World War One era double-sided photographic pendant locket - Lord Kitchener and General French
c. 1914World War One era, double-sided, circular photographic pendant locket featuring greyscale portraits of Lord Kitchener on one side and General French on the other.
The photos are covered by a thin layer of protective glass or celluloid. The surrounding edge of the locket is made from a gold coloured metal alloy and there is a fixed ring of the same material attached at the top through which a loose metal ring is threaded.
There are no hallmarks or maker's marks.
Pendant lockets such as this one, often termed 'sweetheart pendants', were popular during the Boer War and World War One as patriotic jewellery. This one dates to the World War One period, with the photogrtaph of Lord Kitchener taken in 1914.
Horatio Herbert Kitchener (1850-1916) was a British Field Marshal and colonial administrator who played a key role in World War I.
He was born in Ireland and trained as a military engineer. He served in the Middle East and Egypt, and became commander-in-chief of the Egyptian army in 1892.
He served as chief of staff in the Second Boer War, and later became Commander-in-Chief.
Kitchener became Secretary of State for War at the start of World War One. He oversaw the rapid expansion of the British Army through the recruitment of volunteers. He became the face of the First World War when he appeared on the 'Your Country Needs You' poster.
He died in 1916 when his ship, HMS Hampshire, struck a German mine while en route to Russia on a diplomatic mission. He was the highest ranking officer to be killed during the war.
General John Denton Pinkstone French was the Commander-in-Chief of the British Expeditionary Force (B.E.F). for the first year and a half of the World War One.
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