Adventures of Tinting

To prove that I have time on my hands now that the winter is here, I decided to try my hand at colouring a black and white photo. The original scan is at the foot of the page. I eliminated the cracks, creases and larger marks a while back but took it no further until now.

This is not any random picture though, I found it in a box of old family  papers. I don’t know where it was taken (though I’d hazard a guess that it is a beach somewhere in the Thames estuary, perhaps Leigh on Sea or Westcliff). I don’t know who took it. I don’t know the identity of the guy on the left, or in the centre. On the right though, is my maternal grandfather Fred; Frederick William Sargeant 1898-1982.

I am always amazed and amused by this picture because these three dapper young chaps are clearly dressed in their best clothes, especially Fred who appears here in a full formal morning suit with tail coat and a bow tie, set off with a cap and boots. The three of them huddled on two deckchairs with their various hats, wearing flowers in their lapels. Were they going to a wedding or just out for a day at the beach?

If Fred is representative of the other two, they are a working-class trio who are doing their best to have a good time on a day off from work. Despite attempts to look otherwise Fred never had a lot of money, but spent what he earned.

The inscription on the back of the photo says that Fred is aged seventeen. That would mean it is summer 1915 and Fred is enjoying a last summer of innocent fun before signing up for the Middlesex Regiment and going to fight in France. He returned from this episode physically unharmed but mentally shattered for the rest of his life. I’m guessing that the other two are the same age, and signed-up just as dutifully but of course I don’t know their fate.