William Edmund Thomas -- which regiment?

[tonepad]

The maximum age for enlistment in the army was 38 before WW1.
Which would be 1908 for Will Thomas.
He is a miner in 1911.

Older men were in the army after WW1 started.
Is there any evidence for Will Thomas serving in WW1, medals, medal cards/rolls, letters home etc.?

The Second Boer War was from 1899 to 1902 and he could also have been in the Punjab about this time.


Tony

[queencorgi1]

Hi Tony

No, the only information I have on Will is the photos and the family oral information about his drinking, being in the army during WW1 in India and the 'marriage'. Obviously any or all of these could be confused or actually wrong.

Your suggestion makes sense! Could he have joined up and then left and gone back to mining? I suppose there's no reason not.

[alan o]

The photo is of a Victorian era Lancer.  He is not however a 21st Lance as they had coloured collars where as your man's match the rest of the jacket.   He may have been in the Army as a young may, served in India and then rejoined in WW1.

The type of uniform was not worn during the war.  If he was in India then he would have been entitled to 2 medals for war time service so there will be a medal card in existence with his war time regt on it.

However Ancestry is showing a 12th Lancer of that name who was in France in 1914 and a 16th Lancer who also served in the 17th Lancers.  It's possible your family story is confused and his service in India was much earlier than WW1 as evidenced by the photograph from Punjab. 

As a miner with a family, even as a former soldier, who was unlikley to be conscripted in WW1 so may not have been in the army during the war.  Alternatively he may have re-enlisted into a Corps with a less demanding role.

[alan o]

If that's him holding the baby in the 3rd photo then that's much later.  The soldier there is a cavalryman but is a Sergeant.  The badge over the sgt's stripes is for swordsmanship. 

He's very casually dressed so perhaps a family photo taken on leave at home.

[queencorgi1]

Thank you Alan for these interesting comments!
It is certainly possible that the family story is confused, especially as he is not a direct ancestor.

I have now heard back from the Queen's Royal Lancers museum. They point out that although the 21st Lancers were the only regiment in India, they were NOT in the Punjab (see label on Will's photograph). They also point out that he can't have been a 21st Lancer because he has no colour badgers on his blues uniform.

This therefore suggests that photograph was taken well before WW1. I think though that the other photographs could be WW1 era? It would of course help enormously if his service record had survived but I am far from being the only person to make that complaint! A good point that as a miner he would not have been eligible for conscription.

He didn't have any children of his own but took over responsibility for his wife's son by her previous marriage (1911 census).

Best wishes
Queencorgi

[alan o]

I agree and the haircut is much earlier than 1914.

There were a number of Lancers regts:

5th Lancers
9th
12th
16th - they had red collars.
17th
21st had blue collars.

other cavalry regts also wore the chain mail shoulders so he might have been a Hussar or a Dragoon.

[queencorgi1]

Hey ho I'm not going to be able to get any further with this, am I?!

[alan o]

Looking at the photo with a pram - am I right in thinking that he is wearing a peaked cap?  It;s bit dark but if he is then he is a sergeant by then and it must date to post 1905.

[alan o]

If you can enlarge the photo of his with the baby so the collar badges are bigger then you might narrow it down.