New article on researching Royal Naval Division … and a “then and now” found along the way

By Chris BakerNew, News

I have just added a new article to the site: How to research a man of the Royal Naval Division.

When locating a photograph I could use to brighten up the page, I spotted something I recognised.

Imperial War Museum photograph Q109127 “Men of the Royal Naval Division in a town square with their rifles stacked”. The “town” is actually Bruges and this photo relates to the initial deployment of the RND to Antwerp in 1914. The tower is that of St. Salvator’s Cathedral and the Hotel de Londres was in a square opposite the railway station, now called ‘t Zand. The buildings that are shown still exist.
Note the roofline of the buildings, starting on the white-coloured one on the right which is now the “Hotel du Singe d’Or”. Then move left to a lower-roofed building, now “Brasserie de Hanze”. Move left again and we have the larger “Hotel Portinari”. What had been the “Hotel de Londres” is where the word “Hotel” is affixed to its wall. The men of the RND were standing where these works were going on in 2017. Sadly, Google Maps will not let me get quite the right angle to see the cathedral tower.