Penna_tmn Posted 23 November , 2009 Share Posted 23 November , 2009 I have been sent a photograph of a WW1 soldier who died on active service. I believe that his uniform is of the Royal Engineers and I know that he must have died between August 1917 and the end of the war. I have narrowed it down to two John Cowans. One was a driver in the Royal Field Artillery and the other an Acting Sergeant in the Royal Engineers. Both trained at Aldershot where they could have met the girl who had John Cowan junior in June 1918. Unfortunately the photograph is in pdf format so I cannot upload it for forum members to see. I have been unable to find a way to convert from pdf to jpg. The man in the picture is not wearing a hat or cap and his arms are held so that insigia on the inner sleeve would not be visible. He has a wide band on his upper right arm,lapel badges,puttees,laced breeches,large pockets and a collar and tie. Can anyone help? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
max7474 Posted 23 November , 2009 Share Posted 23 November , 2009 Collar and tie would suggest neither but an officer's uniform. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Penna_tmn Posted 23 November , 2009 Author Share Posted 23 November , 2009 Collar and tie would suggest neither but an officer's uniform. Now I am REALLY stuck.Is there any where I can see uniforms of different regiments? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Penna_tmn Posted 23 November , 2009 Author Share Posted 23 November , 2009 Now I am REALLY stuck.Is there any where I can see uniforms of different regiments? At last. I have been sent a jog file of the photo. Please will forum members identify the uniform for me? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wardog Posted 23 November , 2009 Share Posted 23 November , 2009 I would think a signals officer, Royal Engineers. Regards, Paul. http://www.fairmile.fsbusiness.co.uk/signals.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rayessex Posted 23 November , 2009 Share Posted 23 November , 2009 Are they not Bombs on his collar, could it be an Artillery Officer? Ray (I`m waiting to be shot down) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wardog Posted 23 November , 2009 Share Posted 23 November , 2009 Both used/use grenade insignia. Pre Royal Signals, signals at Divisional level would have been RE. Cheers, Paul. http://www.britishbadgeforum.com/forums/sh...royal+engineers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jay dubaya Posted 24 November , 2009 Share Posted 24 November , 2009 Penna tmn, do you have good information that he died? There is a MIC to a Cpt. Percy John Cowan Middlesex Regt attatched to Royal Engineers, J Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Penna_tmn Posted 24 November , 2009 Author Share Posted 24 November , 2009 I do know that the Royal Engineers were at Aldershot Training Camp at the time when he could have met the lady with whom he had the baby and whose descendants are now trying to find his identity. She was married to a man in the Royal Field Artillery at the time and they were also at Aldershot. This fact,combined with confirmation of the unform as RE is a great help. The best match I have found at the Commonwealth Graves Commission website is of an Acting Sergreant John Cowan but would a Sergeant be wearing a collar and tie? The only information I have for his death is that the lady concerned,mother of his baby born in June 1918,told her son that his father was killed in the war. For reasons unknown I have been unable to trace a birth registration for the baby to confirm the birthday date. My hope is that I can trace the man through his army records,then trace living family and then get confirmation that the man in the photo is indeed their relative. It does occur to me that the baby's mother may have told white lies and that the soldier might have survived the war but not kept in touch with his girlfriend. PS What is the meaning of MIC? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
max7474 Posted 24 November , 2009 Share Posted 24 November , 2009 The amn in the photo is wearing an officer uniform (jacket, breeches,sam browne etc). He is not your Sgt. Have you tried the BMD site to locate his birth date? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Penna_tmn Posted 24 November , 2009 Author Share Posted 24 November , 2009 The amn in the photo is wearing an officer uniform (jacket, breeches,sam browne etc). He is not your Sgt. Have you tried the BMD site to locate his birth date? At least I now know that he wasn't the Driver or the Sergeant. I have tried Free BMD,Ancestry,Findmypast,Scotland's people and the Genealogist. The photograph suggests to me that he must have been born in the 1880s.I have been hoping that I would find his age at death in the military records but so far no luck. It might be that he was Percy John as suggested here and used his second name rather than the first. That might lead the mother of his baby to name the child John. Cowan is a Scottish name but very common as is the name John. I'll do a search for Percy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Penna_tmn Posted 24 November , 2009 Author Share Posted 24 November , 2009 I find that Percy John Cowan was born in 1876. That makes him 41 in 1914. I'm not sure how old the man in the photo looks but the picture was probably taken in 1917. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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