Photograph by E.O. Reynolds, taken at Sutton Veny, during the latter half of 1916. It shows some of the serving soldiers in the 2/6th London Regiment (City Of London Rifles) nicknamed the Cast Iron Sixth.
It seems these men had a great sense of humour and enjoyed some fun. The words ‘Dulce Domum’ are written to the right of the hut doorway. Dulce Domum means “Sweetly at home.” It is coincidentally the name of a song written by Robert S. Ambrose in 1876 (not to be confused with another song of the same name sung at Winchester School). Underneath ‘Dulce Domum’ someone has chalked or painted a depiction of a door bell with the words: ‘Please Ring.’
Some of the soldiers are smoking cigarettes, some of the others are smoking pipes. Some have bugles, one has a trombone, one has a drum, and there are two cymbals. Another soldier has a violin. The soldier next to him has the violin bow and is bowing it across the handle of a shovel (the shovel has a face drawn upon it).
One soldier has a bucket with the word ‘milk’ on it. Another soldier has a spoon and is eating something out of an earthenware jar. Another soldier appears to have a toy monkey on what looks like a lampshade or a funnel he is wearing as a hat on his head. He has a towel over his lap and is either wearing shorts or his trousers legs are rolled up. He is holding what looks like a swagger stick or a riding crop. Two others have wrapped towels or scarves or some type of material round their heads in the style of turbans.
The battalion was at Sutton Veny from July 1916, doing final training there before going to France and the Western Front in January 1917.