Identification request

[PeterH67]

I would appreciate help with this young soldier.  We believe he was born 1900 in Deptford, and was married at age 19, so this picture was probably around 1917/8/9.  Can anyone spread any light as to his regiment etc.  I notice the belt buckle is different from usual (at least I think it is different)

Many thanks for you time

Peter Hyde. South Australia

[Michelle Young]

I will start the ball rolling by saying Middlesex Regiment for the cap badge. I wil. Leave the rest to the real experts .

Michelle 

[MaxD]

I'd agree with Michelle - Middlesex Regiment.  Born in 1900 might suggest he was in one of the Graduated Battalions which were for soldiers under age of 19.  Do you have his name?

 

Max

[FROGSMILE]

Middlesex Regiment for me too.

Edited 17 May , 2019 by FROGSMILE

[PeterH67]

Thank you Michelle, Max & Frog...  His name:  Arthur Parker (No middle name on birth cert or marriage cert).  DoB:  18 Aug 1900, Deptford.  Marriage to Florence Ann Blunden, 1920.  His wife died 1925 and he was listed as a Merchant Seaman on her death cert.  He then disappears from the face of the earth.

 

[FROGSMILE]

2 hours ago, PeterH67 said:

Thank you Michelle, Max & Frog...  His name:  Arthur Parker (No middle name on birth cert or marriage cert).  DoB:  18 Aug 1900, Deptford.  Marriage to Florence Ann Blunden, 1920.  His wife died 1925 and he was listed as a Merchant Seaman on her death cert.  He then disappears from the face of the earth.

 

 

The ‘different’ belt buckle that you mention is from the 1914 Pattern Leather Equipment that was commissioned to equip the suddenly expanded Army because the standard cotton web equipment could not be manufactured quickly enough in sufficient numbers.  It suggests, albeit not definitively, that he might well have been one of the ‘New Army’ volunteers created by Lord Kitchener.

[PeterH67]

Thanks for that Frogsmile… Is there any significance to the baton.. or would that have been a photographer's prop?  I have found a medal card for the only A(rthur) Parker from the Middlesex Regiment at Kew, but no attestation papers or service record - presumably burnt?

[FROGSMILE]

1 hour ago, PeterH67 said:

Thanks for that Frogsmile… Is there any significance to the baton.. or would that have been a photographer's prop?  I have found a medal card for the only A(rthur) Parker from the Middlesex Regiment at Kew, but no attestation papers or service record - presumably burnt?

 

The ‘baton’ was called a swagger stick/cane and was a requirement for British soldiers walking-out (i.e. from barracks or camp) since Victorian times.  A symbol of discipline even wartime soldiers invariably obtained them (they were not issued) and they generally are mentioned in Battalion Standing Orders.  They weren’t of course required in the front line.

 If there are no Service Records available then it’s very likely that they were among the completely burnt element that did not survive the Blitz early in WW2.

Edited 19 May , 2019 by FROGSMILE