Date and uniform identification please

[Leofwine]

Can anyone help me with dating and identification on these pictures please.  They both appear to be the same person.  The first is the biggest mystery as the uniform is proving very tricky to identify.  The images are in a collection of photographs associated with the Barr family in Kent if that helps.

No idea of the date or uniform, though to me he looks younger in this one so I assume it is the earlier of the two, but this is only guesswork.


I'm pretty sure this one shows him in Royal Engineers Uniform, and seems to be around WW2.  The picture is in postcard form but the printing on the back is in French, so I believe it may have been taken pre-Dunkirk or post D-Day.  Can anyone give a more definite date on the uniform?

Reverse


Thanks in advance for any help.

[jim1]

You seem to have slipped down the board.I suggest you put this on the armed forces board & let the experts take a look.

jim

*Moderator comment:  Topic moved  *

[Leofwine]

Can anyone help me with dating and identification on these pictures please.  They both appear to be the same person.  The first is the biggest mystery as the uniform is proving very tricky to identify.  The images are in a collection of photographs associated with the Barr family in Kent if that helps.

No idea of the date or uniform, though to me he looks younger in this one so I assume it is the earlier of the two, but this is only guesswork.


I'm pretty sure this one shows him in Royal Engineers Uniform, and seems to be around WW2.  The picture is in postcard form but the printing on the back is in French, so I believe it may have been taken pre-Dunkirk or post D-Day.  Can anyone give a more definite date on the uniform?

Reverse


Thanks in advance for any help.

[old rowley]

You are correct in saying that the second image is that of someone in the Royal Engineers as the cap badge and shoulder flash confirms this. He is also showing a single chevron to indicate that he was a lance corporal (oh the dizzy heights of command lol). The buttons on his blouse are uncovered which would indicate that the image was taken after 1942 when, for ecomony reasons the uniform was changed, if (and it is a big if) his headgear is a Cap, General Service (GS),  rather than the closer fitting beret, then the date can be pushed to being after September 1943 as that was the date that this form of head gear was introduced.

Unfortunately I can not help on the first image but no doubt someone else may be able to.

OR.

[Leofwine]

Thanks for that info, so that seems to confirm that the idea the photo was taken post D-Day rather than pre-Dunkirk.   Any ideas what the latest date would be likely to be, or did those styles carry on in use for a long time?

[Pete Keane]

Blood and Fire....

Top photo is a Salvation Army uniform - if you look very carefully at his collar on (our) right, you can see the 'S' - just before the collar disappears under his greatcoat.

Pete

[Leofwine]

That makes sense since I have this photo in the same collection:


That pic is dated 11 August 1914, so I wonder if they are his parents or grandparents maybe.  Looking now the uniform does look pretty similar

[Pete Keane]

I think he may have been a bandmember, you can just see the top of a badge on his sleeve, but he's not wearing any officers insignia, the badge on his epaulette will be a citadel emblem. So, he's a soldier in the sally ann.

Likewise, the older couple - i'd agree grandparents - both wear soldiers uniform.

Chances are his parents were too.

Do you know where they lived - if he's a bandmember there would be a citadel, and where there's a citadel there are records....

Regards

Pete

[Leofwine]

I'm not 100% certain where he lived, but all the pictures come from a family collection that leads me to think the SA part of the family was in Gillingham or Chatham in Kent (or perhaps Deal in Kent)  I'm still sorting through the hundreds of photos in the collection, but I think there were some more SA related ones too.  Will have to check through again.