Date and ID of Photo of British soldier from Ranikhet, India

[lorna llan]

Clayton's Magnet Studios looks like an early example of franchising then, capitalising on the good brand name in England. Thanks for that.  That nifty hairstyle and moustache do look more Edwardian, as you say.

[alan o]

The rose collar badges would make him a member of the East Lancashire Regiment.  The uniform is of the type worn in India at the turn of the century and that date ties in with the haircut and moustache.

[lorna llan]

The East Lancashire Regiment would be about right for a person from Manchester, which is where John Sutherland lived.  I suppose that picture is of a private soldier? What are the distinguishing features of that type of uniform worn in India around then?
Thanks for your help! Now I can see if I can find him in records, or records of the movements of the regiment.

[Leah-WW]

I too would say the closing years of the 19th century, based on his rather dandy moustache & haircut. Handsome chappy, whoever he is

[alan o]

The 2nd Bn East Lancashire Regiment was in India 1897-1911.

[PicScanner]

Jumping in late into this discussion, but hoping some of this furthers your research a bit.

Ranikhet and Bareilly were (and still are) garrison towns in colonial India. They are located 110 miles apart, so the Magnet Studios were probably two branches under common ownership.

I don't find any records of Joseph Byron Clayton or kin moving to India, so were the Indian Magnet Studios bonafide franchises or not? Doesn't really matter, but it does look like someone leveraging upon the brand back home. As philipsearching noted, Joseph Byron Clayton opened Magnet Studio in Leicester in 1873 (see http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~brett/photos/eng/ntt/wclayton.html) so the Magnet studios in India must have come after it. If true, this rules out Andrew Minto who died in 1858. This leaves John Alexander Sutherland (b. 1878, left for Africa in 1890s) in the frame. The subject in your photo could be 18-22 years old, which would tie in with this.

[lorna llan]

Thanks for that. Will look up Clayton's website.

[trullwell]

The collar badges are not clear enough to be sure but they look very like the globe and laurel of the Royal Marines.

[alan o]

Far more likely to be an infantry regt rather than the Royal Marines in India.  Several Yorkshire and Lancashire regts wore rose design collar badges.