Uniform I.D.

The medal ribbon is of course the Queens South Africa 1899-1902. The fact that he is not yet wearing a King's South Africa 1901-1902 fairly well pins down the date to within a few months
Dave, before you give 4/7 RDG appoplexy, I must hasten to agree with him that, on balance, the medal is the India General Service (1854-95) medal.

It also seems that the real experts on Victorian uniforms rule out a date before 1881: Victorian Wars Forum • View topic - Uniform Query. The amount of expertise on the Internet never ceases to amaze me; I should have checked before posting.

This is the QSA 1899-1902 medal, it is nothing like the ribbon in the photo:

 

Re: Lance Corporal Gentlemen, please don't fall-out about this. What a fascinating debate.

Correct me if I'm wrong, the consensus so far is that the photo is dated about 1899, according to Owen #21. This fits in with 4/7 RDG saying it's post 1881 and the uniform is identical to "Private John Harvey".
Therefore, if the Lance Corporal is aged about 30ish this would mean he was born about 1870.
The only relatives I have that fit this date, on my mother's side, are William George WEBB, Edwin WEBB and Herbert John WEBB, all brothers. They were all born in Birmingham. So what regiments would have been around at that time?
Is it possible to find any of these names in the military around 1899? Or is that too much to ask.

Thanks to all who have posts regarding the other uniforms, Philip, Combover and Tab. If they are photos of my relatives then I would suggest they would have joined regiments from the Midlands i.e. Worcester’s, Warwickshire’s, etc... except for the naval uniform, of course.
Thanks again to all,
Phil

 

Who's Dave ?

Sorry Owen! Dave is 4/7 RDG·

Peter

 

Thanks to all who have posts regarding the other uniforms, Philip, Combover and Tab. If they are photos of my relatives then I would suggest they would have joined regiments from the Midlands i.e. Worcester’s, Warwickshire’s, etc... except for the naval uniform, of course.
Thanks again to all,
Phil

In terms of the Victorian L/Cpl, he is definitely not a Royal Warwickshire Regiment soldier, as if he was he would have dark blue facings (the colour of the collar and cuffs on his uniform) because of the 'Royal' status.

While it is certainly likely that he joined a local regiment, it is by no means certain. Despite efforts to localise recruitment, it often depended on which units needed men, and also the whim/prejudice of the recruiting sergeant.

 

Back again (waited all day yesterday for brickies to arrive to do some re-pointing and they never did turn up . . . ).

I just had this message from the National Army Museum:
Dear Mr Rayner,

Thank you for your email.

I'm afraid the image you have sent is rather blurred, but from what I
can see I think you are right. He appears to be a typical line
infantry soldier after the Cardwell reforms of 1881. The Undress frock
jacket has the 7 buttons down the front which were ordered for home
service. He has 6 years Good Conduct.

I do hope this helps.

Kind regards,

Natalia Wieczorek, Miss, Curator Exhibits Department.

National Army Museum.

 

I've just found some other photos, I almost forgot I had.

The one is dated 1944 in India the other one I haven't got a scooby about.

Can anyone identify the regiments?

regards
Phil

 

Photo 52a could be the Royal Hampshire Regiment (37th and 67th). But this time I won't stake my life on it.

Peter

 

... or the Dorset Regiment