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General => Armed Forces => Topic started by: Martinjubb on Thursday 11 November 21 22:00 GMT (UK)

Title: Help identify a uniform and possible conflicts
Post by: Martinjubb on Thursday 11 November 21 22:00 GMT (UK)
This is probably my 2 x Great Grandfather Joseph Brown born 15 DEC 1851 in Bengal, India where his father was fighting in the Sikh wars, (kindly posted by a relative elsewhere.)
I am trying to identify which unit he was serving with and possibly the date. The photograph is dated 1873 but i cannot find a record for him anywhere .
Title: Re: Help identify a uniform and possible conflicts
Post by: tonepad on Friday 12 November 21 06:59 GMT (UK)
Looks like Royal Engineers:

http://www.royalengineers.ca/oldguard02.html


Tony
Title: Re: Help identify a uniform and possible conflicts
Post by: Martinjubb on Friday 12 November 21 08:36 GMT (UK)
Thank you, that certainly looks right. Now need to find out more. Did look on Findmypast but no records match.
Title: Re: Help identify a uniform and possible conflicts
Post by: Sandblown on Friday 12 November 21 08:51 GMT (UK)
Fold3, via Ancestry.co.uk, is available to view free up to midnight this coming Sunday.
Title: Re: Help identify a uniform and possible conflicts
Post by: tonepad on Friday 12 November 21 09:38 GMT (UK)
There appears to be a full census record for Joseph Brown between 1871 and 1911 as a civilian, except 1891.

Did he live in Louth, Lincs before marriage and then Sculcoates, Yorks after?


Tony
Title: Re: Help identify a uniform and possible conflicts
Post by: Martinjubb on Friday 12 November 21 09:58 GMT (UK)
Quote from: tonepad on Friday 12 November 21 09:38 GMT (UK)
There appears to be a full census record for Joseph Brown between 1871 and 1911 as a civilian, except 1891.

Did he live in Louth, Lincs before marriage and then Sculcoates, Yorks after?


Tony

Yes that's him
Title: Re: Help identify a uniform and possible conflicts
Post by: ShaunJ on Friday 12 November 21 10:31 GMT (UK)
Blacksmith Joseph Brown appears to have had 4 children between 1872 and 1881, all registered in Sculcoates mmn Everitt:

Alice 1872
Thomas Edward 1874
Minnie 1877
Joseph 1881

So if he was in the army in 1873, it was either very briefly or he was a part time militia volunteer.

Are you sure it's him in the photo?
Title: Re: Help identify a uniform and possible conflicts
Post by: ShaunJ on Friday 12 November 21 10:35 GMT (UK)
Joseph Brown's occupation in 1872 and 1874 was blacksmith per the baptisms of Alice and Thomas.
Title: Re: Help identify a uniform and possible conflicts
Post by: Martinjubb on Friday 12 November 21 10:46 GMT (UK)
The Joseph Brown you have identified is my 2 x great-grandfather. The photo was uploaded to Ancestry by a relative with other photographs.
He was born into a military family in India his Father was a Pte in both Sikh wars with the 10th Foot fighting in the Battle of Sobraon, Multan and Gujerat. His medals were sold to a collector sometime ago and i missed the chance to buy them

I am in the process of contacting that branch of the family to confirm the provenance. I have a full tree of him and the family and am interested in his military service. His son Joseph joined the ASC in 1914 and was a truck driver with the 2nd Cavalry train.
Title: Re: Help identify a uniform and possible conflicts
Post by: T1 on Friday 12 November 21 18:44 GMT (UK)
Looks like a volunteer as noted above (the braid on his uniform appears to be white, not yellow as it would be for a regular - yellow appears quite a lot darker at this time due to the photographic process).

Also, could be artillery - very similar uniform, but blue tunic with red details rather red with blue details.  Again, you really can't tell the difference between red and dark blue in nineteenth-century photos, due to the process.

T