Please help - is he a Mason? Religious? Garment recognition

[JenB]

Still think it's an ordination pic

 

I think someone at their ordination would be wearing clerical gear rather than a collar and tie.

Also, I don't think the sash is really long enough to be an ecclesiastical one.

Jennifer

[Lydart]

My initial thought was that he was a Minister (church) and this was taken at his ordination. 

That doesn't explain the DSe or DSc though

Di

Edit: After posting the above thought, NOW I read the original thread 

Still think it's an ordination pic 

Never !   No way;   not at all !!

A deacon or a priest has for hundreds of years been ordained with a long stole (6ft long) either over one shoulder and across the chest and knotted loosely at the side (a deacon), OR for a priest, the same stole round the neck and both ends hanging straight down the front.   Symbols on a stole might be at very least some sort of design incorporating a cross, and other decorations symbolic of where the priest comes from, or where he might be working ... for e.g., some African priests have a sun on theirs ... I believe John Sentamu (Archbp of York) has a sun, or flames ...

Dog collars would also have been in use at the time this pic was taken. 

[CoastalPlains]

Thank you all for your replies, I still don't know what to make of him!

I'm desperate to find a name for him, as this may help me find out why he was important to my grandfather.

Just off the top of my head, my grandfather would have been 28 in 1909 (around the same age as this man?) so perhaps this was a friend who went on to become the 'monsignor' I referred to in the original thread.

Thanks again,
Louise

[robbo43]

I think he has to be an official in a friendly society, union or something similar.  The initials on the right hand side ought to indicate what.  At first I thought if might be AOF (Ancient Order of Foresters) but looking closer it appears to be H?F, I can't make out what is between the H and the F.

Robert

[CoastalPlains]

Thanks Robert. I know my grandfather was a catholic, but I don't know whether he belonged to any unions or societies. I don't even know what his occupation was. He would have been retired before my mum was even born.

The family were of Italian descent, if this means anything?

I read the right initials as HHF or HMF.

What do you make of the other symbol on the left side, above the D Sec? I can't see it as letters, it looks more like a badge or logo.

[JenB]

I read the right initials as HHF or HMF

I thought it might be HMF or HAIF.

[Hibee]

Is that an Irish harp above the DS?

Hibee

[LostinFrance]

Hi,

Doesn't look religious - particularly not Catholic.  They only tend to have quite specific letters on such as Alpha/Omega and INRI...

Could it be D Soc, as in District Society?

Kind regards.

[LostinFrance]

I did think it was a harp, as well.