Uniform Identification

[john4966]

Hi Everyone, can anyone help me identify this mans Regiment,
my feeling was that it may have been my lot the Royal Berkshire Regt,
but now I think it may be Essex ( is that a castle in the centre plate)
but maybe not, on the Berks version of this type of badge they had a
stag next to a tree but their later cap badge was the China Dragon.
So I feel sure he's not Berkshire regt but I'm lost as to which Regt
he belongs to. Any suggestions would be welcome

Thanks John

[km1971]

Hi John

The Royal Berkshire Regiment had blue collars and cuffs while the Essex had white, so it cannot be the former.

I cannot help with the helmet plate except that it is a Queen Victoria crown. But the photograph looks before 1900 anyway. Didn't the Essex have a small Sphinx on top of the castle?

The rifle should be a Lee-Metford, which I am after. I have a Long Lee but learnt recently that my GF (a Sergeant in the Liverpools in Ladysmith) would have had the Lee - Metford rather than the Long Lee.

Nice photograph.

Ken

[john4966]

Thank you very much for that Ken it was most helpful in eliminating the
Royal Berks, you spotted something a lot of us missed,
you are right about there being a Sphinx  on top of their castle in the Essex
cap badge, but the Berks badge of this type differed from their cap badge, we had the china dragon on regular badges and a stag beneath a tree on the helmet plate. I wonder did the Essex boys badge change at all.

Yes i think the gun is the first bolt action .303 Lee Metford and probably took the shorter socket bayonet ( which he looks to be wearing).

Good luck in tracking one of those down Ken, I myself have a WW2
.303 Lee Enfield ( SMLE) dectivated.

Thanks again for your help
John 

[km1971]

Does your scanner do a pre-scan? If so you could scan just the helmet plate at the highest resolution. This should allow it to be identified.

Ken

[john4966]

Hi Ken, unfortunately the postcard does not belong to me.
I was helping someone who found this amongst a relatives
 personel effects. So I cannot do a pre scan.

John

[DixieDee]

If you put the photo on the Photo Restoration forum, they may be able to help to make the badge a bit clearer. Some of the photos they restore come close to doing the impossible.
Dixie

[DixieDee]

I tried to sharpen the badge detail, but don't know if it helps as it's still not very clear. Afraid I'm useless at fixing photos.
Dixie

[john4966]

Hi Dixie, nice to meet you and thanks for that, much appreciated

The photo restoration team have already done a makeover on this and very good it was too.

I'm starting to narrow it down. The type of badge he's wearing is a helmet
plate type and the centre was detachable.

I'm looking through these types rather than the later cap badge.

He could be Devonshire, Dorsetshire, or Cambridgeshire as they all had
a castle in the badge.

Does any one have a refence book on Helmet badges?

Thanks again Dixie
John