Army/Equine meeting photo for identification

[chinakay]

I've brightened up the original image a bit and am reposting it here for comparison so we don't have to keep flipping back to Page 1

[chinakay]

So you've pretty well pinned down the date...in that case, who was the Duke's armband for, do you suppose?

[PaddyInWales]

Thanks for sharpening and reposting the group photo Chinakay: yes that is definitely Taft, I have just found an image of him on horseback in the same boater! Also an image of his daughter Helen Taft (married name Taft-Manning) sidesaddle on horseback: though she's much older in the group photo I'm sure it her to the right of William Taft.

The picture seems to be full of celebs, and based on a horse show: but still not 100% sure of date (though 1922 is looking good) and no idea of location, though Sussex is the most likely since the original owner of it served in the RASC in Eastbourne 1918/19 and Brighton 1919/1923.

We're getting there, thanks to help in this Forum!

Paddy

[davidrigg3]

I've noticed that five of the men have got round disks suspended from their breast pocket (eg far right, and the man standing next to the vicar) - anyone got any thoughts?

Running with the idea that this may be an equine event, then perhaps they are similar to what is used these days to show the holder has access to a particular enclosure, i.e. winner's enclosure, royal enclosure.

Also, given the suspected area is Sussex, what about Hickstead - when were events first held there??

And there is someone, possibly a waitress in black with a white pinny on the veranda, perhaps the purpose of the building was to provide refreshments etc.

[Yorkslass]

Could the man with the white hair standing to the left of Howard Taft be William Ferguson Massey - who was Prime Minister of New Zealand until 1925.

Yorkslass

 

[PaddyInWales]

Yes, thanks to Chief Justice Taft and the New York Times archive, I've pinned the dates to between June 16th and July 8th 1922. He had a pretty full itinerary, but apart from speaking and lunches I haven't yet found anything remotely equestrian!

Paddy

[PaddyInWales]

Could the man with the white hair standing to the left of Howard Taft be William Ferguson Massey - who was Prime Minister of New Zealand until 1925.

Yorkslass

 

Certainly does look like him, thanks for the tipoff: I'll see if he could be around in late June 1922.


Paddy

[apwright]

If anyone has access to The Times archive, could they perhaps look in the issue of 21 June 1922 for the report on (and maybe a guest list from) the wedding the previous day of Leonora "Lorna" Stanley Baldwin, daughter of 'the' Stanley Baldwin, and Capt. Hon. Arthur Jared Palmer Howard, son of Margaret Baroness Strathcona, at St Margaret's, Westminster.
According to Kipling's Letters, the Kiplings were all present and Elsie was a bridesmaid. She subsequently accompanied the couple on their honeymoon to Colonsay, Argyll.

The Lord Lucan-alike in the doorway at the back bears more than a passing resemblance to the bridegroom's brother Donald Sterling Palmer Howard!
http://thepeerage.com/p7745.htm#i77444

Adrian

P.S. Stanley Baldwin and Kipling were cousins, and George Bambridge was a close family friend of the Baldwins, having served with Leonora's brother Oliver in the Irish Guards in WW1.

[chinakay]

Doesn't he just!

Drat, I was hoping it was Lucan...I used to work in the pub where his wife ran after he murdered the nanny. Not at that time, though