Dvr Samuel Barratt RFA as a Funeral Gun Carriage Lead Driver - where? when?

[ymfoster]

A slight clean up, 

Yvonne

[japeflakes]

just a tidy

[George Clegg]

Great 'tidy' and 'clean up' !!  Very grateful.

Wondering who in 'Army Records' could be contacted?  Good idea though.  Many thanks

[George Clegg]

Drawing on ideas from the GWF I did think it might be the Private William Young VC funeral in Preston in 1916.

However whilst the circumstances and parade format are clearly very similar between the 2 corteges I'm not certain the 2 gun carriage teams are the same.

Samuel George's forage cap has clearly seen some action as has the forage cap of the number 3.  In the Young gun team the forage caps of the drivers look a little more pristine and less battered!

The limber team pair in Samuel George's pic dont appear to be carrying a wreath whilst the Young limber team pair appear to be carrying a wreath.

Looks like the Union Jack on the Young coffin is larger than the one of the Samuel George cortege coffin.

The Samuel George team assembly point looks like some sort of market square with a train station awning to the right.  Preston market square has similarities but I can't make any real cross matches with any certainty.

The formats are so close this must be the format applied to all WW1 repatriation funerals?

I think the location is the clear clue, if we could identify that the date and occasion would probably follow.  Is it a market square with a train station? 

[philipsearching]

This man has no stripes so before becoming an L/Bdr. This gives a very narrow window of 1/2/18 - 15/5/18.
Agree UK & probably a senior Officers funeral.

Great spot, jim1 - I missed that.

Senior officer, decorated officer (VC or MC?) or decorated "other rank" would be my bet.

[aus*jen]

I'm not an expert but these horses are in very poor condition (compare with William Young funeral)
as they might be at the end of a war.  There are no civilian onlookers, so this funeral is not
attracting attention as it would in UK.  Could it be outside the UK?  I'm in Aust. so not familiar
with landmarks but the pole in the photo could be significant.  Is it typically UK at that time or
somewhere else?

Added:  Given the dates Jim gave, if it was in the UK, it could be narrowed down between 15th April
1918 when he was posted as Driver to C battery, 290 Brigade RFA and 15th May 1918 when he
was posted to France.  A very short window.

Jen.

[George Clegg]

some good points, thanks.  I'm sort of hoping the Pylon/Telegraph pole on the left, perhaps the roof facades on the buildings or even the awning to the right (railway station entrance/covered market) might provide a clue.

The fact that there is an undertaker with top hat, presumably on a horse drawn hearse (similar to the Young VC funeral in Preston) is there might mean it's a UK funeral.  What about the kids in peaky blinder caps by the awning on the right)?

[George Clegg]

Hi there

so 9 months after the initial post I'm wondering if anyone else can identify something in the photo that might give a clue as to location?

best wishes for a merry Christmas and Happy new year!!

George

[DrDude45]

Looks like the picture was laying face to face with a handwritten text. Any idea of the document it was facing?