Now, this picture postcard of a group of soldiers has been in the collection for some time, and as ever there are lessons here in how you record what you have been given.
In my defence it was one of a large number which my old friend David Harrop passed over to me while I was writing my book on Manchester and the Great War.*
And for reasons I can’t now remember it never made it into the book, which is a shame, because the more I look at it the more fascinating it appears.
There is no date, and the only clue is an imprint on the back for J. Ingham and Son’s, Brooks Bar.
My first thought was that the group of soldiers were somehow connected to J. Ingham and that I would find them in the Book of Honour of the Manchester City Battalions, which lists all the men who volunteered for the Manchester Pal’s Battalions in the first few months of the Great War.
And then of course it occurred to me that J. Ingham and Sons were more likely to be a photographers, which they indeed were, operating from no. 5 Withington Road, opposite the Whalley Hotel.
All of which takes me back to the picture.
We will never now know the identities of the seven men or the young boy, or exactly where the photograph was taken.
I suspect we are in Heaton Park and the soldier with the cross will be the clue as to who sent the card.
But for now, that is it. The card retains its story, but I travel in hope that we will find out more.
Location; unknown
Picture; group of soldiers, date unknown from the collection of David Harrop
*A new book on Manchester and the Great War, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/2019/12/suggestions-for-christmas-present-and.html
Maybe Royal Engineer cap badges? Also see a ref here about some Manchester Corporation lads who joining the Palatine R.E. https://17thmanchesters.wordpress.com/enlistment/training-in-england/
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