I’ve been rescuing these boys from Junk shops for years, those 50p unknowns, the Great Uncles who maybe died and had no children, they become orphaned from their families, so I’ve ended up with an old biscuit tin full of these lads. Mostly Brits, but a few Aussies and Canadians have turned up, plus the occasional Fritz and one Belgian, I have no French men yet for some reason.

The most touching one to recolour was the chap in his hospital blues, the process usually starts with cleaning the image, removing the scratches and dinks in the halide or emulsion, scuffing and dirt have to come off. I busied myself with him, removing what looked like a large scratch on the bridge of his nose. It was only when I studied it I realised it was a scar from some long forgotten wound. The poor blighter.

Most of these are local to East Anglia, the Last one, Harry Potter-esque is called Tom Stone, he’s from Norwich, that’s all we know. Synchronicity.

ww1 in colour - © Nick Stone 14

ww1 in colour - © Nick Stone 3

ww1 in colour - © Nick Stone 2a

ww1 in colour - © Nick Stone 11

ww1 in colour - © Nick Stone 10

ww1 in colour - © Nick Stone 7

ww1 in colour - © Nick Stone 4