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Remembered Today:

Uniform Identification


Poppy13

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Can anyone identify and/or date this uniform please? I am a novice here and would really appreciate some help. I was told by an aged aunt that the soldier in the photo was 'X'.

After some research into his service record, I discovered 'X' to be a private in the King's Own Royal Lancaster Regiment from December 1916 (73rd training reserve battalion) until August 1917 (KORL). He appears to have been transferred to India in February 1917 (Bombay and Bangalore). He was discharged to a rest camp in August 1917 and died at home in September, aged 20.

Is it possible that 'X', given his brief service history, could have worn this uniform in 1917? Did the KORLs have mounted divisions?

I think that the soldier in the photo is of someone other than 'X' and my aged aunt has got mixed up. The photo looks like a mounted soldier as he is wearing spurs, holding a riding crop and has a horse shoe on his arm! Unfortunately, I had to crop it rather severely to make it an acceptable file size!

Please help!

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The cap badge in the photo is not the KORL which is a Lion with THE KINGS OWN underneath,

The badge appears to be one of the Artillery either Royal Horse, Royal Field, or Royal Garrison( RHA,RFA or RGA

Eddie

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Thanks for that Eddie, it's a great help. You've now confirmed my suspicion that the photo is not Mr 'X' of the KORL.

It looks like I've another relative to research.

Thanks again!

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  • Admin

Certainly Artillery, his shoulder title will tell you what he was in- can you zoom in on that? He has a badge on his sleeve too.

Michelle

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He is a Shoeing Smith (qualified Farriers became Sergeants - the badge for both is a horseshoe) and also appears to be wearing an oilskin cap cover on his SD cap, presumably as a guard against inclement weather.

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I thank you all very much for your help. It is much appreciated!

I can't, unfortunately, zoom in on his shoulder as it just totally distorts the picture. Thanks for the information regarding the farrier aspect, I'll look into that one a little more!

This probably sounds silly to you more experienced people, but is it definitely a WW1 uniform and is it possible to date it at all?

Thanks again.

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Not silly, Poppy. The uniform jacket of the type illustrated was worn throughout the war; the post-war version was somewhat similar, but not the same. This looks to be WW1. The cap has a stiff peak, which could date this to the earlier part of the war, say 1915-16, but stiff-peaked caps were worn throughout also, in some circumstance. The shoulder title bears three letters, which means that he was in RGA, RFA or RHA. Postwar, the title would have been just RA. So your man is certainly wartime.

Best wishes

Peter

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This shows the shoulder titles referred to by Peter and also his cap badge Poppy. You can learn more about the jacket here:http://khaki-on-campaign.webs.com/apps/photos/

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post-599-0-61258700-1338715277_thumb.jpg

post-599-0-67716200-1338715292_thumb.jpg

post-599-0-00355100-1338715355_thumb.jpg

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