BillyH Posted 4 March , 2021 Share Posted 4 March , 2021 The photo attached below is of a group of Cheshire soldiers, it must have been taken later in the war because the men in the bottom corners both have 4 overseas chevrons. One of the other men is known to me, and he served in France until 1917 at which point he was posted to Salonika with the 12th Bn. So I suspect that the photo was taken there. The question is, can anyone identify the banner in the background? The wording is half hidden but the tower might be a giveaway to someone with more knowledge than myself. BillyH. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
squirrel Posted 4 March , 2021 Share Posted 4 March , 2021 French? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RaySearching Posted 4 March , 2021 Share Posted 4 March , 2021 Surely its a photographers backdrop which indicates the photo could have been taken anywhere Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
temptage Posted 4 March , 2021 Share Posted 4 March , 2021 Well it definitely starts with TOUR so could be Tournai or Tourcoing Looks like it ends with ..UERAT although only being able to see the upper part of the 'U', it could be a H, K, M, N, V, X or Y Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Strawbridge Posted 4 March , 2021 Share Posted 4 March , 2021 I think that it is not a studio photograph for surely that is tents behing them. I think that particular tent has, in typical Tommie humour, been given a sign "Touring ........ herat". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RaySearching Posted 4 March , 2021 Share Posted 4 March , 2021 3 minutes ago, Jim Strawbridge said: I think that it is not a studio photograph Jim, I'm not saying its a studio photo, but a photographers backdrop placed behind the soldiers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Strawbridge Posted 4 March , 2021 Share Posted 4 March , 2021 (edited) 5 minutes ago, RaySearching said: Jim, I'm not saying its a studio photo, but a photographers backdrop placed behind the soldiers Ah, pedantics. Why would a photographer place a backdrop behind the soldiers "in the field" ? As for the opening post, by BillyH I an not sure that is a tower but the opening into the tent - could be either. Edited 4 March , 2021 by Jim Strawbridge Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RaySearching Posted 4 March , 2021 Share Posted 4 March , 2021 5 minutes ago, Jim Strawbridge said: Ah, pedantics. Why would a photographer place a backdrop behind the soldiers "in the field" ? Because there is a message on it look to the left, the tent you see is behind the building I rest my case Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilB Posted 4 March , 2021 Share Posted 4 March , 2021 TOUR could be just that - tower in french. Notice there is a tower in the left background. Maybe it refers to that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillyH Posted 4 March , 2021 Author Share Posted 4 March , 2021 1 hour ago, Jim Strawbridge said: Why would a photographer place a backdrop behind the soldiers "in the field" ? As for the opening post, by BillyH I an not sure that is a tower but the opening into the tent - could be either. Thanks for all the suggestions. The more I look at it now I think it is a tent with stencilled writing on it, and what I thought was an image of a tower is the opening into a tent that is stacked with boxes! BillyH. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jay dubaya Posted 4 March , 2021 Share Posted 4 March , 2021 4 blue OS chevrons must be 1919 or later. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Interested Posted 4 March , 2021 Share Posted 4 March , 2021 19 minutes ago, BillyH said: opening into a tent that is stacked with boxes That's what it looks like to me, too. Could the stencil refer to the contents of the boxes? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Upton Posted 5 March , 2021 Share Posted 5 March , 2021 11 hours ago, jay dubaya said: 4 blue OS chevrons must be 1919 or later. Four stripes can (more or less) represent anything between 3 years and 1 days overseas service up to just under 4 years overseas service. So four blue stripes is possible for most/all of their issue in 1918 as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jay dubaya Posted 5 March , 2021 Share Posted 5 March , 2021 Thanks for the correction and clarification Andrew. J Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Open Bolt Posted 5 March , 2021 Share Posted 5 March , 2021 Here's an unhelpful fact... Herat is in Afghanistan... but it may also form part of another word. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Open Bolt Posted 5 March , 2021 Share Posted 5 March , 2021 1919.. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_Anglo-Afghan_War ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dai Bach y Sowldiwr Posted 5 March , 2021 Share Posted 5 March , 2021 What I see. Soldiers in the European war, a couple of wound stripes. Overseas chevrons as before. Only one man with medal ribbons, which could help date it. Yes, I'd say a tent or covered wagon, inside which are wooden crates, like tomato trays (or similar). The writing? I'm guessing a French business name, or surname, followed by a place name. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KernelPanic Posted 7 March , 2021 Share Posted 7 March , 2021 On 04/03/2021 at 03:58, temptage said: Well it definitely starts with TOUR so could be Tournai or Tourcoing Looks like it ends with ..UERAT although only being able to see the upper part of the 'U', it could be a H, K, M, N, V, X or Y Most likely H or U given that the letter doesn't seem to have the oblique stroke(s) of the other options. Like DByS, my vote is for a French name. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
temptage Posted 7 March , 2021 Share Posted 7 March , 2021 Now the more I look at the picture the more I see a picture of a Tower behind the men, and not a pile of boxes or crates. If you look towards the right hand side behind the men it looks like the tops of a row of trees, or maybe a hillside, so could be a vista of a town or city, along with its name, printed on the tent. The 'tower' looks very much like, in design' the Galata Tower in Istanbul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dai Bach y Sowldiwr Posted 7 March , 2021 Share Posted 7 March , 2021 (edited) 13 minutes ago, temptage said: Now the more I look at the picture the more I see a picture of a Tower behind the men, and not a pile of boxes or crates. If you look towards the right hand side behind the men it looks like the tops of a row of trees, or maybe a hillside, so could be a vista of a town or city, along with its name, printed on the tent. The 'tower' looks very much like, in design' the Galata Tower in Istanbul Having looked at it again....and again... I think you are absolutely correct bout it being a vista. It is some sort of painted backdrop on fabric. You can see wrinkles in the fabric in the top right hand corner. Not convinced it's Turkey though,Turkey didn't adopt the Western alphabet until the mid 1920s... This has all the makings of a psychological test... " Do you see tomatoes, or do you see Istanbul?" Edited 7 March , 2021 by Dai Bach y Sowldiwr Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Strawbridge Posted 7 March , 2021 Share Posted 7 March , 2021 Two questions. Are we sure that they are men of the Cheshire Regiment? Could the banner relate to Cherat (was India, now Pakistan) where quite a few British regiments found themselves based? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
temptage Posted 7 March , 2021 Share Posted 7 March , 2021 7 minutes ago, Dai Bach y Sowldiwr said: Not convinced it's Turkey though,Turkey didn't adopt the Western alphabet until the mid 1920s... Im not saying it is Turkey, but it could well be Middle Eastern or even eastern Mediterranean....Greece, Israel, Cyprus, Iraq, Egypt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dai Bach y Sowldiwr Posted 7 March , 2021 Share Posted 7 March , 2021 1 minute ago, temptage said: Im not saying it is Turkey, but it could well be Middle Eastern or even eastern Mediterranean....Greece, Israel, Cyprus, Iraq, Egypt Could be, yes. The tower does have an Arabic or Byzantine air about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m0rris Posted 10 March , 2021 Share Posted 10 March , 2021 It's possible that "Tour" refers to the tower illustrated on the canvas while the full name is in the French grammatical style of "Tour Eiffel" "Tour Montparnasse" "Tour de force".. For the ..ERAT to be that far to the right from TOUR implies longer wording is hidden in the middle. I could be wrong of course. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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