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General => Armed Forces => World War One => Topic started by: Blackdog on Thursday 10 April 08 21:39 BST (UK)
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Hi Folks,
This is an unidentified photo from my grand parents album. If I can pin the uniform down I can narrow down who it is. I have read some of the other answers about uniforms, pleats or not etc and as a novice believe that it is an experts field.
Thanks for any help, Adrian
PS I've tried blowing the cap badge up but it is still indistinct.
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PS I've tried blowing the cap badge up but it is still indistinct.
Somerset Light Infantry.
I'll let the experts deal with the dating though.
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Now you've done it, I was expecting a Yorkshire Regiment or at least Northern as that has the best options. The Somerset branch of the family has very few candidates and I might be looking at a more obscure link down there.
Good information, thanks, Adrian.
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Yep that is a SLI!....
Shoulder pads, pleats and stiff cap...Early WW1. 1914/1915
He also has a walking out cane...Boots are worn in and a bit mucky, but look at the creases in his jacket sleeves and trousers! Smart as carrots!
His puttees are a bit of a mess though! Not very tidy at all!!! How did he get away with them?? the pointed ends are really uneven...
I would have put him on a charge for them..And for "dust in his welts" :P
Quite odd given the state of his jkt and trousers, his boots and puttees are somewhat slovenly
My gt uncle joined the SLI, he went down from Northamptonshire/Bucks border and joined them as well...So I wouldn't worry too much about a Zummerset connection...
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I once read that it was a done thing at the time to have a bit of dirt on your boots to signify time in the trenches and that youd been on active service.
:)
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Doesnt explain the puttees though!
He does appear to have been dressed for a parade of some sorts...may have mucked them up then, and went straight to have his piccie done...
There are no divisional signs, or any other tribal distinctions to signify front line stuff....
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Hi,
On the basis of it having been narrowed down a bit, I'm considering if it could be Wyn Fussell who was married to my grandfathers sister. I cannot obtain any further details bmd etc and wonder if his first name is correct or an abbreviation, but he was certainly from and lived in Somerset and would have been round about twenty at the start of the war. i am going to see if I can narrow his details down a bit.
Adrian
PS Does the stick signify anything?
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No, it's a walking out cane/stick used by the other ranks to show that they have some swank about them...Nothing more I'm afraid...
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Hello Adrian,
It's probably Wyndam T Fussell then.
Here's a link to the MIC at the NA. I couldn't see it on Ancestry.
http://www.rootschat.com/links/036w/
Phil
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Thanks, i had just gone back to my research to narrow him down and yes I can confirm my ancester was Wyndham Terrell Fussel. The record is the first that I now have for any relatives active service in WW1, so I am chuffed to bits, thanks. Adrian
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Picked up his record, thanks for helping solve that one everyone. Adrian
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If you've downloaded the card, feel free to post it here and we'll help interpret it.
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Hi, Thanks for the offer, please find the sttached. Adrian
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Interesting 2nd Regt...The 34th London...Or so it reads! Mind you from others I have found that is certainly a 34th bn regt number...
Formed in Clacton-on-Sea in June 1918. On 18 June, the bn absorbed the cadre of the 7th Bn, the Kings Royal Rifle Corps, and joined the 49th Brigade, 16th Division.
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Your miles ahead of me scrimnet, sorry. Are the 34th London part of the Somerset Light or are they seperate and if so why did he change regiments? Why does someone have two army numbers?
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Don't be sorry matey!!!
He has changed Regts...As to why...who knows...he may have been downgraded...There is no "date of entry into theatre" on his card...it's empty...
The number given to a soldier is a Regimental number not a Service number, so when he changed Regts, he changed number...
The 34th London are in no way connected to the SLI...A mystery really at the moment!
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That's what I like, a mystery to solve.
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Hi,
Further to my original post, I now have further information on Wyn Fussell. He was in the army in India (as the attached uniform and cap badge picture). He still has the swagger stick but I am told it was commocn amongst many ranks there.
He went from India to fight in the Middle East (I am told Palestine fighting a Turkish invasion which doesn't sound right to me). Here he was injured in the leg by artillery shrapnel. After recovery in England he went straight to the trenches on the western front.
Numerous questions arise.
What was his Indian Regiment?
Would he have been fighting the Turks in Palestine?
As to the replies in the original post, I wonder if he was an injured long service war weary soldier it might explain his rather sloppy dress sense? I am still told he was an NCO.
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Hello Adrian,
I'm going to stick my neck out and say he was probably in 2/4th Somerset Light Infantry.
Whether he went to the Western Front with the SLI or 34th London, I don't know.
http://www.1914-1918.net/somersets.htm
Phil
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Looks like somebody was praying for him last year .... do you know if any of the family go to that church ?? :-\
We remember Kenneth Ashford, John Mullally,
Roger Hosking, Jim McFarland, Charles Hay-
ward, Arthur Rotherham, Lucy Mancini, Fr Mar-
tin Flannery, Charles Doherty, Wyn Fussell,
James Young, Delia Hoey, Violet ‘Betty’ Turner,
Dorothy Hurst, Mary Ridewood and all whose
anniversaries occur at this time
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Hi,
Further to my original post, I now have further information on Wyn Fussell. He was in the army in India (as the attached uniform and cap badge picture). He still has the swagger stick but I am told it was commocn amongst many ranks there.
He went from India to fight in the Middle East (I am told Palestine fighting a Turkish invasion which doesn't sound right to me). Here he was injured in the leg by artillery shrapnel. After recovery in England he went straight to the trenches on the western front.
I'll take each question in turn... for you..
Numerous questions arise.
What was his Indian Regiment?
He is badged up for the Somerset Light Infantry
Would he have been fighting the Turks in Palestine?
In a word yes...The British Army was fighting the Turk there...Think Lawrence Of Arabia...
As to the replies in the original post, I wonder if he was an injured long service war weary soldier it might explain his rather sloppy dress sense? I am still told he was an NCO.
It is very unusual for a soldier to be sloppy in his dress either during or post service...
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Ummmm... Are you sure these two are one in the same???
I'm not!!!
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Thanks both Phil and Annie,
Yes your info on the Regiment certainly looks as if it fits the story line, his son will be thrilled to be given this information (by the way the story is he was recruited by Major Clutterbuck whilst in the family farm orchard picking apples with the clasic line of "you look like just the fit and healthy young man that we are looking for".
He died on April the 15th in Oakhill which is close to the anniversry date but there is no great link with Bath expect a very reclusive nephew by marraige. So I am unsure of the church link, but interesting to follow up.
Adrian
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Hi Scrimnet,
I do see what you mean in the slight differences but I am 100% percent certain. I have just come back from seeing my distant cousin who is his son. I had a copy of the first photo from an uncle but have now seen them side by side in the original family photo album both labelled by his wife. He married her after the war and would have assisted putting the collection together.
Adrian