Cease Fire

The bugle sounds on the 11 November 1918 for the cease fire and the end of The Great War.

Those that survived main question was 'what now' but it was time to live in the moment for this Canadian who had gathered blackberries from Bourlon Wood among the shattered trees. What better symbol than the blackberry  growing on its tangle of bramble branches in even the poorest soil and even in a land shattered by war.

Peace however was harder to find for although it came to western europe conflicts rumbled on in the east.  Some of the Canadian's comrades  lie at the end of the Avenue de Monument in the south-west corner of the village of Bourlon, lives never lived. The park is a series of terraces lined with ancient lime trees that were nursed back to heath after being shattered by the Battle for Bourlon wood. Nature survives us all.

Bourlon Canadian Memorial

Named But Unknown

An entry to Sepia Saturday "Using old images as prompts for new reflections"

The face of an ordinary soldier killed in the Great War at the Battle of the Somme for this week's Sepia Saturday is one of loss but my choice of images is a different kind of loss, that of a life story.

On the back of the photograph is a question "Did I send you one of these before?" Well I only have one so maybe he hadn't.  A name has been added on the back - Henry Taylor, Royal Artillery.  It was amongst my Grandmothers stash but I have no idea of the connection. To find a member of the Royal Artillery from WW1 is like a needle in a haystack, each town in the country had an artillery unit.  I can surmise he could be from Westmorland or abutting Lancashire area from the family connection, but I don't know what section he was from Royal Field, Royal Garrison or Royal Horse Artillery. Maybe the indistinct lapel badges will give clues with further research.  

 There are about 150 'Henry Taylor' listed and if we go to those only listed as H Taylor then we are up about 650.  What can be told from the photograph, when not being mesmerised by those immaculately shined shoes, is the absence of ribbons or medals which indicates he was neither a regular soldier or a territorial and was war raised. From the jodhpurs like trousers and whip he might have been connected to the horses but I know nothing about the artillery. I did find an ebook on Project Guttenburg printed for private circulation in 1919 by CA Rose MC  called 'Three Years in France with the Guns' which had this photo

The 'Grey Battery' at St Omer, May 1917

The name written on the back of the card was in my father's handwriting so I had to check that uniform just to make sure it was WW1 and from my Grandmother's collection.  Was the name Henry Taylor familiar, I  know he had a scouting friend called Wilf Taylor so I turned to something I inherited from my paternal Grandparents  a bound collection of the weekly "The War Illustrated" -

 and yes this the uniform was the same as this Royal Horse Artillery Battery from the Great War, on the occasion of 3 of their members being recommended for the VC in the November 1914 issue.  The deed took place at Compiègne which was also the site of the signing of the armistice in 1918.  I wonder how many survived?