K Company cyclists of Wiltshire Volunteers, photographed in 1901 with their Captain, Erlysman Pinckney (seated centre).
Part of a line-up of soldiers on Bradford Station. They were probably from E Company the Wiltshire Volunteers and were about to depart by train for manoeuvres in 1903.
Watched by a crowd of Bradfordians, army cyclists file out of Church Street and down Market Street. They were probably members of a battalion of the Army Cyclist Corps, which was based at Abbey Mill early in the war. The date was probably 1915. The Town Hall, black with soot, had been up for sale since the Urban District Council decided to move to Westbury House in 1911.
The commanding officer of these World War 1 soldiers, in the armchair in the centre, was Captain A. H. Baker. After the war he was a teacher at the Fitzmaurice Grammar School in Bradford.
The group of soldiers that have been photographed out of uniform in the Great War include Berkley James Uncles (front row, second from the right) who became a sapper, serving in the Balkans, because of his engineering background.
John Claude (Jack) Raine (1894-1916) was one of the Bradfordians who died in the Great War. He was an acting sargeant in the Wiltshire Regiment when he was killed at Falahiyeh in Mesopotamia (modern 'Iraq) at the age of 22.
David George Parfitt, although originally from Bradford, was Company Sargeant Major in the Winnipeg Rifles, Canadian Infantry. He had been a member of the Bradford Church Lads' Brigade before the war and this photograph, which is from the album belonging to Captain O.P. Skrine, has " reported missing & believed killed" on the back. He died on 26th September 1916 on the Somme.
Much more information on the Bradfordians who were killed in the Great War is in Jonathon Falconer's book "Names in stone".
At the close of the war in 1918 an Armistice Parade was held in the field next to Pound Lane, Frome Road that has been called Victory Field ever since. As well as representatives of the forces, groups from churches, chapels, schools and scouts joined the march past with their banners.
The dedication ceremony of the town's War Memorial in Westbury Gardens took place in 1922. The memorial is made of Ham Hill Stone from Somerset, rather than local stone and lists the names of those who died on two cast bronze plaques. Another plaque in the same style was added after the Second World War with a list of those who died in that war.
The Home Guard was drawn from men who were too old, young or incapacitated for active service in the forces, as well as many who were in reserved occupations -whose jobs were considered vital for the functioning of the country in World War 2. The volunteers were expected to defend the home front in case of invasion.
Holt's Home Guard, photographed in the gardens of The Courts; the big tree in the background was a tulip tree which was blown down in a gale in 1995.
Another photograph of the Holt volunteers, including names of the individuals which shows that several members were from Staverton, on the other side of the River Avon.
Bradford's Air Raid Precaution Wardens photographed outside the Memorial Baths in 1944. They were mainly part-time volunteers whose job was to enforce blackout regulations, to prevent lights being seen by enemy aircraft, but were expected to administer aid after a bombing raid. Their headquarters was at Christ Church Vicarage in Masons Lane.
Members of the Observer Corps who kept watch on the movement of enemy aircraft during World War 2. They were based at Ashley, where there was good view over the surrounding area and where an underground Cold War bunker was set up afterwards.
A party to celebrate the end of the Second World War in Europe in May 1945. The location is the space at the top of Coppice Hill, outside the gates of the former Wesleyan Chapel and its Sunday School.