RND TRENCH ART FROM HOLLAND IN WW1

[sommewalker]

Royal Naval Division in WW1 .

the men interned in Holland 1914-1918 at Groningen

AKA , H.M.S TIMBERTOWN,

turned their hands to making wooden items for sale,

to earn money to help with making life more bearable .

in the camp for instance better rations etc

these items consisted of photo frames and various sixed boxes ,

in the main but other types followed ,

they were even sold in Selfridges in London,

the box below was made there

I have been able to narrow the maker down to 3 men
1) JAMES .W. HAWKE BATTALION ,PETTY OFFICER ...
2) JENKINS .W .STOKER BENBOW BATTALION
3) JENNINGS .W . ABLE SEAMAN BENBOW BATTLION ,
I have tried the initials J. W and W.J and either way it shows the same results, it is possible that one of these 3 men made this box
either way we can now name them

I have included some more photos of other items ,

and on 1 of the later ones you can see a paper label with a catalogue number,

these are pretty rare to find these days ,

but as ever the intrinsic value of an object is largely meaningless,

its the history of the item, that interests me ,

the how who and where is all part of an objects history.

[Kenny Andrew]

your RND box and picture frame collection has improved allot since I last saw it