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Help Please - Army Photograph

J

Jules65

master brummie
Can anyone help at all please. I have found the attached photograph in my parents things. I have a feeling that it is a photograph of my grandparents or most probably my great grandparents. Can anyone hazard a guess to the age of the picture? What uniform is the gentleman wearing? I think that this is a wedding photograph. Any information you can provide at all would be very helpful.

View attachment 16630
 
Jules65

Sorry cannot help with the uniform, but what do you mean, you think it is a wedding dress? Of course it is a wedding dress.

Cheers

Junie
 
Junie said:
Jules65

Sorry cannot help with the uniform, but what do you mean, you think it is a wedding dress? Of course it is a wedding dress.

Cheers

Junie
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Sorry - having a blond moment!! I thought it could have been her "Sunday Best" but you are right - isn't it spectacular though! She reminds me of royalty.
 
Army uniforms are not an area of my expertise, but this clearer picture might help those who do know such detail.
 
Thank you Lloyd - the photograph looks great! You have done a great job. Was unsure where to post this thread but as usual everyone seems ready to help but I do apologise if this is under the wrong heading.
 
Jules Pill Box hats were worn in Places like India mainly in hot climates:)
 
Alf, if the photograph has rounded corners it is a hundred or more years old...Cat
 
Alf thanks for your post. I have an inkling that these were either my dad's parents or his grandparents. I know his father was a George Daniel Dauncey born in Birmingham in 1891. I think he may have been in Africa before WW1 and I seem to remember my Uncle telling me that he was coming home from Africa and was diverted to France because of WW1. But saying all this, the gentleman in the photograph looks too old to be him. So maybe it was George's father who was an Alfred Dauncey born in 1851 in Eastington, Gloucestershire. Were our troops abroad around this sort of timescales?

Of course they could be of grandparents or g grandparents on my mothers side and I don't know very much about them.
 
Lloyd said:
Here is George D Dauncey's Army medal card, showing he was awarded the Victory Medal and the British War Medal, but not the 1914 or 1914-15 Star so he was not in an 'operational theatre of War' or under fire before 1st Jan 1916.
https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documentsonline/medals.asp gives details of the medals.

I cannot find a record for an Alfred Dauncey in this archive.
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Lloyd - thank you so much for this information. It seems you are helping me out a lot this evening! Do you think there may be some truth in my Uncles story or do the dates just not add up?
 
Alf said:
Jules Pill Box hats were worn in Places like India mainly in hot climates:)
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Having looked at notes I have made when researching my family tree, my great grandfather Charles Stephen Birbeck's (born in Kings Norton in 1862) first child Emma A J Birbeck was born in British Cuiason (Berbrie) which I think was the Gold Coast in South Africa. His other children were born in Birmingham. I am wondering if this picture could be of him and his wife Emma Taylor.

Unfortunately there are a lot of contenders for this photograph. I just wish my parents had written who people were on the back. It would be such a great help. How I wish I could talk to my parents again - there are so many questions I would have liked to ask them.

Thanks again for everyone's help and interest.

Jules
 
Jules65 said:
Lloyd - thank you so much for this information. It seems you are helping me out a lot this evening! Do you think there may be some truth in my Uncles story or do the dates just not add up?
Click to expand...

If GD Dauncey was born in 1891, he would have been 27 in 1916, the right age to be at war. I don't know about 'being in Africa', the Boer war was in 1899 - 1902, I imagine there was a force retained afterwards which may have included him. I don't know if any records are available for army personnel at that time, particularly online.

Alfred Dauncey, born 1851 would have been 63 by 1914, too old to fight I think - and there is no WW1 medal record for him.

Relatives' stories are usually based on fact, although often a little (or more!) 'mixed up' as the memories dim.
I can't find either of them in the 1901 census, not enough detail.
 
Thanks Lloyd for all of the information. I think Alfred Dauncey died in 1908 in Aston. He married Clara Fanny Jackson on 7.4.1890 in Birmingham. Alfred was a coffin maker and lived at 4 Fordrough Street, Birmingham. George Daniel was born 18.4.1891 and his sister was died at birth in 1895 together with George's mother. George was subsequently bought up by his widowed father. Maybe he joined the army to "escape" a harsh life which I think was the case in Birmingham around that time.
 
The very smart Sargeant it might have been spelled Serjeant if it was an early photo, could be in the Royal Engineers or the Royal Artillery as both share the Bomb Insignia with Flames coming out the Bomb.
 
Alf, the difference is in the size of the flames on the RA & RE badge, used in WW2 as a Cap Badge to save metal and post WW2, when i joined the RA in 1947 i had a plastic Cap Badge ( Bomb with flames).
 
Been having a little look around and found this

https://www.remuseum.org.uk/corpshistory/rem_corps_part14.htm

Go down the page and under Title 15 Other Cores activities you will see a Sargent with the same Badge above his Stripes, you might need a magnifying glass, well I did



Embroided Arm Badge is worn above the chevrons by Sergeants and Staff Sergeants, see below.




This one is from todays army
REgrenadearmbadge125px.gif

Grenade Arm Badge
 
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The "Bomb" as shown by Alf.
is the one of the Royal Engineers,
the differance between R.E. & R,A??
The RE Bomb has nine flames where as the R.A. has seven
 
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