Is this King George V , watching an exercise ?

[Simon Cains]

Good afternoon, in a local history book this photo is described as King George V watching an army exercise at Lane End, Buckinghamshire in 1915.  A few questions :-

Is it really King George V ?

Can we tell anything from his uniform ?

Is it really an army exercise ? I can only see a policeman and civilians.  I have tried searching through the newspaper archives, but I can't find any army exercises in 1915 in this area. 

A local photo website dates it as 1913, and certainly an army exercise came through here in early Sept 1913,   https://piddingtonandwheelerend.org.uk/archive/Documents/British-army-battle-in-South-Buckinghamshire-1913.pdf   but King George was still in Balmoral at this time.  He came down for a few days to see the final part near Althrop House at the end of September, see newspaper, so I can understand why someone might have assumed he was at Lane End in early Sept 1913.  He has a very different uniform here than in the mystery photo.  Thanks very much.

[Moonraker]

Yes, that's definitely George V, and the photographs are reminiscent of those of his visits to Salisbury Plain. Military activity in the locality  in September  was more than "an exercise", but part of that year's main manoeuvres, held over Buckinghamshire and south Northamptonshire, involving 45,000 men. The "climatic battle" on September 25 was held in Northamptonshire (some way from Lane End), and watched by the King, the Duke of Connaught and Lord Roberts. The next day, George V addressed a conference of 300 senior officers at Weedon Barracks.

The Times printed daily reports of the manoeuvres, but mentions Lane End only in its issues of the 18th and 19th.

Lane End is not too far from the Marlow practice trenches created early in the war. See here.

(Is that a typo in your first line: "1915" instead of "1913"?)

Edited 9 January , 2023 by Moonraker

[Simon Cains]

46 minutes ago, Moonraker said:

Yes, that's definitely George V, and the photographs are reminiscent of those of his visits to Salisbury Plain. Military activity in the locality  in September  was more than "an exercise", but part of that year's main manoeuvres, held over Buckinghamshire and south Northamptonshire, involving 45,000 men. The "climatic battle" on September 25 was held in Northamptonshire (some way from Lane End), and watched by the King, the Duke of Connaught and Lord Roberts. The next day, George V addressed a conference of 300 senior officers at Weedon Barracks.

The Times printed daily reports of the manoeuvres, but mentions Lane End only in its issues of the 18th and 19th.

Lane End is not too far from the Marlow practice trenches created early in the war. See here.

(Is that a typo in your first line: "1915" instead of "1913"?)

Hi thanks.  Definitely a difference of opinion on dates, Lane End History book says 1915, Sharing Wycombe Old Photos website says 1913.  I have read a lot about the 1913 exercises which came through Lane End.  But all the evidence says it can't be the 1913 exercise, so I wondered if the book date of 1915 is correct instead.  King George's uniform looks much more plain than in 1913, suggests a functional war-time look.

[Simon Cains]

57 minutes ago, Moonraker said:

Yes, that's definitely George V, and the photographs are reminiscent of those of his visits to Salisbury Plain. Military activity in the locality  in September  was more than "an exercise", but part of that year's main manoeuvres, held over Buckinghamshire and south Northamptonshire, involving 45,000 men. The "climatic battle" on September 25 was held in Northamptonshire (some way from Lane End), and watched by the King, the Duke of Connaught and Lord Roberts. The next day, George V addressed a conference of 300 senior officers at Weedon Barracks.

The Times printed daily reports of the manoeuvres, but mentions Lane End only in its issues of the 18th and 19th.

Lane End is not too far from the Marlow practice trenches created early in the war. See here.

(Is that a typo in your first line: "1915" instead of "1913"?)

I see that it was considered a great breach of secrecy to report on the King inspecting troops anywhere during the war, so I may never get to the bottom of this.  https://www.ourwarwickshire.org.uk/content/article/king-george-v-inspects-the-troops-before-gallipoli  

[Moonraker]

During the war the Court Circular in The Times discreetly reported the King's inspection of troops; I have newspaper references to him doing so on Salisbury Plain, as well as postcard photos of the events, usually not explicitly captioned.  The units involved were not named, as the occasions usually meant that they were about to leave for active service.

It's easy enough to misread a handwritten "3" as a "5".

(I wonder about the rider behind the King, in the pith helmet. Perhaps a civilian journalist?)

[Andrew Upton]

1 hour ago, Moonraker said:

...(I wonder about the rider behind the King, in the pith helmet. Perhaps a civilian journalist?)

I believe he's a mounted Policeman, keeping back the crowds from the King.

[Moonraker]

Good thought, Andrew, the print is not a great one and its tones may mislead.

[Simon Cains]

2 hours ago, Andrew Upton said:

I believe he's a mounted Policeman, keeping back the crowds from the King.

Yes certainly looks like a policeman (clearest on my first picture), but no sign of any soldiers in the picture.  I wondered if it was actually a military exercise at all, or just a fox-hunt or some such ?

[GreyC]

It could well be that the photographer´s position was situated between the parading troops and the king, facing the crowd and therefore not having the troops in focus.

GreyC

[Moonraker]

15 hours ago, Simon Cains said:

Yes certainly looks like a policeman (clearest on my first picture), but no sign of any soldiers in the picture.  I wondered if it was actually a military exercise at all, or just a fox-hunt or some such ?

The King's uniform suggests that it was a military occasion. He would dress in civilian clothes for a hunt.

14 hours ago, GreyC said:

It could well be that the photographer´s position was situated between the parading troops and the king, facing the crowd and therefore not having the troops in focus.

GreyC

I don't think that the King would have been inspecting troops at the moment that the photo was taken; he'son his way to or from the inspection. I have a comparable PC showing him side-on riding  past Stonehenge during a visit to Salisbury Plain that included formal marches-past. From what I know of the Lane End locality, there's no large area to accommodate thousands of troops. And I have details of his touring camps, with no parade or march-past.

I don't have access to newspaper archives, but possibly a search might produce more reports - in the Bucks Free Press, perhaps?

[Simon Cains]

5 hours ago, Moonraker said:

The King's uniform suggests that it was a military occasion. He would dress in civilian clothes for a hunt.

I don't think that the King would have been inspecting troops at the moment that the photo was taken; he'son his way to or from the inspection. I have a comparable PC showing him side-on riding  past Stonehenge during a visit to Salisbury Plain that included formal marches-past. From what I know of the Lane End locality, there's no large area to accommodate thousands of troops. And I have details of his touring camps, with no parade or march-past.

I don't have access to newspaper archives, but possibly a search might produce more reports - in the Bucks Free Press, perhaps?

Hi yes thanks,  I have tried searching the National Newspaper archive on a variety of words, but nothing obvious coming up.  There was plenty about the pre-war 1913 exercise.  But I did read somewhere that it was considered a military secret to give away the King's location watching troops.  ( No idea why).

[Moonraker]

I believe that prior publicity for a wartime royal visit for military reasons was not allowed, perhaps because of fears that "spies" might turn up and learn information about which units were involved and which might be moving overseas, as well as to deter civilian gawpers. Inevitably the news leaked and on one visit when the King visited several military sites in the Salisbury area, spectators waited by the roadside for the Royal cars.

(Curiously The Times published the itinerary of the King and Queen three days before they visited factories at Trowbridge and Melksham on November 9, 1917, but then the civilian police and local officials would have been involved in the planning and, again, the news would have leaked anyway.)