It's a Triumph Model H - the horizontal fork spring is an easy identification point on Triumphs of this era (often seen with a leather strap round the assembly as if the spring broke, the whole lot collapsed)
I have had a copy of this photo since the 60's and is an Imperial War Museum picture. I lived a few miles away and spent a great deal of my youth there.....
Just thought you might be interested in a picture of one of my uncles during WW1. I had three uncles in the war and they all came back. Unfortunately, James Campbell (on the Triumph) died a couple of years after the war from lingering effects of gas attacks. Also I am including a picture of my Model H and as you can see it is missing the toolboxes. I have someone here (Ontario Canada)who can do the leather work but am unsure of the details. The parts book I have is not a very good reproduction and was wondering if anyone has a good one or good photos? Were they leather fronted metal or all leather? Any info would be greatly appreciated.
On photobucket it's the top HTML link rather than the one marked IMG (which would be logical !). Don't worry, most of us found out by trial and error...and most computer nerds wouldn't know how to even start an old motorcycle, let alone fettle one !
It's a very nice photograph, by the way, with what look to be two leather straps around the forks (a real belt and braces man).
Hi Rik - Thanks for the help. Finally got it right. All I know about James Campbell is , he joined up with my other uncles in the Royal Warwickshire Regiment. My other uncle Frederick Keatly (James was an uncle by marriage) said he marched across Africa and wound up guarding oil fields in Russia and never fired a shot.
I always feel its a shame when a photograph looses its identity.
This is my Great Uncle Frank Awbery, he started off in the Hampshire Cyclist Battalion, then later in the First World War he transferred to the Royal Engineers as a Despatch Rider, this photograph was probably taken in or near Palestine.
Thanks for the info. I only collect these photos for myself or to share with people who are interested in a particular machine for restoration or research. The fact is that it is an endless task, finding and sometimes rescuing these images leaves little time for sorting. I have started collating them and last night I spent 6.5 hours going through all my records to find those posted above. I will certainly add the info to this picture.
The bike with the machine gun is a Clyno, my all time favourite is the one with the three bikes and the guy holding a pistol and a young child looking on.....
Wow, what an ace collection of pictures, i see most of the H's have the leather belt round the headstock and fork tops. I think if you used one of these Triumphs on rough ground it would not be long before you fitted one of these belts and removed the front brake as this would have been useless in the mud.
I had the pleasure of borrowing one of these bikes this summer to ride a 100 miles of the Lake District to celebrate a 100 years of the Triumph H. They are fantastic bikes and you can see why they got the Trusty Triumph name. Once you get used to feathering the throttle on steep climbs to stop the belt from slipping it is amazing how many steep climbs you can conquer it takes you a while to realise that the engine is a lot more powerful than the belt grip so i found the best way is to keep the engine speed as low as possible when the belt is working hard.
These old WW1 despatch riders must have been hard men and must have had some harrowing tails to tell pity most will be lost in time now as many would have not wrote anything down.
Thanks for sharing your pictures with us sir ewok they need to be put in a book or on a disc i would love most of these pictures.