It’s not often one receives a WWI-based artwork that remains in good conditions and has an air of mystery around it.
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But that’s exactly what The Salvation Army’s Yass Family Store found at the store’s drop-off point recently.
A hand-coloured photographic portrait of a uniformed airman around 1920–1930 left store coordinators bewildered about its origin and who the man was.
Attached on the frame glass at the bottom are a brass badge and a felt-embroidered insignia of an eagle.
At the bottom of the artwork is an inscription of a signature and the year 1922.
Store coordinator Cecile Felderhoff said they did not know who it was from.
“They [the artist] were obviously very proud of him as it looks like it was done with love.
“Hand-tinted artworks are extremely meticulous, I’ve got a few at home,” she said.
The frame is also tinted.
It's obviously a professionally hand-coloured photographic portrait, and it's mounted on board in a handsome frame, all in good original condition.
- Air Vice Marshal Robert Richardson
Ms Felderhoff said she called Robert Richardson, Air Vice Marshal and a retired senior commander of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), for help.
After discussions with Ms Felderhoff and careful study of the portrait, Mr Richardson said he thought the badge had an R and C in it.
“I’m thinking Royal and Corps,” he said.
“It's obviously a professionally hand-coloured photographic portrait, and it's mounted on board in a handsome frame, all in good original condition.
“The subject does seem young for WWI if the portrait was taken in 1922; perhaps more likely it was taken when he first enlisted and possibly was colourised and nicely framed later 'in memoriam'.
“I wonder whether the inscription may be by the colourist,” Mr Richardson said.
Badge is from the British Army
Mark Lax, a former president of the Australian Society of WWI Aero Historians, said the badge and tunic buttons were from the Royal Flying Corps (RFC).
The RFC was an air arm of the British Army before and during WWI.
Based on the UK Government’s National Archives website, the RFC existed in 1912–1918.
In July 1914, the RFC’s naval wing was detached to form the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS).
On April 1 in 1918, the two services were merged again to form the Royal Air Force (RAF).
If an RFC airman continued to serve in the RAF after April 1918, his record would be kept with RAF service records.
Mr Lax said that a number of Australian defence personnel travelled to the UK to join the British services, especially the flying corps.
“Why? No places in the Australian Flying Corps for them and no training opportunities,” he said.
One of my colleagues has suggested it may have been colourised in the 1930s, so that means it is a post-war photograph.
- Dianne Rutherford, curator of military heraldry and technology at the Australian War Memorial
Gareth Morgan, current president of the WWI Aero Historians society, said the tunic was a standard RAF Other Ranks (five buttons, single breasted with a woven belt) worn after October 1919 when blue-grey uniforms were introduced.
He said they were made from stocks of cloth originally woven for Imperial Russian Cavalry breeches but left in Britain after the Bolshevik Government cancelled the order.
“Prior to October 1919, RAF men wore either pre-April 1918 RFC/Army khaki or the greatly disliked initial RAF pale blue with gold-rank insignia introduced in July 1918.
“The buttons are polished metal, formally introduced in 1922, but unofficially commonly worn before then to replace inferior leather buttons,” he said.
Mr Morgan said the brass RFC badge was standard.
“The left sleeve insignia looks like an inverted NCO [non-commissioned officer] chevron.
“In the Army these were used as Good Conduct badges, with a chevron for each five years of ‘undetected crime’ – I don’t know if the RAF followed Army practice,” he said.
Enlisting the help of the Australian War Memorial
After being contacted by Robert Richardson, Dianne Rutherford – curator of military heraldry and technology at the Australian War Memorial – said the inscription on the photograph reads ‘WF Wheeler Frome 1922’.
“I have found that W F Wheeler was a photographer at Frome in the UK from 1902 (he died in 1932) so the photograph was taken by Wheeler in 1922 and was likely colourised later.
“One of my colleagues has suggested it may have been colourised in the 1930s, so that means it is a post-war photograph and based on his youth, the man in the image might not have had war service at all,” Ms Rutherford said.
As for identifying the man, she said it “is somewhat problematic”.
“A limited amount of the uniform is showing, which makes it hard to be definitive and there are aspects, namely the attached badges and colourisation, that I am afraid cannot be trusted to be accurate,” she said.
Her research indicated that the badge and insignia on the glass appeared to have been added at a later date.
“The RFC badge actually looks a bit more modern – that is, not First World War vintage.
“Its finish is not quite right in comparison to genuine ones I have seen images of,” she said.
As for the embroidered eagle on the front, which is dissimilar to the one in the portrait, Ms Rutherford said “we think these were added as decorative items rather than relating to the man specifically, but cannot say for certain”.
Questions remain
What remain are questions about who the man in the portrait was and who gave the artwork to the Yass Salvation Army Store.
For Ms Felderhoff, she said she would like to know if the man was a local.
“If so, I’d buy the artwork for our War Memorial at Bowning,” she said.
Do you know more? Email toby.vue@fairfaxmedia.com.au.
