Stamped on the back of this real photographic postcard is a number – ‘96500’ – and the name and address of the photographic studio that produced it: ‘CAMPBELL GRAY, PHOTO, 88 EDGEWARE ROAD, W London’. Posing solemnly with their parents, the two army children in the photograph appear to be teenagers. Their soldier–father’s uniform looks well worn; it is not possible to make out the details of his circular cap badge. || A real photographic postcard. || || Photograph || A photograph of a British soldier's family photographed in west London.

A few clues give us a little extra insight into this photograph. The single stripe on the soldier–father’s sleeves tells us that he is a corporal. And an embossed stamp across the mother’s feet on this photograph informs us that it was taken in the studio of ‘N GRUT / GUERNSEY’. The ‘N’ stands for ‘Norman’, who was the son of noted photographer Thomas Alfred Grut; by the time of the First World War, the Grut studio was located in St Peter Port, Guernsey. || A real photographic postcard

A photographic postcard. || The soldier in this photograph has placed a supportive hand on his child’s right-hand shoulder. The cap on the chair next to him appears to bear the badge of the Gloucester Regiment. The child’s bespectacled mother wears a cross around her neck, another visible piece of jewellery being her wedding ring. Printed on the reverse of the photographic postcard is the name and address of the photographer whose studio the family of three visited in order to pose for this snapshot in time: ‘W. Franklin, Photographer, 55 Twinnell Rd., Bristol’.