Identification of WW1 soldier from photograph

[meaty]

Hi All

Just wondering if anyone can tell me anything about these two chaps - their pictures were included in my grandmothers photo collection and they must be my relations as the collection is huge and all photo's are of family - theres no friends in there.

Im gussing they are from WW1?

The photographic studio in the first is Squibbs of Cardigan which is where my family are from. The characters on his shoulders are 8 S L


Thanks

Meaty

[philipsearching]

Judging by the lanyard, bandolier and leggings, the lower picture is of a mounted soldier.  The cap badge looks to me like artillery, so my vote would be for a corporal in the Royal Field Artillery, WW1 era.

[Ruskie]

I think they have a similar look so may be related. The first lad looks so young .... 

[Viktoria]

Can’t see any spurs Philip, would they  be worn when not mounted?
Viktoria.

[Ruskie]

Royal Field or Royal Horse? 

 It looks to be a slightly less formal photo which may be why he is not wearing spurs, perhaps?

[SiGr]

I think the '8 S L' is possibly 8th Battalion, The South Lancashire Regiment. As neither of them is wearing medal ribbons this suggests the photos are pre-WW1 or during WW1. Also, on the second photo, he is holding a riding crop which strongly suggests he is serving in a 'mounted' unit, i.e. one with horses (thus Royal Field Artillery) as opposed to a static one (i.e. Royal Garrison Artillery). Good luck with your research.

[MaxD]

All three branches of the Royal Artillery had drivers whose uniform was essentially identical to the one in the photo, only his shoulder titles would give a positive identification of his branch.  His buttons do not look like the smaller RHA ball buttons so RFA or RGA ( it was only the static elements of the RGA such as coast and the heaviest guns such as railway guns who are seen in trousers).  He is wearing his lanyard on the right shoulder which was not official dress policy in the Gunners until 1920 but was worn unofficially on that side before then but as SiGr points out, no medal ribbons, so before early 1919 at the earliest.

MaxD

[meaty]

Thanks so much for all the replies! This might be a silly question but is there a list of names and addresses of those who served in the 8th Battalion South Lancs that I could read through? Or am I expecting too much?

I have added close up of the scans that I have in case they are better?

The first chap seems to have something on his collar too?

Thanks again

[FROGSMILE]

I think that 8th PWV South Lancashire Regiment is very probably correct.  The Kitchener raised War “Service” battalions of the so-called New Armies formed 1914-15 all struggled to varying degrees to obtain uniforms and insignia in the early months, with each area of the country improvising in a variety of ways. Some units used simple shoulder titles as a relatively cheap but effective means of identity, and others used pin backed circular metallic discs with unit titles printed on the front.

8th (Service) Battalion PWV Southern Lancashire Regiment:
Formed at Warrington in September 1914 as part of K3 and moved to Codford, under command of 75th Brigade in 25th Division. Moved to billets in Bournemouth in November 1914. Moved to Wokingham in May 1915 and on to Aldershot in June.
Landed in France on 28 September 1915.
16 February 1918 : disbanded in France.