Which Corps or Regiment is this?

[hibernianscribe]

I attach a cropped image from a post card that I think may have a family connection. Could one of the uniform experts advise which corps or regiment this is. The post mark on the post card is too faint to read but luckily (on the glossy side) there is a very clear impression of '13' so it was posted sometime in 1913.

Thanks

Frank

[roughdiamond]

Royal Engineers going by the SSM's cap badge, the bomb below his SSM crown and the officers collar dogs, the rest are wearing what looks like RE No1 dress and the helmet plate is the Royal Cypher. it looks like a recruits course.

It could also be a Territorial Sqn of the RE, but as the only NCo's are a SSM, Cpl's and L/Cpls, I reckon it's more likely to be a recruits passing out course. If you google images of the RE Corps band, they still wear a very similar tunic, with a Busby rather than a helmet.

Hard to determine a date, as only the cross legged Officer seems to have a medal ribbon.

Sam

[roughdiamond]

Here's a photo of one with it's storage tin, my old Sqn has one as part of mess property.

[hibernianscribe]

Gentlemen - Thank you for your very prompt reply - the RE was what I hoped would be the answer as it fits with the other bits of the jigsaw. The puzzle is not complete yet but this has helped immensely.

Please may I ask your opinion on a second 'puzzle' that would also assist me greatly if I could ascertain the (Scottish) regiment and the likely date. I'm maybe pushing the rules a bit in that it is clearly mid-late Victorian rather than WW1 but could anyone give an opinion on the picture below.

Thanks

Frank

[Old Owl]

Hi Frank,

I think that he is Seaforth Highlanders and probably turn of the century or 1880's to early 1900's ish?

Robert

[FROGSMILE]

Gentlemen - Thank you for your very prompt reply - the RE was what I hoped would be the answer as it fits with the other bits of the jigsaw. The puzzle is not complete yet but this has helped immensely.

Please may I ask your opinion on a second 'puzzle' that would also assist me greatly if I could ascertain the (Scottish) regiment and the likely date. I'm maybe pushing the rules a bit in that it is clearly mid-late Victorian rather than WW1 but could anyone give an opinion on the picture below.

Thanks

Frank

I think he might be a Seaforth Highlander in Mackenzie trews (undress) as opposed to a kilt (full dress). The Seaforths had two, separate collar badges, a distinction they only shared with the Royal Irish Fusiliers. I can also see what looks like the bottom part of the Seaforth stag cap badge on his glengarry cap. The 1st Battalion had been without kilts as the 72nd foot before 1881.

[Staffsyeoman]

I also concur about the main picture being Sappers, and also that they may be Territorials as there isn't a medal between any of them - save the Officer Commanding, centre, who appears to have a 1911 Coronation Medal - more grist to the 1913 theory.

[FROGSMILE]

The soldier with the 4 inverted chevrons surmounted by a crown and grenade is the Acting Sergeant Major, an appointment for a regular soldier attached and unique to the volunteer units. He was the equivalent of the later RSM.

[Graham Stewart]

The soldier with the 4 inverted chevrons surmounted by a crown and grenade is the Acting Sergeant Major, an appointment for a regular soldier attached and unique to the volunteer units. He was the equivalent of the later RSM.

Hi Mate - I'll think you'll find he's the QMS, as it's a grenade and star above the four chevrons, and not the crown - still, I believe it's a seconded posting from the Regulars. Cracking photo though.

[FROGSMILE]

Hi Mate - I'll think you'll find he's the QMS, as it's a grenade and star above the four chevrons, and not the crown - still, I believe it's a seconded posting from the Regulars. Cracking photo though.

Thanks Graham, I confess I could not see well enough to definitively ID if it was a crown or a star above his chevrons and so made an educated assumption that, given his central position alongside the field officers, he was probably the ASM. If you can see that it is a star though then that is good enough for me and I agree that he must be a QMS instructor, an appointment that still exists in the RE today.

[gordon92]

Hi Frank,

I think that he is Seaforth Highlanders and probably turn of the century or 1880's to early 1900's ish?

Robert

I would concur on the date of the Seaforth Highlander as 1881-1900. The facing color on the cuff and collar is coming across as yellow in the ortho photography, yellow being the facing color assigned to all non-Royal Scottish regiments in the 1881 reforms. In 1900 The Seaforth Highlanders reverted to buff as the facing color, this color being the facings of the pre-1881 78th Ross-shire Buffs; the Highland Light Infantry made a similar change about the same time.

[findabetterole]

Sorry chaps, I know I've come in here a tad late. If it helps any, the officer with the dog in the leading post.. is wearing two ribbons, and they are mounted outward from tunic pocket button. They are rather hard to make out, but at the same time they seem to be rather distinctive... in itself a contradiction. May I suggest QSA + KSA? Going by the grouping of ranks on the front row, and the apparent age of the members arranged behind, would it not be possible that this is some form of recruit passout?

Seph