identify old uniform

[joemc]

Thank you for this additional information, I was reading it as if Woodmansee was the subject, but off course he's the photographer, so our man is not yet identified. This additional information and link will hopefully narrow things down considerably. I have passed in this new information and again thank you for your persistence and knowledge of subject
Regards Joe

[joemc]

Thanks again to all, especially SiGr for their expertise!

Just to finish things out with the latest information my friend was able to establish that the person in the photo was a Staff Surgeon Hamilton Mitchell from near Londonderry, Ireland, she has Mitchell as a middle name in her family and is from the same area so just has to make that final connection!

Heres some additional information

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/103662511/hamilton-mitchell

Regards

Joe




 

[SiGr]

Great news to have the man identified. In case you did not access the 1865 Army List, he is mentioned there - the last person named. For ease of reference, it states, "11 years' full pay service. Assistant Surgeon. - Hamilton Mitchell [8], 21 July 54" (presumably his commissioning or seniority date). The [8] is a footnote which reads, "Assistant Surgeon Mitchell served in the Crimea from 8th Nov. 1854 to 18th Feb. 1855 (Medal with Clasp for Sebastopol, and Turkish Medal". For info, in old Army Lists they used to detail the operational experience and medals awarded. The first medal as you look at the photo is his Crimea Medal (you can tell because it was pale blue with narrow yellow stripes on either side).

[SiGr]

As a final thought, might I offer the suggestion that you add the photo to his FindAGrave page ?  ATB Simon

[joemc]

Thanks Simon, I was thinking the same I will mention to my FB friend as the photo belongs to her, its great to be able to put a name to the picture,  I have a collection of old family photos most without names from the 1800s, all the relatives who may have known them have long since passed.

Thanks again for all your help

Joe

[Kiltaglassan]

Just to add to your information, here's the death of Hamilton Mitchell in 1894 at Lanowlee, Derry.
https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/deaths_returns/deaths_1894/05958/4693333.pdf

...and his wife Mary Hannah Mitchell died, as the obituary states, six months before him.
https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/deaths_returns/deaths_1894/05977/4699249.pdf
The informant was her daughter Bella.

This is likely the location of Lanowlee in Clooney townland (as per the address on Mary's death record).
https://www.townlands.ie/londonderry/tirkeeran/clondermot/clooney/

KG

[joemc]

Thanks Kitaglassan,

When I posted this originally I had no idea who the gentleman was or where he may have lived ..turns out he lived in the same townland as me!

The house where he lived no longer stands from what I can find out, but going by census records was very impressive, I'm not sure exactly where it originally stood but as I live fairly centrely within the townland I would like to think I live with in a stone's throw of where Hamilton once lived..

It's amazing where a photo like this can lead, in my case back to my own neighborhood!

Joe

[Dave Mitchell]

Hello Joe

I'm researching MITCHELL families from County Londonderry & Tyrone, especially the Glendermott Valley and including the townlands of Killymallaght, Cullion, Castlemellon, Tirkeeveny, Craigtown, Drumcorran and Cloghore-Greerstown.

Thanks for finding the photo of Hamilton Mitchell, the Brigade Surgeon -- also for the stuff that you and "the team" have posted on him.  I appreciate also the medal ribbon detective work!

If I can help anyone with further information, please do contact me.

Any chance of chatting to the lady who found the photograph?  With her Mitchell connection?

Warm regards

Dave Mitchell
Cape Town
South Africa

[Dave Mitchell]

PS.  There is a reason why Sergeant William Newton Woodmansee popped up as a hospital sergeant in Kieskamahoek in South Africa, in the 96th Regiment.   The regiment spent some time training and acclimatising in South Africa's Eastern Cape region, en route to India. 

This illustrates how sometimes genealogical information can be found in amongst South African records, or through the South African Archives online search catalogue (NAAIRS), even for folks who never "settled" in South Africa, or were only passing through. (And especially if a family member passed away as the family - or their regiment - passed through!)

Dave Mitchell
Cape Town
South Africa