Wigan Album

Fascinating picture . The men look facially similar as well as brothers in arms . Seems to be WW1 . The intriguing arrangement of ' cards ' on the wall ,
NO
V1
'P'TN , may offer clues .

Could they be ‘resting’ away from the lines? The soldier on the right looks like a ‘Batman’ by that I mean a type of servant to the young ‘officers’ ? He looks to be a Private where the others look like young officers? Just a guess I agree it is a fascinating photo. Could be in France… someone who knows about badges and regiments might know.

It looks to me those cards maybe of aeroplanes . There was a N0 6 Pilot Training School set up by the RAF in 1920 . I was wondering if the N possibly stood for Navigation . There seems to be a map on the table .
The date is of course after the first war ended . Just a thought .

I wonder what they were all thinking! Such a neat photo.

Or simply Number 6 Pilot TraiNing .

What a haunting photo...... A moment in time just "captured". There is just "something" about it that keeps drawing me back.

The man sitting opposite me thinks they are WW1 Firemen....

He could be right Helen what a clever boy that man opposite! The uniforms do look darker than normal even for a sepia photograph. Chloe is going to be more flummoxed than ever before she posted the photo. I hope she does find the correct information, but if there’s no names on the back it’s nigh impossible.

Looks like Manchester regiment WW1
Platoon VI. They where in Roman numerals.

Another interesting well informed opinion Jack. I hope that is the correct one. Might get there yet.

I'm inclined to agree with Jack - the size and shape of the cap badge seems to fit the Manchester's. However, the flashes at the necks puzzled me. You don't see them on wartime uniforms. Officers normally had open lapels and wore a tie. After poring through countless pics to find anything similar, I came across an IWM image of a Sgt. Frank Bowden, of the 1/10th Manchesters, killed at Gallipoli in 1915, at the age of 19. The 1st/10th were Territorials, so were among the first to be mobilised in 1914. To have been a sergeant by the age of 19 at the time of the Battalion's first serious deployment, would seem to indicate Sgt Bowden had earned his stripes partly through seniority of service, ie he'd put in time in the Territorials and shown his mettle before the war started. The IWM image of him shows him in a dark uniform, as seen in this pic - with a lapel flash, I think of the Sphinx - one of the Manchesters' battle honours for Egypt. I'd surmise that his image, and this, are just pre-WW1, and the uniform is Dress uniform.

I would suggest they are the Kings Own Regiment. Lion collar and cap badge.

Looks like my imagination isn’t running riot then…. The poor private on the right looks a bit moth eaten looking after the those young soldierly blades….I hope they treated him well…