Photo Identification - Royal Scots and Others

[GordonBoath]

Hi,

Attached is photograph of my great grandfather:

Private David Shepherd Boath 26388 - 3rd Battalion Royal Scots later 15th Battalion Royal Scots.

(seated left)

Captured 28th of April 1917 by the Germans and POW until Xmas day 1918.

Not sure who the others are but would love to be able to identify some of the other uniforms.

The photo may be before my grandfather went to France when he was in hospital in 1915 or maybe when he was a POW (though his clothes look pretty clean).

Any help would be appreciated.

Cheers,

Gordon

[4thGordons]

Hi Gordon,

Great photo.

The two highlandes with diced glengarries look to me to be Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders (3 rows of red dicing and a v. large badge)

The chap standing on the left (as we look) looks to me as though he might be an Artilleryman - the badge appears to be the correct shape.

Those are the only ones I am confident enough on to make a suggestion.

A couple of the men are wearing (standing far left and far right) simplified pattern jackets.

The presence of lanyards and good conduct stripes (on the man on the right) suggest to me that this is more likely to be a hospital picture in the UK than a POW picture but this would just be a guess.(although the man on the right - seated) appears to have his hand bandaged.

Hope this helps

Chris

[GordonBoath]

Many thanks for your help Chris, much appreciated.

I also think it is more likely to be a 1915 hospital picture and not 1918 post POW. They all look a bit clean and well scrubbed for that.

Brick building as well looks more like in the UK. Unfortunately conjecture at this point as I only have a scan of the photo and cant see the back of it!

Cheers,

Gordon

[FROGSMILE]

Surely it would be unusual for the men to be in hospital and not be in Hospital Blues, my understanding is that that is the uniform they wore once admitted to hospital until discharged. However, once discharged, the men would usually go to a holding depot for convalescents (I forget the official name of these establishments**) until they gained sufficient strength to be returned to the front line via an Infantry Base Depot (IBD). It was at these convalescent establishments that the men would return to their Service Dress uniforms.

NB.**Command Depots.

Edited 4 March by FROGSMILE

[4thGordons]

Surely it would be unusual for the men to be in hospital and not be in Hospital Blues, my understanding is that that is the uniform they wore once admitted to hospital until discharged. However, once discharged, the men would usually go to a holding depot for convalescents (I forget the official name of these establishments) until they gained sufficient strength to be returned to the front line via an Infantry Base Depot (IBD). It was at these convalescent establishments that the men would return to their Service Dress uniforms.

I have several pictures that show a mix of men in hospital blues and Service Dress so I am not sure on what the regulations/practice may have been. I was thinking this might be a discharge picture of a group of pals who had been hospitalized or convalesced together (distinguishing between hospitalization and convalescence is probably asking a bit much I think)

Chris

[FROGSMILE]

I have several pictures that show a mix of men in hospital blues and Service Dress so I am not sure on what the regulations/practice may have been. I was thinking this might be a discharge picture of a group of pals who had been hospitalized or convalesced together (distinguishing between hospitalization and convalescence is probably asking a bit much I think)

Chris

I guess we'll never know ,but on this occasion I disagree. The permitted mixed dress (of SD and Hospital Blue) was head dress (of regimental type) and great coats only. As you have implied, there are hundreds of these photos around and no doubt there will be the odd one or two with some men in SD who might be staff, visitors, or perhaps men in the process of discharge, but pretty much all the photos of patients that I have seen show them in Hospital Blues. There isn't really anything in the photo (crutches, bath chair, hospital furniture, etc) that ties it specifically to a hospital. It could just as easily be a group off-duty at a school of instruction, or at a rest camp (of which there were several).

[GordonBoath]

Thanks guys for all the help.

It may be hospital, rest camp or back after being a POW.

Will try and investigate further with the origins of the photo and see if there are any others with handy dates and places written on the back (I can hope!).

Cheers,

Gordon