zippy.72 Posted 13 November , 2005 Share Posted 13 November , 2005 I have bought a postcard with two proud members of the 7th Battalion outside a hut complete with 1914 patt webbing and rifles. The back states that the photographer was based at Chiseldon Camp. Can anybody shed any light on when this photo may have been taken? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Hesketh Posted 13 November , 2005 Share Posted 13 November , 2005 I'm afraid I can't help, but I'll try to find out. Any cahnce of seeing a copy of the postcard? Please, please, please? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zippy.72 Posted 13 November , 2005 Author Share Posted 13 November , 2005 [Here you go!! Bought today for £3 at Mansfield Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zippy.72 Posted 13 November , 2005 Author Share Posted 13 November , 2005 Technical prob-try again! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anthony Bagshaw Posted 13 November , 2005 Share Posted 13 November , 2005 I saw that, nearly bought it too!! Nice photo! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zippy.72 Posted 13 November , 2005 Author Share Posted 13 November , 2005 [ Lets try again!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonraker Posted 14 November , 2005 Share Posted 14 November , 2005 (edited) Zippy I have a comprehensive list of British infantry units based in Wiltshire during WWI and have no record of a Notts & Derby battalion at Chisledon (then the more usual spelling) The 2/7th was based at Hurdcott south west of Salisbury from January 14 to February 26 1917 and other Notts & Derby battalions were based elsewhere in Wiltshire. No doubt elements of many units passed through or were at Chisledon only for a few days, and it was a demobilisation centre for tens of thousands of men in 1919, but I guess by then no-one was going to pose for your kind of photo! I'm constantly tweaking my list so shall be interested if I am contradicted, and in descriptions of any time spent by the regiment at Chisledon. (It wasn't that long ago that I consulted W C Coates' The Robin Hoods, but that was only to check out references to Wiltshire camps where I knew they had been based.) Moonraker Edited 14 November , 2005 by Moonraker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Hesketh Posted 14 November , 2005 Share Posted 14 November , 2005 I'm drawing a blank on this one too. Just a thought: is the name written in handwriting and, if so, might it actually say Basildon? I ask because the 1/7th were in that area for training in 1914 before going overseas and this would match the 1914 pattern equipment. Thanks very much for the photo by the way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zippy.72 Posted 14 November , 2005 Author Share Posted 14 November , 2005 [No, it's stamped on the back of the postcard in blue ink. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Hesketh Posted 14 November , 2005 Share Posted 14 November , 2005 [No, it's stamped on the back of the postcard in blue ink. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Well that conclusively sinks that idea!! However that means, in my opinion, that the photo is pre-hostilities. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonraker Posted 15 November , 2005 Share Posted 15 November , 2005 Well that conclusively sinks that idea!! However that means, in my opinion, that the photo is pre-hostilities. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Sorry, Andrew. Chisledon wasn't in use preWWI, even as a tented camping site. (The Wiltshire Yeomany did use nearby Burderop Park for their summer camps.) Shortly after the outbreak of war Kitchener battalions camped near Draycott Farm, near Chisledon village and close to the Midland & South Western Junction Railway (convenient for Wales and the Midlands via Swindon, and for Southampton, whilst a hutted army camp was built on some boggy ground. Many of the huts were demolished shortly after the war but some continued in army use. From what Zippy says this PC is a freelance effort, perhaps by a soldier, rather than something published by one of the publishers associated with Chisledon Camp (D Last, J H Simpson, Tomkins & Barrett, D Nash). Moonraker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Hesketh Posted 15 November , 2005 Share Posted 15 November , 2005 Sorry, Andrew. Chisledon wasn't in use preWWI, even as a tented camping site. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Shot down in flames twice!! Ok. I haven't a clue then! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonraker Posted 15 November , 2005 Share Posted 15 November , 2005 Shot down in flames twice!! Ok. I haven't a clue then! <{POST_SNAPBACK}> This is quite common - not you not having a clue, I hasten to add, Andrew - but little mysteries like this occur quite often, whether relating to a postcard photograph or an apparent anomaly about an army unit turning up where it hasn't been noted historically. My best guess remains that these soldiers may have been detached from the main part of the 7th and were on a course or something similar. Even contemporary captions can be mistaken (and I've ranted elsewhere in this Forum about erroneous modern captions pencilled on the backs by dealers), and I have several examples of these. (Incidentally when I started out researching "militaryWiltshire" postcards one puzzle was which hutted camp was featured by the above-mentioned J H Simpson of Andover on a number of cards; one might guess Perham Down, the nearest to Andover, but it turned out to be Chisledon, 28 miles away!) Mystified Moonraker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zippy.72 Posted 15 November , 2005 Author Share Posted 15 November , 2005 [The back is printed "A. Nash Picadilly Studio Draycott Road Chiseldon Camp" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Hesketh Posted 15 November , 2005 Share Posted 15 November , 2005 This is quite common - not you not having a clue, I hasten to add, Andrew - <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Actually it is!! I'd like to solve this one though 'cos I'm mystified too, and the 1/7th was my great-uncles battalion so I'd like to know. Zippy - I don't know a lot about uniforms and stuff so I wouldn't recognise 1914 pattern even if it had the date stamped on in fluorescent letters. However, are you certain? If so it kind of rules out a late war date (ssuming that 1914 pattern was not de rigeur for the duration?), but Moonraker has squashed the possibility of it being pre-war, and I know that the 1/7th went nowhere near Wiltshire before embarking for France in 1915. Sooooo....I'd be inclined to consider the possibility of 2/7th home service territorials prior to their shipment to Ireland in 1916. Would it be reasonable to assume that these second line units may have been equipped with 1914 pattern stuff? Moonraker has also noted the second line territorials from the Foresters popping up in and around the county in 1917, so that's sounding good to me. Mind you, like I said before, I haven't a clue really! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zippy.72 Posted 16 November , 2005 Author Share Posted 16 November , 2005 The leather pattern webbing was introduced after the war started in 1914 because of the shortage of 1908 webbing. It tended to be worn by territorial and new army battalions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest BillC Posted 8 May , 2006 Share Posted 8 May , 2006 Zippy, I cannot add much at this stage except to confirm that Chisledon Camp was established at the beginning of the war. Piccadilly was an area to the west of the camp where there were various shops etc... As it took time to build the huts and for Piccadilly to become established I would imagine that the photograph was taken some time after the camp was first established. I have some copies of maps of the old camp and when I get a chance I will have a look through to see if the number on the hut bears any relation to references on the maps - a long shot! I live on the site of the camp and so if I can establish where the hut was, or in which area, I will happily email you a photograph although it is likely to be a picture of a field or hedgerow! Bill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Mayfield Posted 17 January , 2007 Share Posted 17 January , 2007 If your into Sherwood Foresters postcards, I have a few This was taken in Buxton 1910, I'd guess RHR/7th SF annual camp Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Mayfield Posted 17 January , 2007 Share Posted 17 January , 2007 This is post 1910, my GGF is now a Sgt on this - Seems to be a group of instructors, noticed Sigs instructor - crossed flags, Armourer? (2nd from left), others seems to have a collection of Skill at Arm and marksman badges. The image looks to have been recovered from a display, its like its been taken from a wall. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Mayfield Posted 17 January , 2007 Share Posted 17 January , 2007 And Sherwood Foresters Brigade camp Scarborough 1904 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikebriggs Posted 18 January , 2007 Share Posted 18 January , 2007 Sooooo....I'd be inclined to consider the possibility of 2/7th home service territorials prior to their shipment to Ireland in 1916. Andrew, I don't think that you are too far off Here is an extract from 2/7th History. How close is Fovant to Chiseldon ? They were certainly around that part of mid-Wiltshire early 1917 This was just before they shipped out to France. The 3/7th never moved from the Lincolnshire Coast, "one of them most depressing spots in England" - their words not mine - so it can't be them. Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikebriggs Posted 18 January , 2007 Share Posted 18 January , 2007 Kevin, Great pictures many thanks for posting. But just out of interest why do you say 7th Foresters RHR? The cap badges just don't seem right to me in the shot of your GGF (or is it my eyes?). 1910 (Buxton) was a North Mildand Divisional Camp - so there would have been the Lincolns, Leicesters, Staffs etc, plas all the artillery, ASC, RAMC etc 18,000 men in total cheers Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonraker Posted 18 January , 2007 Share Posted 18 January , 2007 Andrew, I don't think that you are too far off Here is an extract from 2/7th History. How close is Fovant to Chiseldon ? They were certainly around that part of mid-Wiltshire early 1917 Mike Just over 40 miles by main road, but a bit more roundabout by rail. My notes show that the 2/7th was at Hurdcott Camp, which was about three miles from Fovant, but your extract is positive enough for me to make a change. I don't think that Chisledon came under the Salisbury Plain Command during the war, though I can't think what Command it was under. Geographically it was very isolated from the other Wiltshire camps, which were concentrated in southern Wiltshire. Mike, thanks for posting the extract from the 2/7th's history; I've added it to my own notes. Moonraker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Mayfield Posted 18 January , 2007 Share Posted 18 January , 2007 But just out of interest why do you say 7th Foresters RHR? The cap badges just don't seem right to me in the shot of your GGF (or is it my eyes?). I joined the Robin Hoods (D(RHR)Coy 3 WFR) in the late 80's, I'm still with the same people (TA), although the title hasn't followed us. Interesting, I could have made an incorrect assumption. None of the earlier photo's indicate a unit, I have latter ones indicating 21st SF and 2/6th DLI plus recruiting postcards of RHR. The SNCO's photo I'd assumed the badge was RHR (with the last R reversed) but looking back it doesn't look like a central H This one was taken in 1916 Colchester - a better view of the badge Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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