Unidentified dress uniforms in an old family photo

[Oddsocks]

Hello, my British great, great uncle Lewis Cantrill served and died in WW1.  The family has lost all information.  I would be grateful for anyinformation about the uniforms he is wearing to learn a bit more.  
I’ve been reading other threads and it seems it might be an Royal Artillery uniform of some sort.  

[ss002d6252]

Are you certain he died in WW1 ? The CWGC has no deaths of a Lewis Cantrill recorded - https://www.cwgc.org/find/find-war-dead/results?lastName=cantrill&tab=wardead&pageSize=100&casualtypagenumber=1

 

Do  you know when and where he was born ?

 

Craig

[FROGSMILE]

The lowermost photo shows a gunner of the Royal Horse Artillery.  The upper photo shows a gunner wearing tunic, pantaloons, girdle (coloured web belt), boots and spurs of the Royal Field Artillery, but with a RHA fur busby. At least one Territorial Force unit (in Scotland I believe) continued to wear a busby instead of the ball-topped helmet worn by other RFA units.

Edited 22 February , 2020 by FROGSMILE

[seaJane]

There are four Lewis Cantrills identifiable on FreeBMD but only two seem to have been of an age to serve, and they survived past the end of the war. I can't find any Lewis Cantrill on the National Archives catalogue; the two Cantrills with middle initial L turned out to be Leonard.

[Buffnut453]

A Lewis Cantrill enlisted in the Royal Artillery in 1930.  He was transferred to Z Reserves in 1946 and was eventually discharged in 1954.  His service number was 809810.  Dunno if this is useful or simply confusing.  

[seaJane]

That might have been the Lewis Cantrell recorded on FreeBMD as born Sheffield 23 Feb 1909 [111 years ago tomorrow!], died March 1982 in Southampton. 21 in 1930 looks about the right age for the photo, if the uniform's a match.

 

Possibly also the man who married Edith Stokes in Christchurch (Dorset/Hampshire) in March 1937.

 

 

[Oddsocks]

Hmmm. Interesting.  My grandfather’s brother Lewis IS the one born in 1909, and married, and died as per the particulars.  Not sure about possible military history.   

[FROGSMILE]

On 22/02/2020 at 22:16, seaJane said:

That might have been the Lewis Cantrell recorded on FreeBMD as born Sheffield 23 Feb 1909 [111 years ago tomorrow!], died March 1982 in Southampton. 21 in 1930 looks about the right age for the photo, if the uniform's a match.

 

Possibly also the man who married Edith Stokes in Christchurch (Dorset/Hampshire) in March 1937.

 

 

The uniform is indeed a match seaJane.  The fur busby was re-adopted to replace the helmet for those few required to wear full dress between the two World wars. 
A similar but not identical uniform is still worn by the band of the Royal Artillery today.

 

Edited 26 February , 2020 by FROGSMILE

[Oddsocks]

1 minute ago, FROGSMILE said:

The uniform is a match SeaJane.  The fur busby was adopted to replace the helmet for those few required to wear full dress between the two World wars. 

Amazing & speedy replies! 
My family haven’t known all that much as my grandfather emigrated to Australia in 1924 and never returned (so his brother must have sent him this photos - he carried them in a swag around Australia during the depression) 

We had always assumed that this was my grandfather’s uncle who we thought was ‘Lewis’  in WW1.  They came from the area around Sheffield, I haven’t searched DOB though.  As the family story goes, Pop remembers his uncle coming back ‘on leave’ and when he had to go back he describes him pacing and smoking, distressed, on the train platform and didn’t want to go back.  My pop was Frank Brazewell Cantrill in a long line of Franks, born 1902, so ‘Lewis’ must have been 1880s? 
 

I wonder who he was. 

 

Thanks for clearing up the mystery. 

[ss002d6252]

8 minutes ago, Oddsocks said:

Amazing & speedy replies! 
My family haven’t known all that much as my grandfather emigrated to Australia in 1924 and never returned (so his brother must have sent him this photos - he carried them in a swag around Australia during the depression) 

We had always assumed that this was my grandfather’s uncle who we thought was ‘Lewis’  in WW1.  They came from the area around Sheffield, I haven’t searched DOB though.  As the family story goes, Pop remembers his uncle coming back ‘on leave’ and when he had to go back he describes him pacing and smoking, distressed, on the train platform and didn’t want to go back.  My pop was Frank Brazewell Cantrill in a long line of Franks, born 1902, so ‘Lewis’ must have been 1880s? 
 

I wonder who he was. 

 

Thanks for clearing up the mystery. 

There are death records of a Tom Cantrill and an Ernest Cantrill , both of Sheffield.

 

Ernest was "Son of Mrs. Ellen Cantrill, of 3 Court, 1 House, Brightmore St., Sheffield".

Craig

[ss002d6252]

I suspect this is Frank's older brother Lewis in 1901.
https://search.ancestry.co.uk/cgi-bin/sse.dll?dbid=7814&h=34029721&indiv=try&o_vc=Record:OtherRecord&rhSource=2352

and this is your grandfather in 1911

https://search.ancestry.co.uk/cgi-bin/sse.dll?db=1911England&indiv=try&h=31052811

 

 

Craig

[ss002d6252]

This is the Ernest mentioned above.
https://search.ancestry.co.uk/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=2352&h=37294176&tid=&pid=&usePUB=true&_phsrc=nWt377&_phstart=successSource

 

Craig

[charlie962]

Ernest Cantrill who was missing then presumed dead

ICRC Inquiry:

[seaJane]

49 minutes ago, Oddsocks said:

Lewis’ must have been 1880s

One of the other Lewis Cantrells on FreeBMD was born in Sheffield in 1869 and the other in Eccleshall Bierlow (on the south-west outskirts of Sheffield) in 1880. 

 

https://www.freebmd.org.uk/ if you want to have a search around, also https://www.freecen.org.uk/

 

sJ

Edited 22 February , 2020 by seaJane