TOPIC:

I was given the photo along with some of my grandfathers WW1 memorabilia, on the back it said G.Gaze marked with an X, but there was no X also as he was born in 1893 he is too young to be any of these and he looks nothing like the young chap in the front, I have only one ancestor that I have not been able to trace Frederick Gaze born in Liverpool in 1881, but he does not show up in any records that I can find. Who were these desperado's ?

Mgaze
Welcome to the Forum!
Mike has assisted you in posting a very interesting pic. Clearly, the chalk board gives us the period and the sentiment; with most of the lads wearing a more-or-less amount of military uniform.
The civilian on the left of your pic is obvious; however, the only chap showing a badge is the gentleman in the front row, RHS. Any chance of enlarging that section?
Well, not much help from IL. However, a great pic and it shows just the sort of lads one would want on one's side!
Regards
IL.

Hi, as requested the section with the cap badge, I could not find how to send a larger file of the complete picture to the main site, the Medal Photo Gallery does not seem to be appropriate. I have a cleaned up version but it is too large a file at 2.78 MB.

This is indeed a fascinating collection of men! They cannot have belonged to a regular military unit, they look like Colonials, and, since they were with Buller, they must have done service in the Natal Campaign. One possibility is that they were members of the Natal Volunteer Ambulance Corps, which was initially made up of men noted for their eccentric dress.
angloboerwar.com/forum/8-events/10728-na...mbulance-corps#25356

Perhaps this was a group of men recently back in Maritzburg or Durban after the Battle of Colenso. They look sombre and bit tattered. The NVAC was tidied up before it went back to the front.

Brett