Did this Portsmouth family emerge unscathed from the war?

According to information on the back, it was taken during the First World War in the studio of TH Head & Co, at 265 Fratton Road, Portsmouth.

The words ‘British Made’ were also included.

Depicted with his parents, the boy in the photograph is holding a toy train.

Sitting next to him is his mother, her wedding ring prominently displayed.

His soldier–father holds a swagger stick, which he has tucked under his left armpit; his cap lies on the table next to the boy. The cap badge may be that of the Royal Engineers.

The picture is part of The Army Children of the First World War (TACA) project led by the Imperial War Museums.

It’s part of The First World War Centenary Partnership aimed at inspiring young and old to connect with the lives, stories and impact of the First World War.

TACA highlights the plight of the army children of the First World War primarily visually, using two online galleries of images accessed via Flickr, as follows.

The Army Children of the First World War: Faces and Families consists of a set of photographic portraits of army children and their families photographed between 1914 and 1918. Ten images have initially been posted, after which further ones will be added weekly. Any known information about the faces and families pictured, or any clues offered by the photographs themselves, accompany the images. Viewers are invited to fill any information gaps and, if possible, to identify these forgotten faces.

The Army Children of the First World War: a Sentimental View displays a selection of First World War-era sentimental postcards and ephemera featuring army children, and children generally.

Many of these images were intended to tug at the heartstrings; others, to arouse patriotic feelings; another category reflects, through the prism of childhood, national preoccupations during the Great War.

Go to bit.ly/ArmyChildrenFWW.