Unknown soldier found in family photos.

I have found this photo of an unknown soldier from some family photos. Any information would be great so I could try and figure out who he is? Badge Information? Time frame? He looks so young!

 

Royal Leicestershire?
royal leicestershire army cap badges - Google Search

Royal Leicestershire Regiment

Looks like WW1? (Ignore not WW1 see below)

 

Thanks Owen. Hopefully your information and the dates may help to identify.

 

So ww2 or between the 2?

 

Thanks everyone. I think given that Information it's very unlikely that he's related to me.

 

What makes you think that?

 

He is holding a walking out stick carried by OR in many regiments when wearing walking out uniform. This had almost vanished by the end of WW1 and completely so by WW2.

It looks a remarkably poor fit for a walking out uniform. Some young lad dressed in his dad's old inter war uniform? In which case who knows when it was taken.

 

I hear what you say but he's also sitting down and leaning slightly forward so the uniform fit might not be as bad as you think? Having said that he does look rather young but then so do lots of people. Time to ponder.

 

The stiff cap and the cut of the jacket suggest post-1922 to me...A young lad joining up in the 1920s perhaps...Someone born 1907 - 1915 maybe ? and of course he may not have stayed in very long meaning that it didn't become part of the family oral history. Photographer's studios in garrison towns often carried props. The stick may not have been his own.

 

Take a look at the arms. The jacket's too big for him

 

Walking out dress ceased to be official issue before WW1 but some regiments maintained it as a regimental tradition and met the cost out of regimental funds. This was usually the core battalions - the cost would be too much for all those war time additional batns. Some soldiers would chip in as well. However it died out in the interwar years and the walking out stick went long before so that only some of the old sweats would have one and it would be unlikely to be a photographer's prop. That is not an old sweat. Every attempt was made to make the walking out uniform look ultra smart - that was the whole point of having it. So they would be altered and primped even to the point of running wa into the creases to keep them sharp. The belt would be white blancoed long after white blanco ceased to be generally used.

 

Well as stated it's Leicester and my family is from up North and Stoke on Trent (Staffordshire) so close to Leicester i suppose. My grandmother (from staffordshire) is nearing 90s and she says she doesn't know who it is. Her father was an only child and it's not him. Therefore I think given the time frame it's unlikely to be family but who knows, I could be wrong. It's something I'm trying to figure out.
I originally thought it was someone from my grand father's side but they lived Northumberland.

 

Regiment is not always a definite clue to geographical origin of the soldier. For example, My Uncle - from Lincolnshire - was posted to the Lanarkshire Yeomanry. Men were sent to where they were needed (especially in Wartime) and could also happen in Peacetime.

 

I agree with SDP
My grandfather was born in Burton-upon-Trent, he enlisted in Birmingham in 1924. He spent four days with the Somerset Light Infantry before being transferred to the Dorsetshire Regiment.

He looks very young, he could have enlisted as a 'Boy'. He may have been initially attached to the Corps of Drums or trained as a bandsman?

Try your family surnames in their database
Have you a Tiger in your Family?

 

I wouldn't rely on this. My grandfather was an only son but had lots of cousins some of which have only recently come to light and they were spread out

No, it certainly happened during the war when conscription applied and one got sent where there was a need but it did not happen in peace time. However men did not always enlist in the regiment of the county in which they lived. The Worcestershire village in which I now live had men enlist in the Herefordshires and the Kings Own Shropshire Light Infantry. The reason seems to be very simple - given the local light railway line it was easier to get tor a recruitment office for either regiment than to a Worcestershire Regt recruitment office. The KOSLI had recruitment offices in both Herefordshire and Worcestershire

 

My grandfather who was a Londoner joined the Northamptonshire Regiment in 1924. I believe that he followed a friend in and that the Northamptons were at Colchester at the time, but it still doesn't seem like an obvious choice. The County allegiance was obviously strong with territorials, but regular army battalions were garrisoned at various locations, even in peacetime.