lifeguards

Henry Malcolm Seton-Karr, b. 21 Oct 1882, - Captain in the Life Guards 9 July 1916. [Sup to LG 8 Jul 1916]. Son of Sir Henry Seton-Karr KCMG of Kippilaw, St Boswell's, County Roxburgh, and Edith Eliza (Pilkington) of Roby Hall, Liverpool, (d. 1884). He had an older brother (George Bernard, b. 12 Sep 1881; d. 2 Apr 1896); and a younger sister (Edith Muriel, d. 1898); and a half-brother (Kenneth William b. 1897) and half-sister (Helen Mary) - from his father's second marriage to Jane Thorburn of 12 Buckingham Terrace, Edinburgh. Family home was later 47 Chester Square, London, SW1.//

Henry Seton-Karr was actually commissioned into the 2nd Dragoons (Royal Scots Greys) on 5th September 1914 on the Reserve of Officer List (so he probably had previous service experience). On 9th May 1915 he was attached or transferred to 1st Life Guards, still as a 2Lt. On 9th september 1916 he was made up to Captain in 1 LG and appointed to the Household Battalion. On 2nd April 1917 he took up a Captain appointment with the Machine Gun Corps (Cavalry) which he relinquished on 9th October 1918. It then appears that he became an Assistant Administrator with the Royal Air Force, relinquishing that post on 26th January 1919.

The Gazette shows 2Lt M H Seton-Karr was commissioned into the Royal Monmouthshire Militia Royal Engineers, aged 18, on 2 July 1901. He transferred to the 2nd Dragoons on 25 March 1902. His father, Sir Henry, died in 1914 and it looks like 47 Chester Square was his house in London. It also appears that he was Christened Malcolm Henry, and may have adopted 'Henry' as his 'called name' after his father's death.

It seems that Henry Seton-Carr was an early aviator before the war. In December 1908 he ordered a Howard Wright bi-plane which he flew at Fambridge and from Camber Sands at Rye in Sussex. There is a photograph of him as a pilot at flyingmachines.ru/Images7/Putnam/EE/80-1.jpg

Sir Henry Seton-Karr, Henry's father, died when the RMS Empress of Ireland sank in the St Lawrence River after colliding with a Norwegian collier, the SS Storstad, at around 0200hrs after leaving Quebec on 29th May 1914. 1,012 passengers and crew were drowned; there were 465 survivors. Apparently Sir Henry gave his lifebelt to another passenger who did not have one.//

Los Angeles County Lifeguards, by Arthur C. Verge books.google.com/books?id=ukpkvGQvbY4C suggests (a) that Venice had lifeguards by 1909 and (b) after lifeguard teams across Los Angeles had been combined, LA county's first female lifeguard was hired in 1930. So I wonder whether these are women replacing men during WWI. Or did women have special guard responsibilities related to children?

And they get on with their knitting while there's nothing going on.

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The reel at right, under the bell, must be to help pull people to safety. The notice on the post reads, "Break Glass, Turn Button, in case of danger."

Look at the other women in the back looking at the women upfront in bathing suits... they are most probably saying: "What a disgrace that these youth are going so naked" - thanks goodness times have changed! :)

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venice,_Los_Angeles

Or they are thinking "Good, they're not wasting their time, they're knitting while they watch out for people drowning."

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