Possible Date for this Photo - George Beard 1885-1947

[lyndahirst_1]

Hello!

This is a copy of the only photo of my Grandfather George - the original is long gone.

I'm hoping someone may be able to give some guidance around a possible period the photo may have been taken.

George worked on the Docks most of his adult life so it would appear he's dressed up and that this could possibly be a wedding photo - To me, it appears there was a woman standing alongside which someone tore off, leaving only George.

Love to hear any suggestions...

Cheers
Lynda

[DrDude45]

Hello!

This is a copy of the only photo of my Grandfather George - the original is long gone.

I'm hoping someone may be able to give some guidance around a possible period the photo may have been taken.

George worked on the Docks most of his adult life so it would appear he's dressed up and that this could possibly be a wedding photo - To me, it appears there was a woman standing alongside which someone tore off, leaving only George.

Love to hear any suggestions...

Cheers
Lynda

To me, it doesn't seem like a wedding photo. He's wearing a scarf or ascot, not really a tie or formal wear. It looks more like a military uniform type photo, as the person standing behind him to his right is also wearing (what looks to me) the same fabric and cut of clothing, it's just seems rumpled due to the way the person is standing vs the sitting one. Could be WW1 or before? Tried to focus it to get a better view of the pin, but as you can see it only did marginally better.

If it's a pilots scarf, then that is an area you could look. Have you checked military records from that era? If it's an ascot, could be mounted cavalry and the like.

Just my two cents.

[Milliepede]

If he was born 1885 then to me he doesn't look more than 40ish there so that brings it down to before 1925.

I agree not a wedding photo.

[Treetotal]

I would guess at 1920s and the pin could be a "forget me not"
Carol

[lyndahirst_1]

actually you know -- now that you have 'cleaned' up the photo somewhat - it's easy to see it's a uniform!

I had no idea until now and neither did anyone else in the family -- we've all thought it could be a wedding photo!

Pays to have fresh eyes take a look eh..

Grandpa was in WW1 and discharged in 1918 - he would have been 33 at that time.

He saw service as a H.T Driver in the Army Service Corps so pilot and Calvary out of the 'picture' so to speak lol...

[jim1]

He looks in his 30's to me too, so post war-early 20's I would say & he isn't in uniform by the way.

[AJ100]

Long shot - could it be the uniform worn by military casualties in hospital during WW1? Bark blue, I believe. The person next to him I think is a lady, by the sleeve, so possibly a nurse?

AJ

[jim1]

Not hospital blues either. They had cream collars & were accompanied by a red tie.
This looks like it was once a larger picture which included a woman (you can detect a hand on his shoulder which has been blacked out). So someone has taken this in to have one done of just him.
Sounds like a parting of ways somewhere.

[lyndahirst_1]

ahh hah!!!  I posted on the military board about a brother of his serving in the war - I needed some help with deciphering some of the information in his service record.

Anyway -- the long and the short of it is that the very knowledgeable military roots chatter, took a look at George's military records and tells me that my interpretation of H.T. Driver wasn't correct - I thought it stood for being a Heavy Transport Driver when in fact it meant he was a HORSE transport driver and served with No 2 Reserve Horse Transport depot at Blackheath! Wowzer!!

So it is very likely he is indeed wearing an Ascot and that that this photo may have been taken at the tail end of his service period with No 2 Reserve Horse Transport.

As mentioned originally -- it's the only photo in existence of my grandpa and none of the family have any idea what happened to the original, nor why it was torn to only show George..

My mum was the eldest of 7 and she tells me that all her siblings had a copy of this one and that they had never seen the original at all in her lifetime.  I'm just grateful there is at least A photo of him :-)

Quite happy to think it's a photo taken at the tail end of his service period and that he is attired in some sort of Horse transport Driver 'uniform'.

Thanks so much to everyone who gave me ideas and leads to follow....

Cheers
Lynda