Great War Portraits

I will be exhibiting photographs and discussing my book 'Great War Portraits'. A photographic record of my encounters with WW1 Veterans compiled over 25 years.

Harry Taylor 1/6th Battalion The South Staffordshire Regiment. Harry volunteered in October 1914 at fifteen years old. Served on the Western Front from 1915.

His battalion was at Hooge where they saw some fierce fighting. His Division was first to be attacked by flamethrower. He said ‘holding your nerve was vital for survival’.

This is the Commonwealth War Graves gardener who cared for my 19 year old Great Uncle Alex Manly and his mates in Y Farm Military Cemetery, Bois-Grenier.

August 1984 was the begining of 'Great War Portraits'. My first visit to my Great Uncle's grave in Y Farm Military Cemetery, Bois-Grenier. S-6593 Private Alexander Edward Manly, Killed in Action 31st October 1915.

Alex Gibson M.M. 6th Bn Liverpool Regt., & 165th Coy M.G.C. and me (in a former life) 'Somewhere in France' 1984. Alex was awarded Military Medal for bravery in the field, East of Ypres, near Hill 35, on 20th September 1917.

Bob Russell, 8th Bn. (Irish) Liverpool Regt. and Machine Gun Corps, entertains the local children in Belgium, August 1984. A native of Liverpool.

In August 1984 Bert Hunt of the Middlesex and Royal Sussex Regiments proudly shows his photographs to the locals near Mons.

In 1984 I was privileged to accompany 20 veterans of WW1 on a return to the battlefields of France and Belgium. This photograph shows the veterans on board the coach on their way back after nearly 70 years.

In August 1984 I took the first photographs for my book 'Great War Portraits' in St Symphorien Military Cemetery. This First World War burial ground is 2 km east of Mons in Belgian.