Who Do You Think You Are Magazine Forum

[deptfordog]

The attached photo is an ancestor of mine during his army service. We have no idea what regiment he was in. We think he joined British army in 1916 but went on to be a regular soldier throughout the 1920's. He was sent to India and Ireland as far as we know. He lived in London before joining. I have searched for him in various online records but his name is too common for me to be sure I've got the right person. Any help on the regiment or background in the photo would be very much appreciated. Many thanks.


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[Jethro Tull]

Hi deptfordog,
The cap badge is quite difficult to identify from this image but to me looks like it is a "flaming grenade" type, used by several different regiments etc. My initial thought was HAC (The Honourable Artillery Company), as their badge has flames which are fairly large in comparison to the grenade. This could also equally be the Grenadier Guards as this is a similar look with a larger flame, or The Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment).
Do you have a higher res enlarged image of one of the cap badges please as it may be clearer. The far left one looks the best.
Maybe someone else will be able to stop this better.
Dan.

[deptfordog]

Thanks Dan. I haven't got access to the original photo at the moment. Is the attached any better?. Thanks so much for your help and ideas.

ImageUploadedByWDYTYA Forum1477334104.040136.jpg (256.14 KiB) Viewed 1465 times

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[Jethro Tull]

Thanks for that, I still, unfortunately, cannot say for certain which regiment it is. I still think it may be one of the ones I mentioned. What was your chaps name? Might he worth searching for the name on the medal cards to see if it marries up with any of the possible regiments.
Dan.

[MaureenE]

For soldiers, if he served after January 1921, his records would be with the Ministry of Defence.
(A later date applies for officers)

If he joined in 1916, it is likely he was born prior to 1901. The Ministry of Defence has issued an aid for all the files they hold with birth dates prior to 1901, which lists names, dates of birth and service number

Details in the FIBIS Fibiwiki page British Army, section Army personnel serving after January 1921
http://wiki.fibis.org/index.php/British ... nuary_1921

Cheers
Maureen

[deptfordog]

Thank you so much Dan and Maureen for your help. Having looked at images on the Internet of the cap badges you mention Dan I think the HAC is the most likely match.
Thanks Maureen for the MOD link....very helpful as I didn't know about that. I've had a quick look at it but it will need more time to check in depth...also the list is in date of birth order and there is a suspicion that he lied about his age to join up early!!?
Thanks again


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