Date/Purpose of this RFC Parade in Aldershot?

[tootrock]

I can't add any information about the occasion, but in the second picture (Post #7) it seems to me that the chap fourth from the front is out of step with those behind him (or vice versa). He has right foot forward (as does the chap in front of him), but those behind are all left foot forward.

And how does the chap on the far left of the same photo manage to keep his cap on?

Martin

Edited 28 August , 2019 by tootrock

[sadbrewer]

A funeral reported in Mid May 1914....not sure how relevant it might be.

Edited 30 August , 2019 by sadbrewer

[Buffnut453]

2 hours ago, sadbrewer said:

A funeral reported in Mid May 1914....not sure how relevant it might be.

 

Thanks for that info, Sadbrewer.  I'm not sure that the photos are associated with that specific event but the articles do make it clear that military personnel who died at Aldershot were accorded substantial military funerals.  Unfortunately that will make identifying the specific event all the more difficult.  

[Sepoy]

On 28/08/2019 at 16:21, Buffnut453 said:

 

Hi Sepoy,

 

Yes, please do post the images.  Others may have additional ideas that we haven't yet considered.

 

Kind regards,
Mark

I have posted the photographs on the Farnborough (Hants) Nostalgia Facebook group and I will update this thread with any reasonable responses.

Sepoy

[Dolphin]

Capt E V Anderson was included in an article I wrote for the Journal of the Australian Society of WWI Aero Historians about all the Australians who died while serving in the RFC/RAF:

 

Anderson, Captain Ernest Vivian; No.5 Squadron R.F.C.

 

Ernest Anderson was born in Delamere, South Australia, in June 1887. He was educated at Hawkesbury Agricultural College, near Richmond, N.S.W., before being commissioned in the 2nd Battalion, The Black Watch (Royal Highlanders) on 28 August 1906. The regiment was then stationed at Curragh in Ireland. After service in India, and promotion to Lieutenant in 1908, he transferred from the Black Watch to the R.F.C. at Edinburgh Castle on 28 October 1912, following his qualification for Royal Aero Club Certificate No. 247 on 16 July. When gazetted as a Flying Officer he was posted to No.3 Squadron. He was promoted to Captain, and gazetted as a Flight Commander in No.5 Squadron, in January 1914.

 

In the afternoon of Tuesday 12 May 1914, the experienced Capt. Anderson had his first flight in Sopwith D.1 Biplane 324 (a new aeroplane with only 2 flying hours), with AM Henry Wilfred Carter as observer. He was approaching the aerodrome at Farnborough when 324 collided with another Sopwith D.1: 325 (also a new aeroplane, with four and a half flying hours), flown by 2Lt. Christopher William Wilson (formerly Seaforth Highlanders), who was returning from a flight to Brooklands. The pilot of 325 was also approaching the aerodrome, and did not see 324 below him, when the lower left wing of the upper aeroplane struck the upper right wing of the lower at about 400 feet. After the collision, both machines crashed onto the 10th green at Aldershot Golf Course. Both airmen in 324 were killed, while 2Lt. Wilson suffered a fractured jaw and severe bruising.

 

The first onlooker to reach the crash site was the gardener at Government House, the residence of General Douglas Haig, then serving as General Officer Commanding Aldershot (1st and 2nd Infantry Divisions and 1st Cavalry Brigade). The collision was the first such accident in Britain. Capt. E.V. Anderson is buried in Aldershot Military Cemetery, England.

 

Gareth

Edited 3 September , 2019 by Dolphin

[CorporalPunishment]

On 25/08/2019 at 19:39, Buffnut453 said:

Here's postcard No.2.  Not much to go on, I'm afraid.  Just some RFC personnel marching in Aldershot.  It may be nothing to do with the No.5 image I posted earlier but I suspect they are, in fact, related.

 

 

Out of curiosity, having never worn one and looking at the angle of some of them, it always puzzles me how those side caps stayed on their heads. Some of them look truly ridiculous to me.   Pete.

Edited 5 September , 2019 by CorporalPunishment

[Buffnut453]

The two photographs show the funeral of 2Lt William Boyle Power on Queen’s Street, Aldershot, Hampshire, on 21 July 1916.  2Lt Power had died on 17 July when his FE8 aircraft crashed at Farnborough.  Information from the Aldershot Military Museum confirmed that the postcards my relative had matched details of the event provided in The Aldershot Mail local newspaper:

The cortege having formed up outside the church was equally imposing, stretching over a quarter of a mile along Queens Avenue.

First came the firing party of the Royal Flying Corps, under the command of Sergeant Austin, followed by the band of the Inniskilling Dragoons and the gun carriage, upon which was the coffin, draped with the Union flag and covered in flowers.

Following the pall bearers were the officiating clergymen in their full robes, his widow and family mourners. Behind them followed the escort and wreath bearers numbering several hundred. In overall command of proceedings was Major A.F.S. Leggatt.

Thousands witnessed the cortege’s departure towards the cemetery and the greatest respect was manifested by the great many mourners who lined the route. Such was the size and scale of the procession, that it was photographed by the photographic company Messrs. May and Co.

The reverse of my relative’s postcards show they were taken by “Wm May & Co.”.  Also, a member of the Friends of Aldershot Military Museum provided an additional image of the event which shared a number of features with my relative’s postcards: the omnibus, horse and trap at left, and members of the military and bystanders who match those in the first of my relative’s postcards. 

I’m delighted to find a resolution to this conundrum.  I’m also immensely grateful to all who’ve contributed ideas and helped circulate these images. 

[McCudden]

What an interesting thread!

Some years ago I researched all 113 names on the Droitwich (Worcestershire) war memorial, one of which was William Boyle-Power so seeing these images of his funeral is particularly interesting. This is what's I recorded about him.

 

"Second Lieutenant William Boyle Power was born in Plymouth in December 1888 and lived at Wyche Cottage in Albert Street, Droitwich at the start of the war in 1914. He obtained his pilot’s certificate on July 1^st 1914 and joined the Royal Flying Corps when the war started.

 

After serving in Egypt, he returned to the UK and trained others to fly and taught J T B McCudden to fly in March 1916. McCudden went on to become possibly the greatest British flying ace before also being killed in a flying accident in July 1918.

 

William later worked as a test pilot and was killed in the evening of Monday July 17^th 1916 in a flying accident when his FE8 plane nose-dived into the ground at Farnborough Air Station near Aldershot in Hampshire. He was 29 and is buried at Aldershot."

 

Alec

[helpjpl]

Great result.

 

1.  Royal Aero Club Certificate (courtesy of ancestry):

 

2. airhistory:

http://www.airhistory.org.uk/rfc/files/names_combined_P.txt

 

3.  Flight Magazine 20 July 1916, page 603:

 

4.  Casualty Card:

http://www.rafmuseumstoryvault.org.uk/archive/7000282890-power-w.b.-william-boyle

 

5. Find A Grave:

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/11994752

 

JP

Edited 7 September , 2019 by helpjpl
to add airhistory link

[helpjpl]

1.  William Boyle Power married Mary Donnelly at St Alphonsus RC Church, Liverpool, on 24 October 1914:

 

 

2.  Their son, William Boyle Power, was buried at Ford Cemetery, Liverpool, on 19 December 1918, aged 2. (Birth registered Jul-Aug-Sep 1916):

 

JP

 

[depaor01]

Came across this thread randomly. William's surname is the same as mine, and he is commemorated on a South Dublin Library website for which I provided the data:

 

https://ourheroes.southdublin.ie/Serviceman/Show/16902

 

Dave

[durhamdave]

unusual wings on picture on pilots certificate.

[Andrew Upton]

On ‎07‎/‎09‎/‎2019 at 12:27, helpjpl said:

 

8 hours ago, durhamdave said:

unusual wings on picture on pilots certificate.

 

Those are the pre-war dress version in bronze, eg:

 

[nils d]

On ‎28‎/‎08‎/‎2019 at 16:51, tootrock said:

 

And how does the chap on the far left of the same photo manage to keep his cap on?

Martin

l was just about to say that ! Some of those forage caps are set at incredible angles!

[Buffnut453]

5 hours ago, nils d said:

l was just about to say that ! Some of those forage caps are set at incredible angles!

 

Cocked at a jaunty and rakish angle, to be sure.

[travers61]

From my memories of a visit to Aldershot Military Cemetery, William Boyle-Power is lying in good aviation company, as the grave of Samuel Cody is quite close to his.

[Guest]

William Boyle Power had family connections to Ireland and he spent a few years in the town of Drogheda, also my home town, initially working as an engineer in one of the mills.He was a talented musician, a violinist and along with his pianist friend John Kelly, they started the Olympic Dress Band entertaining on the local circuit. He also played the violin in the local cinema. When the cinema managers job became vacant, he took it on and if flourished while he managed. One of his last events at the cinema was a grand concert attended and enjoyed by many local dignitaries. He met his wife, Mary Donnelly, in Drogheda and they got married in 1914 in Liverpool. In 1912 he left the cinema job and signed up for the Royal Flying Corps as a mechanic. I was amazed to come across these photos of his funeral, his widow Mary would have been heavily pregnant at this time, I believe she is probably in one of the carriages in the background. 

[Buffnut453]

11 hours ago, Corporal Bird said:

William Boyle Power had family connections to Ireland and he spent a few years in the town of Drogheda, also my home town, initially working as an engineer in one of the mills.He was a talented musician, a violinist and along with his pianist friend John Kelly, they started the Olympic Dress Band entertaining on the local circuit. He also played the violin in the local cinema. When the cinema managers job became vacant, he took it on and if flourished while he managed. One of his last events at the cinema was a grand concert attended and enjoyed by many local dignitaries. He met his wife, Mary Donnelly, in Drogheda and they got married in 1914 in Liverpool. In 1912 he left the cinema job and signed up for the Royal Flying Corps as a mechanic. I was amazed to come across these photos of his funeral, his widow Mary would have been heavily pregnant at this time, I believe she is probably in one of the carriages in the background. 

 

Glad the images were of interest.  One of my more obsessive traits is a desire to know as much as possible about my family photographs.  Sometimes I'm lucky and find very specific details (usually with the help of kind experts on this and other fora), and sometimes a hit a brick wall and make no progress.  Despite the passage of years, new photos are constantly being added to digital online resources.  Sometimes an addition has impacts way beyond the family of the individual who posted it. 

 

I'm simply glad people found these images interesting.  I certainly learned a lot from the discussion.  

 

Cheers,
Mark