MYSTERY surrounds a rare early action photograph featuring an Oxfordshire soldier.

The image, which is the ‘object of the month’ at the Oxfordshire Museum in Woodstock, dates from the 1910s.

It shows soldier Frederick Arthur Harris taking a leap on horseback, but his location has not been confirmed.

Mr Harris’ son found the photo and wants to find out more information about it.

The picture has been put on display with a programme from a horse show held in France in September 1915.

The snap of Private Harris may have been taken at the same event.

The soldier, a shoesmith, went to France in 1915 with the Queen’s Own Oxfordshire Hussars and returned in February 1919. During his service he earned the 1915 Star, the Victory Medal and the British War Medal.

Major Hugh Babington, of the Soldiers of Oxfordshire organisation, said: “The photograph came out of the blue.

“It’s absolutely extraordinary. I think an action photograph from that time is very rare, and a personal photograph taken in the theatre of war is very rare during World War One.

“The photograph came from the soldier’s son, Mervyn Harris, from Eynsham, but he does not know any details about other than it is of his father and was taken at a horse show.

“In the background there is, quite vague, a house with some people standing about which backs up the probability that it is a horse show.

“But there is nothing obviously to show that the photograph was taken in France, unless someone can say for certain that the hurdles are French.”

The picture is on display at the Oxfordshire Museum until the end of April.

For more details, visit the website oxfordshire.gov.uk/ the_oxfordshire_museum If you can shed any light on the image, call the Oxford Mail on 01865 425422 and we will pass on your details.