THE OFFICERS: In a field somewhere near the Roman Catholic Church, the officers who were to lead and marshall the parade, gathered for a panning shot of them all. Laughter broke as one of them arrived late and ran across in shot to take up his place. Stills from the film have been brought together into a composite picture to allow us to view them here in one go. We are able to identify two of them with certainty and can make educated guesses for some more. We hope more work will be done on this or perhaps a family photograph may surface which will help?
Captain W. Aldworth
You may notice that in the panning shot above one man is standing a half-step forward in front of the others, and also is generally taking the whole proceeding rather more seriously than the rest. (Number 6.) He also carries a riding crop.
According to the North Berks Herald (9th August 1919) "The men who had served mustered..under the command of Capt. W. Aldworth, Essex Regt., an Abingdon man who was serving in India with the 2nd Royal Berks when war was declared, and after receiving rapid promotion during the operations was recently invested by the King with the Distinguished Service Order." The Herald also notes that he was mounted so he is easy to spot when he reappears in the film as the parade sets off and again as the parade passes the new memorial, where he salutes smartly, but on both occasions he seems to be having a little trouble controlling his horse. It was passed down in the family that he and the horse had only met that day!
Captain Aldworth certainly was an Abingdon man. His family included parents William and Charlotte and numerous brothers and sisters, shown here in this family portrait from before the war.
The family lived at 15 West St Helen Street. Our Captain, William, or Bill, can be seen in the close-up - he had already started working on the impressive moustache!
Two of the young men in this photo had died in the War in 1918, and one had lost his leg, so this Homecoming Parade must have been a day of mixed emotions for this family as for so many.
For further information about the Aldworth family you can look up their entry on the Abingdon First World War website which lists those who served by family name.
Captain H. A. L. Donkin
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