wendyhawk Posted 31 March , 2020 Share Posted 31 March , 2020 Hi, I am interested in finding out which regiment this young man served in. On the back I have found a number whether it is a service number I am not sure and there seems to be a name written underneath. There are 4 men it could possibly be having checked out the 'service numbe'r online. Any help would be much appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sadbrewer Posted 31 March , 2020 Share Posted 31 March , 2020 (edited) Labour Corps seems a possibility. Edit....possibly not...perhaps Royal Engineers. Edited 31 March , 2020 by sadbrewer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mancpal Posted 31 March , 2020 Share Posted 31 March , 2020 I'm afraid I can't see any identifying features on the uniform. The buttons appear to be general service type (common), the lanyard is almost universal (usually attached to a clasp knife in the tunic pocket) and no sign of shoulder titles. I only found 3 men with the matching service number and their names (Hillier, Grimshaw and King) don't appear to fit the signature. Of course it may not be a signature and service number in which case I;m stumped ! Simon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark1959 Posted 31 March , 2020 Share Posted 31 March , 2020 Looks like a memorial photo to me. So of the 4 that would point to King. He was from East Stour, Gillingham, Dorset. Where was the photo found? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mancpal Posted 31 March , 2020 Share Posted 31 March , 2020 Mark, what is a memorial photo as opposed to any other type? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark1959 Posted 31 March , 2020 Share Posted 31 March , 2020 One of a dead soldier. Not sure you would have a large photo like that if the chap was still alive. Could be wrong but just struck as having that feel. My question about where it was found might point to King or one of the other soldiers with that number. Clearly the signature - even after to applying a lot of filters to it - is not King or any of the other 3. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wendyhawk Posted 31 March , 2020 Author Share Posted 31 March , 2020 Someone has it for sale in St. Neots Cambs. Just thought it would be good to check out before I purchased him. Thanks for answering. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mancpal Posted 31 March , 2020 Share Posted 31 March , 2020 Mark, I see what you mean now, I’d have thought the size of print and quality of frame would be directly proportional to the depth of pocket, I’ve seen portrait paintings commissioned of soldiers (usually officers) whose families obviously had plenty of money though the subject may well have survived. Wendy, out of interest what was the 4th name you uncovered? Simon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wendyhawk Posted 31 March , 2020 Author Share Posted 31 March , 2020 Simon, the names were Grimshaw, Hanson, Hillier and King. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TullochArd Posted 31 March , 2020 Share Posted 31 March , 2020 I got 5 names with the matching number. Hillier, Grimshaw and King that mancpal mentions plus 195948 Thomas Hanson RFC/RAF and DM2/195948 Pte Walter Tremble ASC. Hanson was enlisted in 1918, born Cheshire 1883 and survived the war and seems an rather unlikely contender. Tremble also survived but was awarded an SWB. In his case could the mysterious "W" above the number indicate Walter's initial? Mere speculation …….. but I do agree with Mark1959 that a photo of this size usually is a memorial image. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mancpal Posted 31 March , 2020 Share Posted 31 March , 2020 (edited) I got 3 from the MIC’s on Ancestry but Hanson didn’t appear, perhaps he was home service only (which wouldn’t rule out a photo of course). It’s a nice photo though I fear his ID may remain lost. I had a similarly good quality largish format print shown to me by a friend of one of his family. He had no potential names other than his own surname and no relatives to ask but the soldier was clearly in the 7th Manchester Pals ( 22nd Manchester’s) from his shoulder title. I trawled through 11,000 names of all the Mcr Pals bttns ( in case he changed Bttn) only to find nothing! The picture is currently in storage but I hope to take it out of the frame and see if there’s anything on the back of the photo, very much a last ditch attempt. Thinking on the same lines as TullochArd I looked at initials of the 3 I found and the only potential link was Kings middle name who could easily have been known by this. I also wondered if the W was followed by his surname which has since faded, followed by number, followed by regt though I can’t read the bottom line at all. However, had it been King I think I would expect him to wear an artillery bandolier. Simon Edited 31 March , 2020 by mancpal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TEW Posted 31 March , 2020 Share Posted 31 March , 2020 Could be my eyes but I think I can see 'Jesse ***bale. Assuming it is a Regt. number it could be a number that does not appear in medal records for various reasons. Or as has been said, the man was home service only. TEW Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dai Bach y Sowldiwr Posted 31 March , 2020 Share Posted 31 March , 2020 Could it be a mis-spelt 'Tremble',- 'Trembale' or similar? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mancpal Posted 31 March , 2020 Share Posted 31 March , 2020 I can't honestly see Jesse but the mis-spelled bale theory seems a possibility. I have no knowledge of technology but would it be possible to adjust the contrast to see if anything else becomes apparent? This has probably left the techno-geeks on here rolling around the floor in convulsions but I thought I'd ask anyway.. Simon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GWF1967 Posted 31 March , 2020 Share Posted 31 March , 2020 1 hour ago, Mark1959 said: Not sure you would have a large photo like that if the chap was still alive. Could be wrong but just struck as having that feel. I have several large framed photo portraits of OR’s (19”x 23” x2. 12”x 19”) + (15”x18”. 12”x 15” - cut down from larger sizes to remove water damage) 3 are named, and known to have survived. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TullochArd Posted 31 March , 2020 Share Posted 31 March , 2020 (edited) Hanson was born in 1883 which would make him 35 in 1918 when he joined the RFC/RAF. There is no MIC for him but I seem to recall that the RAF Service Record recorded that detail - same as RN Service Records - I stand by to be corrected on that one! The point here is that I look at the photo and I do not see a 35 year old. If 195948 is a Service number I am drawn towards W. Tremble. I'd offer that the next step might be to establish when he died ……. I know of several wounded men in receipt of the SWB who did not make it into the 1920's and that might explain the elaborate photo? …….. that is if, as GWF1967 points out, it is a memorial photo. Edited 31 March , 2020 by TullochArd …….. that is if, as GWF1967 points out, it is a memorial photo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mancpal Posted 31 March , 2020 Share Posted 31 March , 2020 GWF, I tend to think the memorial photo theory is a little tenuous, as I've mentioned I think disposable income may have as much to do with the size of the photo as anything else Simon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Milner Posted 31 March , 2020 Share Posted 31 March , 2020 There is only one Walter Tremble with no middle initial listed on Freebmd. He was born Knaresborough 1893, married Florence Buckner in Eton in 1919. They are both back in yorkshire 1939, on1939 register. He died in York in 1976. Cannot find any children. Make of that what you will???? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sadbrewer Posted 31 March , 2020 Share Posted 31 March , 2020 4 hours ago, GWF1967 said: I have several large framed photo portraits of OR’s (19”x 23” x2. 12”x 19”) + (15”x18”. 12”x 15” - cut down from larger sizes to remove water damage) 3 are named, and known to have survived. Don't wish to hijack the thread, but I have a large photo of a lad that survived, in a virtually identical frame....I also have several other pictures from the 1920's and early 30's in similar frames....I think they may have been by ex serviceman who were taught that style of picture framing on post WW1 government courses. The reason for saying this is that my own Grandfather went on the course and set up as a picture framer in the 1920's...we don't have any examples of my Grandfather's work but when my Dad saw the first two of the pictures I acquired in the 1980's he said that they looked identical to the frames his Father produced. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TullochArd Posted 1 April , 2020 Share Posted 1 April , 2020 10 hours ago, sadbrewer said: Don't wish to hijack the thread, but I have a large photo of a lad that survived, in a virtually identical frame....I also have several other pictures from the 1920's and early 30's in similar frames....I think they may have been by ex serviceman who were taught that style of picture framing on post WW1 government courses. The reason for saying this is that my own Grandfather went on the course and set up as a picture framer in the 1920's...we don't have any examples of my Grandfather's work but when my Dad saw the first two of the pictures I acquired in the 1980's he said that they looked identical to the frames his Father produced. Fascinating insight into a little explored subject - many thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Milner Posted 1 April , 2020 Share Posted 1 April , 2020 I found this reference to Walter Tremble in the St. Dunstans review 1971, it seems he had connections with St. Dunstans an organisation which helps Blind/impaired ex-service personal. Walter Tremble of Knaresborough, Yorks, on his double bereavement, on the death of his sister on 1st April, and of his wife on 15th April, 1971 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wendyhawk Posted 1 April , 2020 Author Share Posted 1 April , 2020 Thank you to everyone for your information, much appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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