TOPIC:

Hello Richard,
Yes, I do think that, do you not have a photo that you know to be him beyond reasonable doubt?
Regards Frank

No I don't. I came across this photograph in a family album and as no other member of our family had held that rank I assumed it must be him. What makes you think it's not?

Richard

Having looked closely at the uniform and checked it against other photos of the time I see now that it's quite different. Ah….so the mystery of who this is continues. One puzzle solved, about Hezekiah's fate, but another still to crack!

Hello Richard,
That particular type of tunic came in right at the end of the war, it is khaki serge and not what Tommy Atkins went out wearing in 1899.
From memory, it was being worn in its first form actually in South Africa before the war ended, but, it was only officially introduced after the war had ended by Army Order numbers 10 and 40 of 1902.
In 1899, the khaki drill foreign service tunic was being worn and it was rather differant.
The worsted rank badges are also a give away too.
Regards Frank

Hello Richard,
I'm not a uniform collector as such, but, I do know that those particular service dress tunic's remained unchanged upon going into the Great War.
They only came about in the first place because of the Anglo Boer War, the old khaki drill was just not up to the campaign in South Africa, it did not wear well and was not warm enough, the obvious thing you notice in the photo you have is the dark shade of the serge fabric, the drill was very differant and thats before you look at the actual details.
Kind regards Frank

monks1 wrote: Having looked closely at the uniform and checked it against other photos of the time I see now that it's quite different. Ah….so the mystery of who this is continues. One puzzle solved, about Hezekiah's fate, but another still to crack!

Hello Richard,

As promised when I was next in the Ladysmith area.

It was -6 degrees C early this morning but wonderfully quiet and still.










Hope they are useful to you and your Dad.

Cheers
Adrian