Two photographs of a group of soldiers and sailors. December 1919 at Versailles and the Louvre. From the cataloguer: The Versailles Treaty was symbolically signed on 28th June 1919 - five years to the day that Franz Ferdinand had been assassinated. However the Peace Conference did not leave Paris until January 1920 and smaller ones continued to try and sort out the 'new' European and Middle Eastern countries ethnic and 'real' borders. These soldiers and sailors represent some of the countries involved in the decision making. || I'm puzzled by the occasion, in December 1919, which brought together the group of 16 soldiers pictured in the two photographs wearing the uniforms of their different countries. Perhaps the ladies are translators. One picture is taken at Versailles, the other at the Louvre. The photos belonged to my father, Clarence Kenneth Frost, who served in the Royal Engineers and who appears in the photos. At Versailles he is on the right, and at the Louvre he is second from the left. My father has written his name, the location and a date on the reverse side - 12th December (Versailles), 15th December (Louvre). These I assumed were the dates the photos were taken, but the photographer, Ernest Wardavoir of 11 Rue Mathis, Paris 19, has stamped the photos with the earlier date of 9th December. Later my father was stationed in Berlin, living in the Saxonia Hotel, as a clerk in the Fortifications Sub-Commission, presumably involved with German disarmament. He was demobilised in March 1920 as a 2nd Corporal. What could have been happening? Perhaps this group represents the support staff for a conference of senior military personnel taking place in Paris. Most if not all of those present appear to be of junior rank. The group appears to contain several sailors as well as the soldiers.

A British patriotic postcard || Frederick Spurgin, the artist who created the scene on the front of this postcard, signed his name in the bottom right-hand corner. A small boy wearing a British soldier’s uniform is portrayed with his arm around an even smaller girl, who is gazing intently at a huge book, labelled ‘DICTIONARY’, that has been placed on the seat of the chair in front of them. She is standing on another book, on which rests an army officer’s drawn sword; a rifle has been propped up against the wall next to the chair. A suit of armour, lance in hand, has been posed behind them. The legend emblazoned across the bottom of the postcard reads, ‘WE DON’T KNOW WHAT ‘FEAR’ MEANS.’. The printed information on the reverse states, ‘Inter-Art Co., Red Lion Square, London, W.C. / “STEADFAST” Series. No. 941. British Manufacture.’. A message, written in black ink, reads, ‘Dear Vi, / Letter & P.C. this morn. See you soon. Love to all. Yrs. Muriel xxx’. It is addressed to ‘Miss I. or ‘J’ V. Macmillan / Station Cottage / Berwick On Tweed’. A postmark tells us that it was posted in Edinburgh on 24 August 1915. || || A British patriotic postcard || Postcard

A modern postcard reproducing a 1915 British recruitment poster.