shaffejee Posted 27 February , 2010 Share Posted 27 February , 2010 Hello everyone I'm really hoping someone can help me (and my family) with identifying the uniform worn in the picture in the attachment. I have no clue what sort of uniform it is and apologies if I'm barking up the wrong tree here. It was taken in Paris in 1919. ANY information you can provide about the uniform and how I might find out more about the person wearing it will be very much appreciated. Many Thanks Shereen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
max7474 Posted 27 February , 2010 Share Posted 27 February , 2010 Hotel Bell hop is my opinion. He is not in British Army uniform. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MBrockway Posted 27 February , 2010 Share Posted 27 February , 2010 Cinema usher? Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steven Broomfield Posted 27 February , 2010 Share Posted 27 February , 2010 Telegram Boy? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4thGordons Posted 27 February , 2010 Share Posted 27 February , 2010 Telegram Boy? Seems likely if that is his pad under his right hand? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shaffejee Posted 28 February , 2010 Author Share Posted 28 February , 2010 Hotel Bell hop is my opinion. He is not in British Army uniform. No, I know it isn't British Army-It's most likely French. Knowing the family he came from it would be unlikely he would be a bell hop or a cinema usher. They owned a diamond mine! I had wondered if it might be a kind of cadets uniform? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wardog Posted 28 February , 2010 Share Posted 28 February , 2010 Not what I would think of as a French style of cap-kepi. Regards, Paul. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
truthergw Posted 28 February , 2010 Share Posted 28 February , 2010 If he comes from a moneyed background in France, I think dress uniform of a military academy is a distinct possibility. Bell hops usually wore a pillbox hat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MBrockway Posted 28 February , 2010 Share Posted 28 February , 2010 No, I know it isn't British Army-It's most likely French. Knowing the family he came from it would be unlikely he would be a bell hop or a cinema usher. They owned a diamond mine! I had wondered if it might be a kind of cadets uniform? Thank you for taking my first reply in the light-hearted way it was intended! I agree with truthergw - the peaked cap suggests a military boarding school. Cheers, Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wardog Posted 28 February , 2010 Share Posted 28 February , 2010 Anyone got links to similar pictures confirmed as French cadets of that period? I can only find more recent pictures of cadets in uniform similar to the French military of the Great War. I'm willing to be educated, its just that this picture does not strike me as a French like uniform. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shaffejee Posted 1 March , 2010 Author Share Posted 1 March , 2010 That's interesting because the family actually spent time in London during the war so he may have ended up at a military academy in the UK. They returned to Paris afterwards and that was where the photo was taken so he could be posing in his English uniform in Paris. So it could be English after all! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
max7474 Posted 1 March , 2010 Share Posted 1 March , 2010 I doubt it as English School OTCs were all in khaki and similiar in design to regular uniforms. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wardog Posted 1 March , 2010 Share Posted 1 March , 2010 To be honest, if the picture had been titled 'Military cadet, unknown country'- I would have been guessing at the origin being America. I would not call myself a general uniform expert but wonder how many countries would have used a peak cap of the type shown as part of any uniform in 1919. Cheers, Paul. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peaked_cap Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shaffejee Posted 4 March , 2010 Author Share Posted 4 March , 2010 That wiki entry was helpful. While I have no evidence he might have gone to the states, I have none suggesting he didn't. I might start enquiring of military academies unless anyone has further suggestions??? Thanks for the help so far Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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