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Phil Sutters

Phil Sutters club

Posted: 01 Feb 2019

Taken: 01 Feb 2019

9 favorites     10 comments    390 visits

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The First World War The First World War

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family •
vintage •
England •
UK •
Europe •
Hereford •

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Elsie Pritchard telephonist WW1

Elsie Pritchard telephonist WW1
Elsie was my grandmother.

RicksPics, Deborah Lundbech, Alan Mays, Nouchetdu38 and 5 other people have particularly liked this photo

10 comments - The latest ones
 John FitzGerald
John FitzGerald club
That is an excellent portrait by a gifted photographer who I suspect is anonymous.
5 years ago.
Phil Sutters club has replied to John FitzGerald club
Given the large number of photos that I have inherited, there were obviously several decent photographers in our family back then. From his absence in most of the family groups I suspect that her brother Percy may have been the principal family photographer. He was away at war in the middle east for most of WW1 but did have some home leave, so it could have been him. Their father Walter also took some good ones too and it must have been someone else who took this photo, unless Percy set it up with a timer on a second camera. www.ipernity.com/doc/philsutters/39855064
5 years ago.
John FitzGerald club has replied to Phil Sutters club
I look forward to learning more about your family.
5 years ago.
 Richard Chamberlain
Richard Chamberlain
I love old photos with history.
5 years ago.
 Phil Sutters
Phil Sutters club
Thanks, Richard. I like the fairly casual pose, which I think probably indicates that it was taken by a relative or friend, quite possibly her brother Percy, who was a good photographer.
5 years ago.
 Ernest CH
Ernest CH club
! ! !
5 years ago.
 Alan Mays
Alan Mays club
Quite interesting to see such an early telephone switchboard!
4 years ago.
Phil Sutters club has replied to Alan Mays club
Our office still had a similar, although smaller, switchboard system with plug and socket connections, when I started work in the 1960s.
My mother-in-law, who worked on the Post Office Telephones switchboard connecting London to Europe, during WW2, also used a similar system.
4 years ago.
 GrahamH
GrahamH club
The last multi board manual exchange I was involved with replacing, well I was installing links to other places for new dialing exchange, was in 1980/81 at a town in NSW Australia, Glen Innes.
Thanks for showing Phil.
7 months ago.
Phil Sutters club has replied to GrahamH club
I am pleased to be able to share my family's war time experiences. While Elsie was handling civilian phone calls in Hereford, her husband, Howard was out in France and Belgium as an army signaller. He was a Sapper in the Royal Engineers, before the Royal Corps of Signals was formed. www.ipernity.com/doc/philsutters/40256092/in/album/774394 The blue and white armbands indicated that they were signallers. While that made them easily identifiable by officers needing to transmit messages and orders, it could also put them at risk from snipers who aimed to disrupt their enemies' communications.
7 months ago. Edited 7 months ago.

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