Can anybody throw any light on this unidentified mounted (WWI?) soldier ?

[kob3203]

Does this match the photo on your other thread which included only the horse's rump?

Definitely!
Cliff

I should have held off on posting that other part, shouldn't I ? 

(For anybody who hasn't spotted the other topic - Unusual, perhaps ethnic/regional clothing in a WWI photo - where was it )

[kob3203]

The unusual clothing that the middle standing chap is wearing appears to be Serbian (from the other topic), which means the photo was most likely taken during the Salonika Campaign.

So I guess it should be possible to narrow things down to the mounted regiments involved in that campaign, yes ?

But I'm having problems there.

[kob3203]

I think, but I wouldn't swear to it because I didn't record the URL, that I read somewhere over the past few days that there were no regular British cavalry involved in the Salonika Campaign, and that the mounted role was performed exclusively by the yeomanry.

Can anybody confirm that ?

If that's correct then the Pembroke or Glamorgan Yeomanry, as suggested by tonepad, appear to be the most likely.


I also think I read that in the Salonika Campaign some mounted regiments (or smaller units) swapped their horses for bicycles ! I'm sure that wasn't their idea.

[tonepad]

The Pembroke and Glamorgan Yeomanry were posted to Egypt, so not involved in the Salonica Campaign.


Tony

[kob3203]

It appears that the Royal Wiltshire Yeomanry also had a similar cap badge - https://www.britishmilitarybadges.co.uk/products/royal-wiltshire-yeomanry-rwy-regiment-cap-badge.html but it doesn't look as if they served in the Salonika Campaign.

I found a breakdown of the British Mounted Brigades in the Salonika Campaign here https://salonikacampaignsociety.org.uk/bsf/army-headquarters/mounted-brigades/ and I checked the WWI cap badges of each unit. I've attached a screenshot of the list of units annotated with their cap badges. None of them used the Prince of Wales feathers.

So now I'm a bit stumped.

Does anybody have any other ideas ?

[kob3203]

I've just discovered that some of the Royal Engineers were also mounted and wore the same uniform  - e.g https://thebarlow.co.uk/unidentified-soldiers/ (after looking at loads of photos I can't see any difference between the field uniforms of cavalry, mounted infantry, yeomanry, and artillery/engineers drivers). But once again the cap badges I've found don't appear to match the one in the photo.

I've also realised that the page I looked at from the salonikacampaignsociety.org.uk site was only The BSF > Army Headquarters > Mounted Brigades. But there were also XII Corps (22nd, 26th and 60th Divisions) and XVI Corps (10th, 27th and 28th divisions). However, whilst there are a few infantry regiments there who had a Prince of Wales feathers cap badge, I don't see any mounted troops.

So I'm still puzzling about this.

[kob3203]

Here's a half-size version of the complete photo, although I don't think there's anything other than the uniforms/clothing and cap badges that will help.

My best guess so far is that the photo was taken during the Salonika Campaign somewhere in the Greece/Macedonia/Serbia/Bulgaria region. This is based solely on the identification of the middle standing chap's clothing as being Serbian.

The cap badge of the mounted chap appears to be the Prince of Wales feathers, but I have so far failed to find any mounted troops involved in the Salonika Campaign who wore such a badge, although there were a few infantry regiments that did. But the chap in question is definitely mounted.

Does anybody spot anything I might have overlooked ?

[sugarbakers]

Grandfather endured two and a half years in Salonika as a gunner in RH & RFA.

Recommended book ... 'Under the Devil's Eye - Britain's Forgotten Army at Salonika 1915-1918' by Alan Wakefield & Simon Moody, Sutton Pub, 2004.

[tonepad]

The complete photo shows a more typical British landscape than Macedonian (harsh and arid).
There is a typical British hedgerow running through the photo in the middle distance.

The middle standing chap's clothing is not Serbian. He is wearing a British waistcoat with a V-neck, unfastened. He is not wearing a Serbian Hat.

British soldiers with waistcoats attending to horses:

https://www.nam.ac.uk/explore/british-army-horses-during-first-world-war


The photo was possibly taken at a summer training camp before WW1 started in Aug 1914:

https://www.porthcawlandthegreatwar.com/1912---1914.html

Notice more soldiers wearing waistcoats.


Tony