My grandfather enlisted at the start of WW1. His records note that he had a tattoo of his initials and a horse's head. I can find very little information on him between 1901 and 1915 other than he was a miner in Barnsley. The information I have read states that it was usually seamen or prisoners that had tattoos. Does anyone know differently? I also know that he spent several months in a civilian prison during his Army career. Can any records of prisoners be accessed?
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My great grandad joined up aged 19 in 1915. He had a tatoo of an anchor with his name underneath. I know he had never been at sea or in prison, so I do think people were already having them done for 'fashion' by that date. May have been more true of the early to mid Victorian age when they were limited to navy men and prisoners.
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Tattoos became widely popular for the upper classes in England after the Prince of Wales (King Edward VII) had a tattoo in 1862, (20 years later his two sons also had tattoos).
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GuyGuy passed away October 2022
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