I recently connected with some cousins back in the UK that I haven’t been in touch with for about 40 years. One of them has a daughter who is doing some genealogical research in the family.

She shared with me the above picture of my paternal grandfather, George Dale (hence my middle name, George). He was older than my paternal grandmother. He passed away long before I was born, so I never knew him. I have a vague memory of once seeing a photograph of him. It was a very formal portrait and he was very well dressed. So this is the second photograph of him I’ve seen. Even though he’s in uniform here he seems much more informal. Look at the very natural smile on his face. Perhaps not surprisingly he’s the “spitting image” of my late father.

I knew that my father was in the British army in the Second World War, but I wasn’t aware that my grandfather was also in the service. The photograph suggests that he was in the Cheshire regiment (as was my father) and the uniform looks to my untrained eye to be First World War vintage.

It’s great to have it!