A real photographic postcard || A soldier and his daughter are pictured in front of a seaside studio backdrop. The soldier is sitting on a chair, while his daughter stands between his legs, clutching his thigh. She is wearing his bandolier and cap (the badge is that of the Royal Engineers) and is holding his riding crop. His visible shoulder title – ‘RE’ – is also that of the Royal Engineers. He is wearing spurs, and the three upward-pointing chevrons on his lower left-hand sleeve indicate twelve years’ long service and good conduct. A message has been written in black ink on the reverse: ‘To Aunty Beaty with best Birthday Wishes from Little Aggie’. The name of the studio that produced this real photographic postcard is printed alongside: ‘Brown & Co., Royal Studio, 21 Regent St., Weston-S-Mare Weston-super-Mare, in Somerset’. || || Photograph || Front || A photograph of a Royal Engineer and his daughter

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’.