Odd Photo?

[Stephen Dalton]

Hi all 

 

I am new here, the below photo seems really odd to me compared to others I have seen. First on the left is my Grandfather Driver 991 (745275) F G Lawrence Royal Field Artillery. I have a good grip of his service history now, TF before the war, then 53rd Welsh DAC and then transferred to 29th DAC where he served in France. What is really intriguing is this posed photo, I have yet to find the original and have no background as to where, what or why. I suspect that from their expressions this is early on, perhaps before they have seen any of the horrors of war. Is this something that others have seen? The wall appears to have been thrown up as well!!

 

Any insight gratefully received.

 

Stephen

Edited 16 November , 2019 by Stephen Dalton

[T8HANTS]

During the early days of the war there seem to be quite a few of these 'last stand' type vignettes taken for consumption of the family at home. 

This is one of the better ones imitating as it does a typical Caton-Woodville print to be found in publications such as 'With flag to Pretoria' , full of daring do from the Boer War and on which I suspect these men were brought up. 

As for the wall, Victorian building standards for 'slum class' wouldn't meet modern standards.

[Kath]

Googling "Caton-Woodville Jnr." finds interesting sites including one where many prints are for sale.

These look familiar to me - were they used on cigarette cards?

 

Kath

[tbirduk]

It looks to me as if the wall is actually a bricked up Railway arch, the brickwork at the left side is far better than the middlle of the road?

Edited 16 November , 2019 by tbirduk

[Heid the Ba]

The gutters and cobbled street running into it would suggest that or similar.  

[TEW]

It reminds me of some 'cut off' roads around Plymouth Naval areas.

 

Here is a streetview example, not the best but it gives the idea. This is where older roads into the yards have been cut off by a new wall.

TEW