Photograph of Troops returning from South West Africa campaign

[Dai Bach y Sowldiwr]

Great result.

[athelstan]

Great to see the location identified to go with the stunning photograph.  I would tentatively suggest given the date that this might be the men of Hartigan's Horse returning to East London from where they were raised five months earlier.  The men of Hartigan's Horse are released on 28 May 1915 having only been involved in one brief engagement as part of the Southern Column in German South West Africa.

[rob1713]

On 14/07/2023 at 00:20, SteveE said:

Rob

With my thanks to Dr. Anne Samson, coordinator of the Great War in Africa Association, she has been able to identify the hotel’s location as being East London, South Africa.

Image of the hotel taken from The Illustrated Guide to South Africa, incorporating the South African Hotel Guide.

Steve

Hi Steve

I’m so sorry for taking 2 months to check this post of mine. A huge thank you, to you and Dr Samson for identifying  this location. I had given up hope of ever solving the mystery after going through every big town in South Africa looking for a Grand Hotel that fitted. Even now that I know the location I cant find an image of the Grand Hotel in East London on line.
Once again thank you both and thanks to everyone else who spent time on this.

Kind Regards

Rob

 

Edited 16 September , 2023 by rob1713

[SteveE]

3 hours ago, rob1713 said:

Hi Steve

I’m so sorry for taking 2 months to check this post of mine. A huge thank you, to you and Dr Samson for identifying  this location. I had given up hope of ever solving the mystery after going through every big town in South Africa looking for a Grand Hotel that fitted. Even now that I know the location I cant find an image of the Grand Hotel in East London on line.
Once again thank you both and thanks to everyone else who spent time on this.

Kind Regards

Rob

 

Rob

I’m glad to have been able to help in some small way, it was Anne who was ultimately able to identify the location and I will pass on your thanks to her.

Regards

Steve

[rob1713]

On 08/08/2023 at 18:54, athelstan said:

Great to see the location identified to go with the stunning photograph.  I would tentatively suggest given the date that this might be the men of Hartigan's Horse returning to East London from where they were raised five months earlier.  The men of Hartigan's Horse are released on 28 May 1915 having only been involved in one brief engagement as part of the Southern Column in German South West Africa.

Thats sounds like a likely scenario, particularly as it refers to “our boys “