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Cotterill or Cotterell William

S

Scarlet

knowlegable brummie
William Parsons dob 1868.jpg

Can anyone help with identifying the uniform my grandfather is wearing in this photo. He joined the army at a very young age (14 yrs) we are not sure what is real date of birth was as it seems to vary between 1864 and 1871. He served in the army most of his life and was in the 3rd Battalion, Warwickshire Regiment in 1914, when he would have been between 44 & 50 years old. His name was William Parsons and my mother remembers he said he'd spent a lot of time in India.
 
pjmburns said:
Do you have any idea where he was born? This might help locate him on census records.

Janice
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Hi Janice, I have found William on the 1911 census, where he gives his year of birth as 1871, this isn't true, as we do know he was at least 20 years older than my grandmother, she was born in 1888, he also gives an incorrect year of birth for her & their 1st son. We believe he was probably born in 1868. The census says born in Ashted, Birmingham. I haven't managed to identify him with any accuracy on previous census records. There was a William Parsons in the Zulu war in 1879 but I think even if he had lied about his age he would have been too young for that.
 
Scarlet said:
View attachment 95456

Can anyone help with identifying the uniform my grandfather is wearing in this photo. He joined the army at a very young age (14 yrs) we are not sure what is real date of birth was as it seems to vary between 1864 and 1871. He served in the army most of his life and was in the 3rd Battalion, Warwickshire Regiment in 1914, when he would have been between 44 & 50 years old. His name was William Parsons and my mother remembers he said he'd spent a lot of time in India.
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Hallo Scarlet,

After having a "dig around" I'm pretty sure the photo is of a soldier of the East Lancashire Regiment.
(Certainly the E Lancs had the white facings on their uniform).
The soldier has two Good Conduct stripes on his sleeve, below a Marksman's badge and he is holding a fashionable "swagger stick".

Baz.
 
Thanks Baz, I have just googled East Lancashire Regiment and it does look like you are right. Would it be unusual for someone from Birmingham to be in the East Lancashire Regiment?
 
Scarlet said:
Thanks Baz, I have just googled East Lancashire Regiment and it does look like you are right. Would it be unusual for someone from Birmingham to be in the East Lancashire Regiment?
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It was not unusual for men to join regiments that had no connection with their home town Scarlet, I suppose it depended on where they were at the time of their signing on.
Funnily enough I've not long finished a book, ("Diary of an Old Contemptible") which is a story of an Irishman who joined the E Lancs in 1905, (he thought he was joining a Lancer regiment). His descriptions of the battles he was involved in, in WW1, are hair raising.
 
maypolebaz said:
It was not unusual for men to join regiments that had no connection with their home town Scarlet, I suppose it depended on where they were at the time of their signing on.
Funnily enough I've not long finished a book, ("Diary of an Old Contemptible") which is a story of an Irishman who joined the E Lancs in 1905, (he thought he was joining a Lancer regiment). His descriptions of the battles he was involved in, in WW1, are hair raising.
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Thanks for the info, I had wrongly assumed men would be signing up locally. Just purchased your book by the way, I know (after I've read it) my cousin will find it very interesting
 
Sorry Scarlet, I left out the important word "reading".
While it looked a little like I was saying that I wrote "Diary of an Old Contemptible", the truth is I have trouble writing a letter, never mind a book !
 
maypolebaz said:
Sorry Scarlet, I left out the important word "reading".
While it looked a little like I was saying that I wrote "Diary of an Old Contemptible", the truth is I have trouble writing a letter, never mind a book !
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Lol Baz, never mind, its an interesting read anyway. Thanks for all your help
 
I have recently discovered my grandfather used a false name to join the army after he was discharged because he caught yellow fever. He apparently rejoined as William Cotterill or Cotterell, so I'll start my search again using that name now :pride:
 
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