Royal Engineers Signal Service Training Photographs, Hitchin & Haynes Park (1915–1916)

Royal Engineers Signal Service Training Photographs, Hitchin & Haynes Park (1915–1916)

Overview

This curated collection consists of three original World War I photographic postcards documenting the early training journey of a Royal Engineers Signal Service recruit during the winter of 1915–1916.
The sequence moves from A.E. Lupton’s photographic studio in Hitchin, Hertfordshire to the training grounds of Haynes Park House, Bedfordshire, one of the principal Royal Engineers Signal Service instructional centres of the period.

Together, the three images form a coherent visual narrative of attestation, initial studio portraiture, and subsequent Signal Service training. Each photograph has been professionally mounted on acid-free museum board and is accompanied by a Timefound Archives provenance and research dossier.

The Collection

Plate I: Haynes Park Group Photograph (c. Winter 1915–1916)

A group of newly recruited Royal Engineers Signal Service trainees posed beside the south-east façade of Haynes Park House, a major wartime training establishment.
Uniform details visible — including GvR Royal Engineers cap badges, “R.E.” shoulder titles, white Signal Service lanyards, and mounted cable section spurs — confirm the unit and training function.

Frost on the ground and winter clothing indicate a late 1915 or early 1916 intake.

Plate II: Embossed Studio Portrait, A.E. Lupton, Hitchin

A formal embossed studio postcard portrait produced by A.E. Lupton, one of Hitchin’s principal early 20th-century photographic studios.
The sitter wears early-war Pattern 1902 Service Dress, a Royal Engineers cap badge, and a leather equipment belt typical of pre-deployment photographs taken shortly after attestation.

The embossed frame and crisp tonal depth are characteristic of Lupton’s wartime portrait work.

Plate III: Warm-Tone Studio Portrait, A.E. Lupton, Hitchin

A companion portrait from the same sitting, presented in a warm early-war photographic tone.
This image forms the opening pair in the collection narrative: the recruit in full studio dress prior to his Signal Service training assignment.

Identification & Context

The three photographs depict the same serviceman, creating a rare and uninterrupted sequence from studio attestation portraiture to training camp group assembly.

Haynes Park was a key instructional site for:

• telegraphy and wireless

• mounted cable laying

• linesmen training

• field engineering communications

Architectural features in Plate I match preserved records and imagery from the Haynes Park WWI heritage projects, narrowing the dating to the recruitment wave of late 1915.

Research & Provenance

This set has been researched, catalogued, and presented by Timefound Archives, including:

• identification of studio origin

• confirmation of Royal Engineers Signal Service insignia

• architectural comparison of Haynes Park structures

• period-uniform analysis

• sequencing of photographic chronology

A printed and digital provenance and research report accompanies the set.

Condition & Presentation

• Original postcards in excellent condition

• Professionally mounted on A4 acid-free museum boards

• A6 explanatory cards inset beneath each photograph

• Supplied in archival sleeves for safe long-term storage

This presentation allows the photographs to be displayed, researched, or preserved as part of a larger WWI Royal Engineers collection.

Significance

This set is of particular interest to collectors and researchers of:

• Royal Engineers & Signal Service history

• WWI training camps and pre-deployment photography

• Haynes Park and Hertfordshire/Bedfordshire military heritage

• Early-war portraiture and studio photographic practices

• Communications units and technical corps in WWI

Coherent multi-plate sequences of Royal Engineers Signal Service recruits — especially those linked between Hitchin and Haynes Park — are uncommon survivors.