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The North Irish Horse at Vignacourt

 

At the beginning of December 1918 the North Irish Horse Cyclist Regiment rode from their camp in eastern France to the village of Vignacourt, near Amiens. They remained there until the middle of 1919. With the fighting over, they found plenty of time for leisure activities, and many took advantage of the services offered by the local photographers, Louis and Antoinette Thuillier, whose glass-plate negatives were printed onto postcards and sent home.

Thousands of these negatives were recently discovered at the Thuiller farmhouse, among them more than two dozen showing men of the North Irish Horse Cyclist Regiment. Some of these are shown below. Most are sourced from the collection of the Kerry Stokes Foundation, and I am grateful to the foundation for permitting their use here. Many also appear in my book The North Irish Horse in the Great War.

The Thuilliers' property in Vignacourt has now been converted into a museum focussed on the photographs taken during the war - Vignacourt 14-18 - and is well worth a visit for anyone touring the Somme battlefields. The entrance features a large image of a mounted North Irish Horseman (see below).

 

Click on a thumbnail image below for a larger view and more information.

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