Photo of dating - military uniform

[bclc71]

Not a very clear image I'm afraid. But hoping from the military uniform that someone was confirm approx age and information on what military unit. my guess is circa 1895. But could be older.

I have been told that this photo might be of my grand uncle John Luscombe (born Dublin circa 1875?, man in uniform) and his Father Edward Luscombe ( man with bottle). They were from Dublin, Ireland. At the time of John's marriage to Lucy Lane , Dublin 1898, John's residence was Manchester, England and his occupation is Carpenter ( so assume he had left military).

In letters from 1918 written by John's wife to her son Edward ( a Marist brother stationed in Aden), she refers to that fact that John had told her than Aden was a stop off for soldiers going to India - so perhaps this is relevant.

fingers crossed that someone can make enough out to confirm that it is John.

thanks

[wecanbeheroes]

Hi bclc71,

Sorry I can't help with uniform identity, but I've had a go at changing the light/dark levels and reduced the saturation of your pic which might help those in the know with identification.

I notice that on the upper section of his tunic there appears to be a rope and tassel - unless my eyes are playing tricks, and it's a mark on the photo?

Also I noticed your photo is scanned at 150dpi, I think if you were to scan it again at a 300dpi minimum it would certainly help if someone zooms in when trying to ID the uniform. Any zooming in I did made the image very pixelated.

Hope you find out which uniform it is

[old rowley]

My immediate thought is, is that he was serving in the Royal Artillery when this photograph was taken.


OR.

[km1971]

The jacket could be cavalry or Royal Horse Artillery. Going on the dates he may have been in the Army Reserve when he described himself as a carpenter in 1898. He would have only served two weeks a year in exchange for half pay. Reservists tend not to record the fact on census, BMDs etc.

He may have spent 6-7 years in uniform and then went into the Army Reserve to complete his '12'. If so he should have been recalled in 1899 for the Boer War. You should check on Findmypast for his service record and on Ancestry for any medals. It is also possible he was a part-time soldier and has left no trace.

Ken

[bclc71]

Could he have been based in Dublin at some stage and have been in the Cavalry or Royal Horse Artillary ? 

There is a stort of him being so enamoured of his future wife Lucy that we went awol feigning the flu and was found out my his sergeant in bed with Lucy with his boots on!!!  As Lucy was in Dublin he was probably based in Dublin.

I have a feeling the Manchester residence at time of marriage is relevant as there is no other connection at all to Manchester ( even when they left Dublin around 1903 in search of work they went to Everton , Liverpool)