Thread: First post WW1 razor

This is my first post after stumbling across this site.
My dad used to own a small barber’s shop in London and when he died nearly 20 years ago I had to pack up the contents of the shop a couple of days later. I had spent many fine hours watching my dad work there and after sitting in the Barber’s chair one last time knowing the finality of the occasion, I solemnly boxed up what I could and tried to come to terms with my loss.
Some of the boxes went to the Charity shop over the years but I found a little collection of straight razors the other day. Most of which are still unused and covered in oil. As I see that you guys appreciate a little history of the razor I thought I would share the details I found out about the Ford and Medley in the picture.

The box had some writing on it so I tapping in RFC and France, HQ 1916 – 1919. The search came back as Royal Force Corp (prior to being named Royal Air Force), the years relating to World War One when RFC had a headquarters in France.
I guessed that the razor belonged to a pilot so I tapping in the number at the top 35844 and after trying the National Archives it returned a result of George Byne Wingrove with that number. It suddenly hit me that his name was written across the middle. I had thought G.B. stood for Great Britain but it was George Byne Wingrove.

This dates back to when the pilots had dogfights with Sopwith Camels and reading the term Dogfight came about because the pilots had to regularly turn off their engines during fights to stop them stalling and turning them back on mid-air which the resulting noise of the engine starting again sounded like dogs barking and this was before parachutes.
This period of 1916-1919 included the Battle of the Somme when some 60,000 British soldiers died in one day and around 10 million soldiers died in total before the treaty was signed in 1919. For this to survive in this condition is amazing in itself.
I’m only reading this off the net and I’m no expert but it has made fascinating reading.
I’ve not tried a straight razor before but I’m going to look to keep one and give it a go.
Any advice or comments would be great.


Regards


Phil