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Hello Garen,

Many thanks for your reply. We didn't know that he was tried in 1886 - where did you find this out if you don't mind me asking?! (The information we have about his service record was supplied to us some years ago by a friend of my husband, who looked it up for us). It could have been either his name - or the fact that he had served before  or something else - unfortunately we have no idea! But his Egypt medals do have William Campbell on the rim.

We believe that he it's probably true that he was born in Enfield as his wife was from London and indeed the families of both my husband's parents were all from London. He died in London in 1899 and is buried in Abney Park Cemetery (apparently he died from blood poisoning after an operation on his ankle so my husband's mother says - we don't have the death certificate). He married Elizabeth Harris in Jan 1887 (St John's, Hackney) and his occupation is described as "soldier". On the certificate he says his father is Charles - occupation "dead". Whether this really was his father's name, I don't know. I also found the London family with father John Wheeler who was a bricklayer, and wonder if this is really his family. We have no inkling at all what his parents were actually called. My mother-in-law (his grandaughter) knew from her mother (Ellen Daisy Wheeler, his daughter) that he ran away and joined up under an assumed name after a fight with his father. Perhaps his mother ran away with him too, and became "Ann Campbell"??

I see what you're saying with regard to the Afghanistan medal - but why would he bother to pretend he'd been there if he hadn't? The rim of the medal looks like it's been erased. Now we're having second thoughts as to whether the piper on the left of the photo is actually William/Alfred after all - he certainly looks similar to the person in the solo photo, but I wonder if it is in fact the same person? We know the solo photo is definitely William/Alfred.

Well thanks for all your input Garen, it's certainly given us a lot to think about! My husband says that if you're into conspiracy theories, perhaps he didn't got to Afghanistan but said he did in order to cover up something else - time spent in prison perhaps or something else he wanted to keep a secret? However - my husband (who was in the forces himself - it runs in the blood!) says his gut feeling is that Alfred was entitled to the Afghanistan medal which is why he wore it, but that he gained it under another name when he first ran away from home as a teenager. There must be another reason why he changed his name again - perhaps his father found out about his first alias. I suppose unfortunately we'll never know.

Thanks again.

Helen

ps Have just ordered his death certificate.

Update!

I have now found the original Army Form D 43, Parchment Certificate of Character amongst my mother-in-laws papers. The name her grandfather used was indeed William Campbell (instead of his real name of Alfred Wheeler), his number was 912 and his regiment was the Cameron Highlanders. The Certificate is dated 26 June 1891 (Edinburgh). Across the certificate has been written in red "William Campbell re-engaged into Sec D Army Reserve on the 8.9.96".

All very interesting!

Oh sorry Carol. I don't know what it says on the back. It's actually in a frame and doesn't even belong to me - this is a photo of the photo which I took myself through the glass, managing to avoid the wooden frame!

Helen.

Thank you Stan and Roger - Yes, I've been told by a solicitor that Tsy Ret is treasury return, and also that the last sentence is a standard sentence. It didn't necessarily mean that he didn't know his mother - sometimes the mother would not be officially acknowledged to save the mother getting into trouble due to the stigma of having a child outside marriage.