted 20 January , 2013 Peter, thanks My own list of units in Wiltshire is based on James' book but inevitably there are anomalies and omissions. The publisher's address can give some clues as to where a photograph might have been taken, but for someone based in the Amesbury area (eg Rosener, T L Fuller, Marcus Bennett, A F Marett) there are a dozen camps to choose from. Early on in my collecting, I was puzzled which camp J H Simpson of Andover was featuring - it turned out to be Chisledon, 28 miles away! Moonraker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abbrover Posted 20 January , 2013 Share Posted 20 January , 2013 Hello again Moonraker, I take it you are an avid Great War postcard collector? I am to, and have been collecting for about 30 years. I specialise in the Liverpool Pals (got about 400 of them), but basically will collect to any of the nearby regiments (Cheshires (especially 13th Bn - Wirral Pals), Royal Welsh Fusiliers, Kings Liverpool, and Manchesters), and anything else that catches my eye. I'm just going through the process of scanning them all. If I can be of any further help, please dont hesitate to ask. Pete Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonraker Posted 20 January , 2013 Author Share Posted 20 January , 2013 Pete, perhaps you're familiar with "Davies, New Ferry" whose name appears on postcards of the 13th Cheshire at Codford, near Warminster, in late 1914. I've wondered if "Davies" accompanied local dignitaries who visited the 13th around that time. Moonraker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonraker Posted 23 January , 2013 Author Share Posted 23 January , 2013 Thanks for all the useful comments. I'm confident that this pic DOES show Canadians at Lark Hill: It was published by Fuller of Amesbury and is postmarked March 12, 1915 and the message includes "this photo was taken at Lark hill, Salisbury Plains, but I am now at Tidworth Barracks". With the departure of the First Canadian Contingent from the Plain in February, Tidworth barracks briefly became a training depot, receving men from Canada. The man on the right wears the cap of a (Canadian) Highlander. The infamous Lark Hill mud is well depicted, and the new huts can been in the background. Moonraker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asanewt Posted 23 January , 2013 Share Posted 23 January , 2013 Great photo' so much to catch the imagination. I favour a punishment/POW detail. A real mixed bunch with some jokers. Any more from collar badge, Fusilier? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonraker Posted 23 January , 2013 Author Share Posted 23 January , 2013 They look too happy to be a punishment detail and certainly not PoWs - prisoners in British uniforms on Salisbury Plain? I think they're just on the countless fatigue parties that were part and parcel of a soldier's life. Moonraker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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