Who else spotted a famous face in our picture of the Home Guard?
David Brown and two readers online were quick off the mark, noticing none other than Lord Nuffield hovering in the background.
We published the picture (Memory Lane, July 19) after it was handed over by a representative of the Oxfordshire Home Guard, based at Launton, near Bicester.
We couldn’t explain why women in civilian clothes were posing with a group of military men, and wondered whether they were wives accompanying their husbands.
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What we did know was that the men were senior officers of the Home Guard during the Second World War.
Mr Brown, of Jordan Hill, North Oxford, was more observant than most of us.
He quickly spotted Lord Nuffield between the man and woman on the extreme left in the third row.
Mr Brown writes: “I am surprised that the women were assumed to be wives of the uniformed officers.
“Many women joined the Home Guard and in this photograph, the woman in the centre and the one to her right are clearly wearing ‘Home Guard’ armbands.
“On close inspection, four of them are wearing the special women’s auxiliary Home Guard badge.
“These badges are quite rare and can sell for £50 each.”
Mr Brown continues: “The other observation I have to make is that the gentleman in civvy clothing between the first guard and the first lady on the left is surely Lord Nuffield.
“If this is the case, the lady wearing the hat, I assume, is his wife, Lady Nuffield.”
This is a fair assumption as the picture was almost certainly taken at one of the Cowley car factories, Morris Motors or Pressed Steel, which Lord Nuffield ran.
As we recalled, the Cowley factories became No 1 Civilian Repair Unit during the war and instead of making cars, workers put thousands of damaged aircraft back into service.
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Mines, trucks, reconnaissance vehicles and many aircraft components were also produced by the workforce, which included many women.
Morris Motors also played an important part in the First World War, with Lord Nuffield handing the factory to the Ministry of Munitions.
It was converted to manufacture mine-sinkers, ensuring that mines floated hidden below the surface of the sea, out of sight of the enemy.
Lord Nuffield’s patriotism was symbolised by his insistence that the Union flag fluttered over all his factories engaged in war work.
The picture was one of two sent in by the Oxfordshire Home Guard.
The other (Memory Lane, February 1) was captioned Machine Gun Section, H Company, Home Guard and was also believed to have been taken at one of the two Cowley factories.
Lord Nuffield was born in 1877 and he died in 1963.
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The founder of Morris Motors, he has been described as one of Britain’s greatest philanthropists. In 1912 he designed his first car, the bull nosed Morris, at his repair garage at Longwall Street. He was the founder of the Nuffield Foundation, the Nuffield Trust and Nuffield College.
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