Uniform Query

Oh Flook, how clever of you - I must have mislaid my copy of the barber and toilet manual:D

Thank you so much, it does thwart my original theory, but I can now go looking for young men in the later time frame (born around 1880).

I so wanted it to be someone born 1850's (hence my appeal for independent ideas) but I think you are right he is a much younger man.
 
Perhaps your Nan had a sweetheart who didn't make it through the Great War? Or is this sensitive ground?
Not sensitive - nan and grandad married in 1906 - she had had 6 live births by the outbreak of WW1, only dad and 2 older sisters survived of those 6.
My mystery man does resemble dad - but it could be just the moustache leading me astray (although he does have 'our' big ears too:eek:). So I am going to concentrate on my grandfather's family and see if I can find a likely candidate hiding there:)
 
I note that his trousers have 2 heavy stripes whereas the lads in the corporals' photograph are quite different.
Having said all that, you could be looking for a 20-24 year old born around 1880.

Good point Flook, made me wonder if the younger version was a cadet, but then I noticed the angle of the corporal chappy's leg was different-almost on the lean which could be hiding most of the leg stripes--older uniform too. Wearing medals, so he has been out & about a bit. Just below those medals & just under the pocket is what looks like a name or word/ letters, but I cannot enlarge well enough to see what it may be. Then below his wrist is what looks like a kerchief or some such spilling from a lower pocket or sash,- large hands in both photos.
 
View attachment 6422
L - R dad at 29, 26, and the mystery man - is there a family likenesss?
I see the same jaw line & if you discount the curls of the chap in the photo, the hairline is the same. However your Dad presumably had two parents so other genes at work here too. Also the nose I think & ears.


Molly May I think one of my lot had the same problem as your G'Dad's father. His large brood split around the area & only a few seemed to stay in touch, hence my Mother only really knew of two of my G'Dads sibs. I know hugely more than she did, probably with help from her after she left this earth.
 
Rather than start a new thread, I thought I would update this one from a few years ago:eek:.

Through my dna test, I have been in contact with my cousin's son. My cousin and his sister are still alive and now approaching their 80's. I have not been in contact with them since the early 1960's, when I was just a child.

He has located a military record for my g.dad - Royal West Kent Regiment, enlisted in 1887, claiming to be 18 - he was 16! I found the original attestation on FMP, and it definitely is him, even using Albert as his middle name - it was Henry, but he used Albert when he wanted to disguise his past:rolleyes:. He served until 1899, so it is looking very likely that this is an early picture of my g.dad (he is still missing on the 1891 census, but the records tells he was in Ireland). His service record says he was a driver, and I am assuming that was of horses (spurs in the picture). It is recorded that he did train to cold shoe horses.
On the service record he is noted as having a scar over his eyebrow and with some magnification there is a mark on the photo (but that might just be a smudge;)), but I am now more than convinced this is g.dad, a man I never met, he died 9 years before I was born, and that I only have one picture of, when he was an elderly man.

Another mystery solved:)
 
Back
Top