NAM.2017-09-7-18-180

Photograph of an inspection of the 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards,Chelsea Barracks, 1912. Long lines of Grenadier Guardsmen stand to attention with their rifles with bayonets attached resting up on their left shoulders. Several officers can be seen on the right hand side of the image as they inspect the men. The buildings of Chelsea Barracks can be seen behind them. The men are wearing full dress with scarlet tunic, white pouch belt and bearskin cap. One of the officers in the background wearing a cocked hat with feather plume is possibly Maj Gen Sir Alfred Edward Codrington. The image was possibly taken by Christina Broom (1862-1939) who is credited as being the UK’s first female press photographer. She taught herself photography and set up a stall in the Royal Mews at Buckingham Palace, selling postcards of photographs that she had taken from 1903 until 1930, operating under the professional name of Mrs Albert Broom. She was appointed official photographer to the Household Division from 1904 to 1939 and had a darkroom in the Chelsea Barracks. From an album of 212 photographs (including archives) compiled by or presented to Lt Col Wadham Heathcote Diggle, 1910-1912 (c). It includes many portraits, group portraits and other images, many taken at the Guards Depot in Caterham and Pirbright, plus images of parades, sports, dogs and horses.