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What uniform could this be?

W

watton

master brummie
Could anyone please help me identify this man's uniform please?The photo was given to me by someone in the family. There are lots of suggestions to who he might be, but nothing positive. Many thanks. (Hope this works!)
 
Mike, Photo is around the 1850's but never seen a mess uniform with those button arrangements and RS on the left hand breast ...so it might not be military and I will make further inquiries
 
Many thanks Cromwell. The photo was taken in Birmingham and ended up in Brecon; the album belonged to an ex South Wales Borderer and his wife
 
Uniform query

Thanks Alf and Cromwell, for your info. I had a look at the site and a few others. Although I can see a resemblance to the badge which is 'similar' to that of the 8th King's Royal Irish Hussars, I can't find a picture of the uniform to compare. Any suggestions where there are similar uniforms?
I must say, that I like his hair. I wonder if he used to put rollers in it!!!
 
Cromwell, the photo I posted was in an album originally owned by my wife's great great grandfather (photo attached - original in the South Wales Borderer's Museum in Brecon). He was a sergeant in the South Wales Borderers, born in Duddeston (near Vauxhall Barracks) and died in Brecon (coincidentally in a street called The Watton). Do you think that there could be any connection between the two men photographed?
 
Mike as you have been down to the SWB museum in Brecon you are aware that a lot of Brummies were in the regiment and for years their has been arguments raging on who were at Rorkes Drift the Brummies or the Welsh ....I have been down this road many times and the biggest majority were the Midlanders....
As your chap was from this period if you have a name it would be easy to research and if you like I could put it on the RWF website to see what feedback it brings ...
The two photo's you mention could be one of the same person if he put on weight later in life
 
Great, many thanks Cromwell; he is Joseph Green born 12 Apr 1840, Cottage Row, Smith's Building, Well Street, Birmingham. In the 1850s lived in Gt Francis Street, Duddeston, Aston and married Mary Ann Silk living in Gt Francis Street, in 1970. By 1891 he was a sergeant in Brecon.
 
Mike as you might already know the South Wales Borderer's in 1879 were granted a wreath of immortelles by Queen Victoria to commemorate the battle of Isandhlwana see pic. and this became their cap badge
As the colours are not clear on his medal ribbon but by the shape of the medal, I would say he is wearing Medal for South Africa 1835 -79
the South Africa 1877-9 which had a yellow ribbon with black stripes, it did have a clasp which covered the years served
 
We knew he was in South Africa but probably not at Rorke's Drift. My father-in-law has spoken to the curator a few times but did not write anything down. I was puzzled that a Birmingham mann served with a Welsh regiment but just looking at the regiment site I see that before 1881 they were 24th (2nd Warwickshire) Regiment of Foot which I did not know before. Joseph probably joined up 1855 - 60; he was born 1840. I must go to the museum again myself when I am down there and get more details
 
Mike you can glean a lot of info from the photo of Joseph by the early form of forage cap with the stiff peak he is wearing which was worn up until 1880 then in 1881 the forage cap with a small drooping peak came in and the Number 24 was dropped
Photo enclosed is one of my Charles Stadden figures 24th Regt.Foot
 
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Uniform

Hi Watton,
just checked out your picture,
the regiment is....
8th (KINGS ROYAL IRISH) Hussars
raised in 1693 as (Robert)Cunningham'sDragoons
8th K R I Hussars in1822
Motto " Pristinea virtutis memores"
The memory of former valour
 
Uniform

Hi Dennis - many thanks. You are a STAR!
I have tried so many sites - even 'ebay' to try to find something similar. Cheers.
 
This is a photograph of a uncle of mine taken during the second world war. Am told he died as a result of injuries received in operations.

Can anyone identify, even from the shirt sleeve order, what unit he may have belonged to or possibly his medal ribbon. Tall order I know but live in hope.
 
A.Will, the golden crusader's cross on a white shield set on a dark blue background. is the badge of the Eight Army The badge owes its origin to the Army's first action, code-named 'Operation Crusader'.
The Eighth Army was formed from the original Army of the Nile in November 1941. Comprising 13 and 30 Corps, together with other formations, it fought hard in 1942, initially against the Italians and later against Rommel's Afrika Corps. Although forced to a defensive line at the gateway to Egypt, in October
They won a great victory at El Alamein under General Montgomery. Thereafter it swept onward into Tunisia.Its next action was the invasion of Sicily, and then the bloody slog northwards through Italy. With Fifteenth Army Group, it forced the Sangro and Volturno crossings, and played a decisive role in the Po Valley.
Rattle Honours, North Africa, 1941-42, Battle of El Alamein, October—November 1942, Sicily, July 1943
Italy, 1943-45
Being as the photo is Black and white and without colour I am pretty sure that the medal ribbon is the Africa Star (10th June 1940 till 12th May 1943)
 
Cromwell.
Many thanks for answering a quandary I have had for some time. Makes me very proud to know what a illustrious army group he fought with.
My thanks again. Will.
 
Birmingham News with thanks to the Birmingham Mail. Len.





Midland Heroes of Rorke's Drift uncovered

Jun 14 2010 by Gregg Evans, Birmingham Mail



battle-of-rorke-s-drift-673699945.jpg

THE true exploits of Midland soldiers who took part in one of the most famous battles in British military history have been revealed for the first time.
The 24th Regiment heroes had noting to protect them from the enemy during the Battle of Rorke’s Drift in the Anglo-Zulu War in 1879 except a makeshift barricade of bags and boxes.
Yet the unit, based in Warley until 1873, stood proud to protect the country and defend a British Army supply station from the Zulu Warriors.


Eleven Victoria Crosses – the highest military honour – were awarded to soldiers at the battle.
And William Tasker, from Birmingham, was one of the gallant soldiers who fought on despite being wounded by a Zulu splinter which glanced his forehead.
The hero, born in 1846, joined the army as a 20-year-old and returned home to the city after the battle to raise a family. He died aged 42.
His story is one of many revealed in a new book by author Jim Bancroft who researched the battle for four decades.
Fellow soldier Joseph Lenford Windridge, who lived in Aston, was also one of the brave troops to do his country proud. He moved into a more relaxed occupation as a clerk to a lamp maker after leaving the army.
Six of his 11 children died of tuberculosis in March 1986 before he suffered a stroke and died in 1902, aged 60.
Aston-based brothers, Charles and Joseph Bromwich, also took part in the action at Rorke’s Drift.
On leaving the army, Joseph and his wife, Betsy, established a boot and shoe repairing shop in Aston before moving to Selly Oak. He died in 1916, aged 60. There were no further details of Charles.
Robert Edward Cole, who settled in Aston, endured the two-day battle on January 22/23 in hospital as he was suffering from fever when the Zulus attacked the post. He died in 1898, aged 40
 
the first photo is Enniskillen Dragoon Guards, The pill box cap was introduced around 1880 and and ended in 1904
 
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