Ah! Thank you, I hadn't thought of that regarding the colours. Regarding the sons- there were 4, the two eldest emigrated, the third is the lad who died, the young man in the photo is Uncle Archie who is different to the ones I mentioned, sorry for not being more clear. Someone once told me they thought the photo might have been taken for Archie's coming of age as they felt he was deliberately opening up his coat to show off his watch chain. If there is a date for 1908 then the second eldest is missing but easily could have been elsewhere for work as he was old enough. Archie, in the photo, was born Dec 1891 so would be mid to late teens with the suggested dates which looks about right, he later grew a moustache during the war so it has to be before then. Despite losing a son to illness, all three of the others sons served in the war and all survived- two becoming officers- the eldest won the Military Cross. They did not have an easy war however for instance the young man in the photo was wounded several times and lost his best friend- they signed up together and served in the same regiment, after his friend was shot he went up into no man's land at night to retrieve his body for burial. He later became second lieutenant and was captured and sent to a POW camp in Germany. Terrible times.
But I am waffling, thank you again for all the comments and the beautiful work with the photo, it is much appreciated and I am sending them to my mum now!
I have attached a second photo of the family group for anyone interested, looking at the ages I would expect this was during the war. Many thanks again.
Dan