A real photographic postcard || Pictured in a studio setting on the front of this real photographic postcard are a lance corporal, his wife and their son. The boy is wearing a sailor suit and is perched on a stool between his parents. His soldier–father’s shoulder titles are indistinct, but his mother’s jewellery is notable, including as it does a wedding ring and bracelet, jet beads, a brooch at her neck and a clip in her hair. The name of the photographer that produced this family photograph is printed on the reverse: ‘G. L. Shorter, 305 Barking Rd., Plaistow, E. London’. || || Photograph || Front || A British lance corporal and his family

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’.