Uniform Identification

[Rahnee1]

My husband spoke to his mother last night and questioned where the photo came from.  It was given to her by her Aunt shortly before her death.  This Aunt would be the daughter of the man in question.  So I'm fairly confident that it is him.  That is about all she could tell him.  He did die sometime before my mother in law was born.    She is going to look on the back of the picture to see if there is anything written there.  Hopefully this may provide a clue.

[John915]

Good evening,

I have now searched WW1, WW2 and between the wars. There is no sign of anyone by the name of Sherlock with rank of Colonel, Brigadier, Major General, Lt General, General or Field Marshall. Or not with those orders and medals, and lists are not always 100% accurate.

If he was British then I would expect to see quite a few pre WW1 medals on his jacket if he was of field officer rank in WW1. Although some officers did advance through the ranks without gaining many due to the postings they had.

Does anyone in the family have other photos of him in uniform or otherwise so a comparison can be made.

John915

[Rahnee1]

I have just placed him in 1918 on a ship - Ashridge - as a boatswain, travelling between Melbourne and Sydney.

This is getting stranger by the minute.  Its clear he has no military history.  I cannot come up with a valid reason he is in this uniform. 

[Nova67]

Would it be any use forwarding the photo to the Australian War Memorial  Research Centre to see if they can identify who it might be? Looking at a well sourced Ancestry tree it cannot be him in WW1.  He seems to be well accounted for here in Australia on electoral roll, newspaper and shipping records. All seems to point to him allegedly being from North Shields, Northumberland. He is an informant for the birth of his son and gives his own birthplace as North Shields (per certificate online). Except we cannot find him under either parent CARTER or SHERLOCK, or misspellings.

Sorry, some of this information straddles two threads on the subject.

It is most intriguing, but I can see why it is doing your head in Rahnee

[Nova67]

Might also be helpful to know family historians have birth abt 1877 North Shields, Northumberland and died in 1937 in Kew, Victoria, Australia. Buried in unmarked grave.

[Rahnee1]

Would it be any use forwarding the photo to the Australian War Memorial  Research Centre to see if they can identify who it might be? Looking at a well sourced Ancestry tree it cannot be him in WW1.  He seems to be well accounted for here in Australia on electoral roll, newspaper and shipping records. All seems to point to him allegedly being from North Shields, Northumberland. He is an informant for the birth of his son and gives his own birthplace as North Shields (per certificate online). Except we cannot find him under either parent CARTER or SHERLOCK, or misspellings.

Sorry, some of this information straddles two threads on the subject.

It is most intriguing, but I can see why it is doing your head in Rahnee

Yes, its doing my head in.  I've been working on the family trees for about 25 years now.  So most of what I have now to research are either dead ends or things I cant research here.  I'm just wishing for a breakthrough somewhere.

[Rahnee1]

Might also be helpful to know family historians have birth abt 1877 North Shields, Northumberland and died in 1937 in Kew, Victoria, Australia. Buried in unmarked grave.

This is something else that confuses me.  Why was he buried in an unmarked grave?  All his children were adults and were capable of arranging a funeral.  He did die in the Kew Asylum.  But one of his children (there were 5) had his picture (supposed) hanging on her wall.

[Rahnee1]

Would it be any use forwarding the photo to the Australian War Memorial  Research Centre to see if they can identify who it might be?

I might try this if its possible.  I'll look into it to see if I can.

[Jebber]

Like others I have made a thorough search and can find no reference to  him in the Gazette, everyone who receives an Honour is listed, both UK and Commonwealth, someone of his rank should certainly show up, but there is nothing. I cannot find him in The Army Lists, and as it is hardly likely that someone with the background you have attributed to him so far, would achieve such an exalted military position in the years from the time he was seaman until his death.

I would suggest that the photo is of someone entirely different, and has been adopted as an image of Charles Sherlock at some stage.