Thread by @CarlaJeanStokes

Aug 8 marks the 100th anniversary of the beginning of the Battle of #Amiens. This battle ushered in the #HundredDays offensive and saw some of the most decisive victories of the war #thread 👇🏼👇🏼👇🏼

Photograph is: "Scene at Field Ambulance Dressing Station," by William Rider-Rider, August, 1918. LAC MIKAN 3397054 #Amiens100

The Hundred Days also saw the culmination of William Rider-Rider’s career as Canada’s third and final official photographer. (seen here in: [Portrait of William Rider-Rider, ca. 1917, unattributed, @I_W_M © Q 113992).

Rider-Rider was a pre-war press photographer who had once worked for the Daily Mirror alongside Canada’s second official photographer, Ivor Castle.

Rider-Rider had attempted to enlist for the war in 1915, but was turned away for his near-sightedness. He was later taken on as a phys-ed instructor for the Suffolk Regiment.

Early in 1917, the Canadian War Records Office realized that documenting the war from the perspective of four divisions was a big job for one guy--so they decided to hire another guy! Ivor Castle was joined by his former colleague, Rider-Rider.

When Rider-Rider arrived in France that June, Castle returned to London to organize an exhibition of his photographs (primarily from #VimyRidge). Though the CWRO had wanted 2 photographers in the field, Castle rarely returned to France after that summer.

Rider-Rider would photograph the Canadians throughout the #HundredDays - a journey that would take him all the way to Mons on the morning of November 11, 1918.

Photograph is: “A German munition train in Mons Station, which the enemy were unable to take away”, by Rider-Rider, November, 1918, LAC MIKAN 3397979 #FWW #warphotos #HundredDays

If we judge by the negative numbers, R-R took about 650 photographs in the #HundredDays - but his work has yet to be substantially analyzed by any historian. SO! Join along with me as I share his photographs over the next few months. And here are a few to kick us off -

Photograph is: “Canadians resting in shell hole made by our artillery,” Rider-Rider, August, 1918, LAC MIKAN 3522211 #warphotos #Amiens100

“A Tank passing 8th Field Ambulance, Hangard." Rider-Rider, August 1918, LAC MIKAN 3395386 #Amiens100 #Toronto

“Canadians digging in and waiting for the next wave to pass through them and go forward during the Battle of Amiens,” Rider-Rider, August 1918, LAC MIKAN 3194816.

“60-pounders getting into action,” Rider-Rider, August 1918, LAC MIKAN 3522236 #warphotos

“French Cemetery where Canadian & French lines met,” Rider-Rider, August, 1918, LAC MIKAN 3403960.

(And this one's a little later in the month) - “Canadians advancing through swamps of River Sensee, 200 yards from Remy. Advance East of Arras.” Rider-Rider, August, 1918, LAC MIKAN 3522245.

SO - as you see images being shared online that are cited as "Canadian Official" or maybe just by the name of the collection they reside in today, @LibraryArchives and @CanWarMuseum, don't forget that Canadian official photos of the #HundredDays were taken by Rider-Rider.

Naming the individual matters - just like a painter, the product he creates is the sum of all of his personal choices of what to shoot, what not to shoot, and how to frame it #Amiens100 #FWW #warphotos