Old photo date?

Ma-dotcom said:
Leslie, today In a mad moment I googled WW1 R.G.A. Uniforms. Up came so many photos from war museum newspapers & so many other I lost a lot of my day looking at them.
The link addy is huge so I won't bother trying to post it. Just google.

sorry, my computer has been having funny fits this afternoon & evidently this evening. Lost all during the afternoon, thought mayhap an update tho' no warning of such. Also manifest in little netbook. Must be my area.
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No not in your area. I had trouble with GS a couple of times yesterday. Their server must have been down intermittently.
 
Quite a new wife with the hand on his chest almost, may pay to check FreeBMD for marriages around the time- 1900-1918. Then later, for births to similar named Parents.
The man in civvies is wearing a shirt collar almost like those of 1920, but fashions vary & don't always change drastically. Same with broach/bauble in young womans hair- I couldn't match one but females are a law unto themselves with fashion. The lacy look dress/top was out & about in 1909 but with high closed neckline. Mother's hat. incomparable.Am late again- seriously need visit to Library before hotness descends...oh oh ..too late.
 
Ma-dotcom said:
Quite a new wife with the hand on his chest almost
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Yes, that suggests recently? married couple, rather that brother/sister. And his hands on older couple's shoulders suggests his mum and dad?

Older womans hat is amusing, looks like an upturned pot. I like the style of the younger womans dress. Looks quite free and non-restrictive to wear, though circa 1910 I would have expected far more formal, high(er) neck and darker dress. Doesn't look like a wedding dress, I don't think?
 
I've often read that getting married in some years mainly war related or soon after, a bride wore what she could find or borrow. The photo may not have been of the wedding day-perhaps Parents anniversary - or- a happy snap before the boys went away.
 
Mealymoo said:
The hairstyles of these young women are very similar to the young woman back right on your photo.
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Yes, and maybe the blouse's too, though they are difficult to make out clearly. 1908, would make your photo about 1912, which opinion suggests is about right too.

Ma-dotcom said:
The photo may not have been of the wedding day-perhaps Parents anniversary - or- a happy snap before the boys went away.
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True, and something to consider when I resume searching Ancestry for possible candidates.

I am making notes and thank you all for the help. Over the years I have become quite interested in female fashions of this period, now changing hairstyles are added also :)
 
The use of lanyards was not confined to the Royal Artillery, although I think the RA, RFA and RGA wore them on the right shoulder (as in the picture). As a matter of interest, all three branches of the RA wore the same cap badge, but there is a story (probably untrue) that if the the wheel of the field gun shown on the badge can rotate, it would have been worn by a member of the Royal Field Artillery!
 
I'm not sure that I can actually see a lanyard on either of the soldiers, although it is presumably clearer on the original (?). If the picture had been taken before World War One, as suggested above, the men would probably not have been wearing khaki uniforms. I think the picture is 1914 or later.
 
Seeing that enlarged almost looks like a decorative dangle from the Lady's hat ;)
I googled 'rotating wheel on R.A. cap badge'- as you do, & read a few pieces, then landed on this one for the Australian Artillery Assoc'n. Almost an inch from the bottom is this:-Moving wheel.JPG & just above a different light on the Lanyard & it's uses [mainly an Australian take I guess] 'Lanyard' in the search box ctrl F will find them all.
forgot a bit:-
www. australianartilleryassociation.com/customs_and_traditions_q&a.htm
 
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I spotted it earlier (whilst in bed on phone) right next to Mum's head. Easy to find once I knew what I was looking for. As you can tell I'm not very knowledgeable on things military. I had to google to find out what one was. :reading:
 
Ma-dotcom said:
a different light on the Lanyard & it's uses
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I read all refs to the lanyard. Interesting, thanks.

I was at the Imperial War Museum today and took along the photo, plus an enlarged copy. Their archives library said It's not possible to identify unit from photo or without name of soldier, but that the bandolier and lanyard identified it as an artillery unit, probably a mounted unit due to the jacked style?. Under magnification the lanyard can be seen entering the pocket just below the button. Date lanyard switched from left to right shoulder depended on individual units but was completed by all units by 1920.
 
All of the above helps to give me an idea of the period when a couple of photos in "My Media" were taken. They are both named and are of, I presume, men in the Royal Horse Artillery, both men have Lanyards on the left shoulder, both are full length photos which show their boots and spurs.
 
Well that's great Findem. And I hope future visitors gain some insight from the replies that helps them too. Other comment today was, although It's difficult to tell for sure, judging by the tightness of his trousers from knee down, and the baginess above knee, this soldier may well have his trousers tucked into boots, though wearing boots off duty or on leave wasn't compulsory in uniform, as long as shoes were black full foot and laced.
 
I am still not sure about the regiment (or regiments) in which these men were serving. Without cap badges or shoulder titles there is nothing to link them to the Royal Artillery.
 
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