Some of you may be aware of my fascination with my family's military history and may remember that a while ago I did some restoration of a photo of my late paternal Grandfather in WW2 uniform using
Blackmagic.
Well, I have just got hold of a huge amount of photographs from my maternal side of the family and all I can say is 'wow'.
There are photographs dating back to before the turn of the century. I have now got medals from my Great-Grandfather who served at Ypres in the Royal Horse Artillery for the Suffolk Yeomanry and photographs of my Great-Uncle who died of his wounds in Flanders fields, as a boy younger than those I teach. I always post the
Flanders Fields poem on Remembrance Sunday but now it's even more poignant for me as I never knew about this side of my family's history. The
CWGC has his details and turned up this information; no-one knew exactly how he died or where he was buried but now we do. I intend to visit his grave at Bray-sur-Somme next year. Incidentally, his first name was Mapes. Does anyone have any information on this name? I have never heard it before.
Anyway, we also found some photographs of my Great-Great-Grandfather who was one of the last remaining itinerant shepherds of Suffolk. We even found a newspaper clipping verifying this information, as an intrepid reporter seems to have ventured into the fields to spend a few days with him for a story, living in his hut similar to
these. I did a hi-res scan of one of the pictures and had a go at bringing back a bit of the magic from that time.
I have attached a low-res scan of the original and a low-res copy of the finished article.
See what you think.