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Old Photographs, Recognition, Handwriting Deciphering => Handwriting Deciphering & Recognition => Topic started by: SmallTownGirl on Tuesday 06 July 21 08:56 BST (UK)
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This is the back of a photo of an unknown WW1 soldier, but I can't make out quite what it says.
Can anyone help, please?
Thanks
STG
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I think the 2nd & 3rd lines say: "this your father
in 1918 war"
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First attempt
I am your* own
this your father
in 1918 war
* or can you own
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I had the same thoughts about the first line as you did, Gadget.
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I had the same thoughts about the first line as you did, Gadget.
It doesn't make sense though :-\
I wonder if it means ' can you identify your father ...'
Add -or 'this is your own copy'
STG - is it a group photo of soldiers?
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Like you (again), Gadget. I didn't think the first line made sense. But wondered if it was just an odd way the writer spoke in those days.
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This is a tricky one.
I can't help but see a hyphen at the end of the first word in the first line - even though there is plenty of space to write a longer word. ???
Also, there is no "tail" on the "n" at the end of "in", which makes me wonder if it is something other than "own" (e.g. aur-).
Before I had looked at the other replies, my initial interpretation was "Love from XXX- XXX. Your father in 1918 war"
...but now I'm not so sure...
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Sorry for the delay, but I had to pop out.
So consensus is that it says
Can you own (or I am your own)
this your father
in 1918 war
The photo is of a single soldier, and the family story (the family who own the photo, not my family) is that this man, who's name they do not know, was engaged to an ancestor until he was killed during WW1, and that she remained single for the rest of her life.
So if you're right and "this your father", that's going to be a bit of a turn-up for the family, I'd say!
From the photo the soldier's insignia isn't very clear, but even if it was, without a name for the man, it's a bit like looking for a needle in a haystack.
Thanks everyone
STG
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I wondered if second word first line was gave
And so first word was a name. Possibly Sam?
And perhaps that awn word is meant to be something like Owen
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In the first line, the first letter of the second word seems the same as the first letter of father.
If so, the words could be something similar to 'Copy from one (name, possibly Chris) gave your father in 1918 war', which would make more sense.
Edit: strike through wrong word.
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There is much shadowing across the parts people are having problems with, perhaps post another pic with all writing in the same light as the right hand side of the first pic ?
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I'm on laptop so limited. Ive played around with various adjustments.
Is this any better
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It looks to me that the y in your father has been crossed out making it our.
Sam fore own this our father in 1918 war.
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Thanks Gadget, the shadow is still a problem though
I wondered if the word before father was a name, James, Jan, Ian, or something like that. And second word maybe pass... As in "Can pass 'on' this." But I really want to see it all in light, no shadow.
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About as much as I can do on this machine. I think a scan would be better than a new photo.
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I'll see if I can get another photo (minus the shadow).
STG
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Thanks STG.
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Gadget, on that second pic you posted, second word, last letter, is that a tail?
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Gadget, on that second pic you posted, second word, last letter, is that a tail?
I'm not sure but I think it's a mark caused by the texture of the postcard or the quality of the original image. It just might be a 'y' though.
STG - a good scan or a well focused closeup photo with more contrast would be best. We just need the part that has the writing. Also, are there any other examples in the writer's hand?
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> STG - a good scan or a well focused closeup photo with more contrast would be best. We just need the part that has the writing. Also, are there any other examples in the writer's hand?
It's not my photo, so I have no control over it. I have asked for a version without the shadow over the writing, but who knows what I'll get 😁
Edited to say: The photo is somewhere in Australia, and, apparently, currently in a household under lockdown rules, so the person enquiring can't re-photographed until lockdown is over. Hey ho!
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Deleted - duplicate
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Scanned version attached!
STG
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Thanks,
You don't know his identity, but you have insignia, and looking at the right hand side, looks like 1918 20years, 1920 22, not sure of line underneath that. So a birth year of 1898? and possible uniform identification. (Perhaps he didn't die in the war as suggested.)
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Thanks for the new scan. It's much clearer
I still think it reads
Can you own
this your father - or - this our father (with a sratched out letter before 'our')
in 1918 war
Gadget
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What about ‘Can Sam own this (?.) your father in 1918 war’
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Further thoughts. The style looks a little unusual, especially the s? of Sam and f? of father. May be a European hand?, and maybe written some or many years after the photo was taken. I wonder if it is worth posting the photograph. It might confirm whether it’s an Australian or British serviceman, or maybe from elsewhere.
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Further thoughts. The style looks a little unusual, especially the s? of Sam and f? of father. May be a European hand?, and maybe written some or many years after the photo was taken. I wonder if it is worth posting the photograph. It might confirm whether it’s an Australian or British serviceman, or maybe from elsewhere.
I'm told that the soldier's girlfriend was Scottish. Does that, perhaps, help with the way the inscription is worded? Assuming that it was her that wrote it, of course, but then that's yet another thing we don't know :(
You'll have to take my word that the insignia shows that the soldier served with the British Army. ;D
Thanks for your help, everyone :)
STG
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Another post here
https://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=850902.new#new
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Thanks for the new scan. It's much clearer
I still think it reads
Can you own
this your father - or - this our father (with a sratched out letter before 'our')
in 1918 war
Gadget
Yes,
What if your first name is Warwick and your sister is Candace,
Can
you own this our father in 1918
War
It would be unusual to refer to the War as 1918 War.
JM
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It would be unusual to refer to the War as 1918 War.
JM
That is a good point.
I find the whole thing more than confusing...OK, so my letters vary according to mood/day/weather ;D, but the writing on the post card is extremely inconsistent.
If it is indeed "Can" and "own", then why is the "n" so different in the 2 examples? The same goes for the "r" on the end of "father" and "war". Completely different, although both are final letters.
I keep coming back to look at this, but I am none the wiser... ???
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inverted i m seeing 1st letter of 1st word as possibly b
a name such as ben,
so possibly someone telling ben
this is your father in 1918 war
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I don't think the first line has anything at all to do with military speak.
I'd read it a something like Sam gave (own) this, missing comma, this missing of your father .........
Copied to the other thread as there are two of them!
MaxD
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Or it could be "Sam. you own this..."
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If we are suggesting names, how about Ian? ;D
Ian, you own this. Ian's father in 1918 war.
Or possibly even Jan. :P
@ STG: Do we know the names of anybody even remotely connected to the man in the photo? Any Ians, Jans or Sams?! :)
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The verb 'to own' is sometimes used in the sense of recognising someone.
Oxford English Dictionary
transitive. To acknowledge as an acquaintance; to recognize as familiar. Now Irish English, Scottish, and English regional (northern).
and The Dialect Dictionary: to recognise, identify, acknowledge an acquaintanceship
https://archive.org/details/englishdialectdi04wrig/page/394/mode/2up
So I think it says
'Can you own
this your father...'
meaning perhaps 'can you recognise this (as) your father....'
(as suggested by Gadget in reply #4)
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Thanks, Jennifer.
I had hoped that that meaning would have been taken up as I'd heard it in the past.
Gadget
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If we are suggesting names, how about Ian? ;D
Ian, you own this. Ian's father in 1918 war.
Or possibly even Jan. :P
@ STG: Do we know the names of anybody even remotely connected to the man in the photo? Any Ians, Jans or Sams?! :)
I'm afraid not. :(
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Thanks for the new scan. It's much clearer
I still think it reads
Can you own
this your father - or - this our father (with a sratched out letter before 'our')
in 1918 war
Gadget
I see this as the most plausible interpretation and put simply meaning, "can you identify this as our/your Father" in the 1918 war.
Carol
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Many thanks to everyone for their input.
STG