Does anyone recognise this war memorial?

[LizzieW]

Kev - Many thanks for the link.  I don't recognise any of the names but I've sent the link to my relative to see if she or any of her close relatives recognise any of the names.  Unfortunately, anyone who could have told us why the two women were at that monument have long since died.

It seems the QVR were a London territorial army originally and, as far as I know, the only connection to London is my mysterious g.grandfather who would have been the older woman's stepfather.  He certainly didn't fight in WWI, too old by then and, in any case he had moved to Hull by the 1880s.

[arthurk]

Well done, Kev.

Finding why they were there could be tricky. I have references in family letters to people visiting a cousin's or uncle's grave while they were in France, so you might need to look a bit wider to find a match.

Also, I see from the Wikipedia article about Hill 60 that there was a lot of action in that area involving a variety of regiments, so is it possible that their person of interest was in one of these, but this is where they happened to have their photo taken?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hill_60_(Ypres)

[Kevwood]

This is a very interesting paper on battlefield tourism, could've just been a holiday!

http://www.academia.edu/6613139/Battlefields_as_tourist_attractions_Britons_traveling_to_the_Ypres_Salient_since_1919

[LizzieW]

Arthur - we know the history of these 2 women and their families very well - in fact I even met them when I was younger, and as far as we can see no-one on that side of the family had any connection to WWI. The only war dead I've found so far have been on my father's paternal side of the family, and these two ladies are from the maternal side.

There is one avenue I can research.  The elder lady had a brother who drowned at sea in 1906 (mentioned in an earlier post), but he had 3 sons born 1899, 1902 and 1905, but only the eldest would have been old enough to have been killed in 1915 - and he would only have been 16 at the time.  It's possible that they were casualties later in the war and the two ladies were just visiting their graves/memorials.

Of the elder lady's siters, one was childless, one died aged 2 and the other one is the g.gran of the person who sent me the photo, so if it was any.  She had 2 sons, one the grandfather of the person who sent me the photo and another one.  However, I'm sure my distant relative would have known if her grandfather's brother had been killed in WWI.

It really is a mystery.

[LizzieW]

Kev - I think you are probably right.  Bearing in mind that the elder lady was a widow probably in her 50s in the photograph (her husband killed himself in 1910 when she was 44) and her only child was the other woman in the photograph who, herself, was childless and a widow, they would be free to travel wherever they wanted without any ties and, presumably had the money to travel.

Also I still think the women have been placed in those positions and the small boys for the photograph, perhaps for a newspaper or similar.

[Kevwood]

Lizzie, according to ancestry one of the sons, of her brother, John William Alden died in 1918, could be the link?

[Kevwood]

Yep, killed France and Flanders, 15th April 1918, 5th battalion, Lincolnshire Regiment.

[Kevwood]

Pretty certain that's the connection, think he may have been part of the battalion that secured hill60. His regiment definitely was.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/5th_Battalion,_Lincolnshire_Regiment

[jess5athome]

I'm loving this thread..............

Frank.