Can anyone identify WWI uniform please

[Kevwood]

Hi, I have been stuck on my great grandad John Wood for a year, asked my dad earlier if he knew whether he was in the forces, he said he didn't know, so I checked out some photos I had and BOOM there it is, him in uniform.

Can anyone identify it for me please?

Kev.

[old rowley]

hi Kev,

The cap badge appears to be that of the Royal Artillery,

The badge will have a canon pointing to the left with the motto/legend "Quo Fas Et Gloria Ducunt" under the canon,
and "Ubique" over the top of the canon which is surmounted by a crown.

Interestingly the woman is shown wearing what appears to be a sweat heart badge in the form of a canon denoting that she had someone close to her serving in the R.A.

Your Great Grandfather is also shown wearing a bandolier across his chest  which would also denote a mounted regiment.

hope that the above helps

old rowley

[Kevwood]

Thanks, i thought it looked like the RA only thing is that there seem to be no MICs for a John Wood or J Wood that is in the RA?? Could this photo be slightly later??

Kev.

[jan44]

Hi,

You could give this website a try.

http://www.militarybadges.org.uk/badges/badgestart.htm

The best of luck

Jan

[old rowley]

could he possibly have been seconded to another regiment after this photograph was taken? My own grandfather enlisted in the Dorsetshire Regiment but was transfered over to the Labour Corps after he was wounded during the 1st ww.

As for the photograph being later. I would not have thought so. Although the British army were still using the uniform style (in some quarters) that was issued during the 1st ww by the time that the 2nd had started, going by the woman's attire and also the fact that she is wearing a sweat heart badge that was worn more in the period for the first world war than the second, I would say that it is a safe bet to stay within the 1914-18 period.

old rowley

[Kevwood]

I really have no idea, he was born about 1886 and died in 1940. Would help if i could work out which child it was. They had kids in 1909,1913,1915,1919,1923 and 1931.

Really stuck with him, can't find his correct birth cert, no father in the censuses, hoping i may be able to get something from his service record if i can find the info to order it.

Kev.

[old rowley]

Like you I have looked at the MIC and could not find a John Wood although it came up with
Wood, Gilbert John, sergeant RA. it might be worth having a look at even if it is the wrong Wood. I have had a look at the free bmd and have come a cross an Elizabeth Ada Hawker married in the Sept' qtr 1908 in the Bristol district (Vol 6a, page 323) on the same page amongst others was John Wood. Could these be your great grandparents?

Trying to work out the child will be a problem but as there is only the one child could it be the first one? seeing that I would have thought that all the children born at the time of him leaving for the front would have been included into this studio shot of them together.  If this is the case then the photograph could be just before the start of the 1st ww, meaning that john was already in the services prior to the conflict starting.

old rowley

[liverpool annie]

Hi Kev!

Here's a picture of a cap thats definitely RA ....!

http://static.flickr.com/43/78759618_04d72c7075_o.jpg

I looked for the medals too but couldn't find one!!

Heytesbury in Wiltshire was an Artillery training base on the edge of Salisbury plain - the local pub (Red Lion) still has an 18pdr shell case in the bar from those days.
I think most artillery units in the great war spent at least some of the time the time involving the actual firing of guns at Larkhill near Salisbury Plain for something like two weeks and also at some other places adjacent to the Plain when the volume grew.

Looks like old rowley found the marriage - now its a case of checking out Bristol!
Just a thought - by any chance is there the name of the photographer on that photo??

Annie

[Kevwood]

Yes, already got the marriage cert, says father also John Wood, but it isn't true, we think thats just what he was told.

Don't know about the photo, its a scan i was sent a while ago.

I think you are right that its the first child, which was Ralph my grandad, so it would be 1909/1910.

What are the chances that he didn't serve during WWI?? Although there is a gap in the births from 1915 to 1919, so looks like he could have been??

Kev.