RootsChat.Com

Decades later ... and no great contribution. I have a newspaper report of a marriage -

newspaper Edinburgh Evening News issue 19 Mar 1928
MARRIAGE.
FREE - DICKSON. - At the Dundas Rooms, on 17th March, by the Rev. R. W. Leekie, Davidson's Mains, VINCENT F. FREE, son of Mr and Mrs FREDERICK FREE, 19 The Village, Cramond, to ANNIE, oldest daughter of the late ROBERT DICKSON, Milwaukee, U.S.A., and Mrs Dickson, 81, Morrison Street, Edinburgh


So "Dundas Rooms" looks like a venue.  I do not think Dundas Castle would be possible (unlike nowadays), nor Dundas House (a bank at this time).  So I'm guessing an establishment (like a supper rooms) in Dundas Street, which seems to tally with earlier messages.

Lawyers throwing Latin about, I would say the guess that 3tio is equivalent to third is good (would tritio be appropriate here?)

She was a very brave lady to be seen wearing a swimming costume like that,

I've seen (but don't possess) a photo of my grandmother in an equally racy swimsuit, she told me  they were knitted.  Rather like a modern T-shirt, and yes exactly the same effect when wet.  The more modest wore a chemise underneath, like I think these ladies are, but it didn't help much, so not all the gals bothered.

And the dashing gentleman of the period wore similar, she continued wistfully ...

Yup, identical insignia, ratings got HMCS on their hatbands but I do not think officers got 'CANADA' on their shoulders until the 1920s

Any of these guys could have been reservists and left a paper trail there, but photo makes no more sense as reservist than as regular navy.  Just offering an option for an essentially civilian dock worker to pose in uniform.
Photo makes no sense as civilian crew either, those damnable cuffs are out of place!

'little' background (270 pages!), a thesis around social history of edwardian Portsmouth Royal Dockyard workers
https://researchportal.port.ac.uk/portal/files/5795106/Mel_Bassett_108964_Doctoral_Thesis_Final_Submission.pdf
Tidbit found : seems that in 1906 at least, Admiralty barred established dockyard workers from volunteering for reserves.  That indicates enough had done so already to cause worry, although many would be militia rather than naval.  Boer war period.

340 pages on dockyard workforce
https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/361129/1/87081318.pdf
including a sailmaker section

Arr .. but .. there are no RN regulations permitting vertical braid at the cuffs.  (I would guess we are looking at 1897-1910 regs here).  The regs call the usual rings "lace", gold braid to non-tailors like me.  The key thing is every last man in the maritime world knew these were to be applied as rings around the sleeve.  To be clear, those are not RN rank indicators.
Potentially some local significance ("best in class", "most senior dockyard chippy") but that would be a real stretch against regulations.
Setting that weirdness aside for a mo ...

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The style of jacket is entirely consistent with RN, and coastguard etc.  And of course with any number of nautical civilian orgs and companies who took RN as their fashion leader.  And any amount of ex-RN men who went to a civvy job and used their old togs with rank stripped and buttons (probably) changed.

if he were RN, we can say that the eight-button layout is consistent only with an officer.  That would include Warrant Officer ranks, but not petty officers.  Officers of course get rings, or collar tabs for midshipmen/cadets.  So, to the exception ...

I've seen in 1897 regs that two of the then three types of W/O (Boatswain and Gunner) are given a ring at the cuff.  Significantly, the Carpenter is not included there.  Interpretation is that he doesn't get a ring, and we seem to have photo proof of that in the posed photo of the three pipe-smoking W/O.

So our photo man could be a Carpenter by his buttons-and-no-ring combination.  Carpenter, whose job is essentially caring for the fabric of the ship, would be a likely career path for a dockyard man.
But only if his buttons and cap badge are RN of course.   I'm unconvinced by the crown-only reading of that, but it's a bigger stretch still to make it into the W/Os expected anchor with oak leaves and crown topper.

More but - a W/O comes up from the lower ratings, via petty officer, and would be a man of 15-20 years experience.  Our fellow looks too young?

We must remember that Navy family links add confusion when we look at old census records; words like carpenter, shipwright, blacksmith we recognise as skills/trades for civilians or sailors/dockyard types. But for RN they are also specific ranks.  An RN Carpenter in the ironclad navy may not have much history of woodworking; a woodworking sailor may hold some other rank; a dockyard chippy may be a civilian or not.  What would these guys write on various forms?  "depends"

It'd be nice to make this man into one of the navy family, but we're not there yet.  Pinning the cap badge down would be a huge step.

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I'm confident now this photo is NOT the eventual Fleet Paymaster.  To get to those lofty heights, he would have to sign up as Cadet or Assistant Clerk, embryo officers with eight buttons indeed but with collar tabs or cuff ring; nor is the photo any rank inbetween.