Wow!,A fantastic bit of detective work Annie!!
I've been scratching my head over this one for a while.....
I now know why I couldn't find James Lumber McCallum in the army list for the period that he was in Malta. He was a regular soldier that left the army and took a commision in the Coastal Brigade which was a militia unit.
It is usually possible to track on officer's career by consulting the army lists. They were produced yearly and list all officers serving in the army (the Militia only appear in the lists after 1867). They include information such as promotion dates and war services,they also list retired officers.I have quite a few of these lists, so I looked for James Lumber McCallum and he is mentioned in the 1876 (active list) and the 1885 on the retired officers list, his regiment is given as Coastal Brigade Artillery and it gives his promotion dates as;
Lieutenant - 1st April 1860
Captain - 19th January 1875
Major - 7th June 1878
In the 1876 it also states that he had served for 16 years on full pay,which would be consistent with his commision in 1860.
There are no war services listed for him,not surprising as Militia units only served at home! any war service he might have had whilst a non-commisioned officer won't be included.
It might be worth noting for future searches that his surnname in the Army list is written as M'callum.
Alas! for Lt Fisher,I could find no mention,no doubt he will be in the one of the army lists that I don't have!
The Kings (Liverpool Regiment) was the oldest regiment in the British Army and their HQ was indeed at 65 St Anne Street Liverpool.The 1st Battalion were regulars (as opposed to Militia).
Of the two photo's, the bottom one is definately the earliest,both men are pictured with swords which would indicate that they are officers as opposed to rank and file soldiers.
Hope this helps a bit,
Good luck with your search FishMan,
Mick
