How Times Change!
This photograph of my grandfather shows him as a chauffeur in 1913 and, on the reverse, he has written a note to the woman he was “walking out” with arranging a meeting.
The 1911 census shows him working at a stable as a groom so clearly in the intervening years he had secured a new career. He was almost certainly unaware that within the following 18 months he would become a soldier serving on the Western Front until the end of the Great War.
In 1916 he was granted leave to marry and on the banns certificate his occupation was shown as “serving in the war”. He was discharged from the Army in early 1920 and died in 1962.
I believe the vehicle is a Renault and I have deliberately not restored the photograph as I think part of its charm is the damage it has sustained in the last 108 years. I particularly like the big headlights and what appears to be a petrol can on the roof! Clearly, unlike today, there were no laws on tyre tread depth as the spare and front offside appear to have none although the front nearside does have some!
How Times Change!
This photograph of my grandfather shows him as a chauffeur in 1913 and, on the reverse, he has written a note to the woman he was “walking out” with arranging a meeting.
The 1911 census shows him working at a stable as a groom so clearly in the intervening years he had secured a new career. He was almost certainly unaware that within the following 18 months he would become a soldier serving on the Western Front until the end of the Great War.
In 1916 he was granted leave to marry and on the banns certificate his occupation was shown as “serving in the war”. He was discharged from the Army in early 1920 and died in 1962.
I believe the vehicle is a Renault and I have deliberately not restored the photograph as I think part of its charm is the damage it has sustained in the last 108 years. I particularly like the big headlights and what appears to be a petrol can on the roof! Clearly, unlike today, there were no laws on tyre tread depth as the spare and front offside appear to have none although the front nearside does have some!