TOPIC:

Thanks for adding me to your forum, am hoping someone may be able to throw some light on this photograph. I'm researching family history and found this great image of Harry Frederick Yardley (1857-1923) on an Ancestry tree. He's.only a fairly distant ancestor but I like to correctly attribute things. He's the central seated soldier with a blue cross faintly marked above his head.

I know from online records that Harry was a Private, 24th Middlesex Rifle Volunteers, (Post Office Rifles) and was awarded the Bronze Star for service in Egypt in 1882. Then in 1901 Sgt. Major Yardley, 24th Middlesex (Army Post Office Corps), was awarded the Queen's South Africa medal and clasps for service in the Second Boer War.

My question is, can this photo be pinned down to either conflict/date? Apologies if this is a silly question but I know nothing about British Army uniforms. What, for example, do the different types of cap signify?And the sashes and chains of the seated soldiers?

Very grateful for any information about the date, uniforms etc., thank you.



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KFletcher
Welcome to the Forum.
Looking at the pic, the blue crossed man appears to be wearing (firstly) the Egypt Medal with clasp(s?), and lastly the Khedive's Star. The second medal in his series definitely looks like the QSA (South Africa medal) and the third medal appears to be oval and if my guess is correct, it is a Militia LSGC medal. Thus, I would date the pic to after the Boer War and pre WW1.
Regarding the uniforms, I fear I can be of little help. The sleeve stripes would be Good Conduct awards.
Should his army papers are still available, perhaps a Forum member might access them for you? That could assist
Good luck with your quest.
Regards
IL.

Thank you so much, that is exactly the kind of information I was hoping for, now I can place the photo in Harry’s timeline more accurately. Thanks for sharing your expertise!

All best

Karen

KFletcher,

For his service in the Boer War he received the QSA with clasps Cape Colony, Orange Free State, Transvaal, Relief of Ladysmith, Tugela Heights and South Africa 1901 as 244 Sergeant Major, Army Post Office Corps. he was discharged, 23 August 1901. He joined 24 August 1894 and served for 7 years.

He married Jessie Cameron in January 1889 and had two children, Harry F born October 1889 and Ida born 1892.

His surviving papers are greatly damaged. Here is a description of him:



An example of his papers:



Best wishes
David

His entry for the Egypt Medal from WO100/60p288



And his entitlement to the Khedive Star (WO100/60p229. His is the last name in the right hand column.

Good morning Karen,

17 pages of military paperwork for 244 Sergeant Harry Frederick Yardley born in Clerkenwell can be found on both Ancestry & Find My Past. They are fire damaged and thus difficult to make full sense of. The reproduction quality is better on Ancestry and they seem to be better sorted. They show he was promoted to Sergeant Major in November 1899.

He also appears on two Boer War Army Post Office Corps Medal Rolls (only findable on Ancestry) which show his six clasps for his QSA were Cape Colony, Orange Free State, Transvaal, Tugela Heights, Relief of Ladysmith & South Africa 1901. What remains of his service records does not show his service dates in South Africa but from his clasps one can say he was there in very early 1900, if not before, and left during 1901.

Turning to your wonderful photo and way outside my comfort zone. A Sergeant's Mess photo? I would say the three seated men are senior to the others partly because they are seated and partly because they are adorned with more "bling" and an extra and inverted chevron to their lower arm Sergeant's stripes. I think they are all Sergeant Majors but of differing seniority with HFY/blue cross man being the most senior. So was he a Regimental Sergeant Major when the photo was taken?

Linneyl is much more expert on medals than me but another possibility for the oval medal is the Territorial Force Efficiency Medal which would put the photo as no earlier than 1908 by which time HFY would have had time to rise from a newly promoted SM in 1899 to an RSM.

Regards, David.

Edit - apologies for replicating some of what David Biggins has already told you - he was posting whilst I was still writing!