Anglo Boer conflict or India? What uniform?

[Ssxy]

Can anyone identify rank, regiment and location of this photograph please?

Internet searches regarding the uniform have proved inconclusive and I have no details about the provenance of the photograph.

Thank you, Ssxy

[John915]

Good afternoon,

Your man is a private with one good conduct stripe. He also has a marksmans badge on his sleeve.

He is in shorts, hosetops and has a pith helmet. So I would say he is in India or the middle east somewhere.

I can't get a good look at his collar badges to ID the regt. But the fact he is wearing them means it is not WW1, probably the inter war years.

John915

[Ssxy]

Thank you John for each of those useful points of detail.

Would you rule out the photograph being taken 1898 -1900? My grandfather (who I never knew) was sent to Malta as a private and then as L/Cpl sent to South Africa early 1900. He would be 18 years old.

Methinks wishful thinking on my part!

Ssxy.

[John915]

Good evening,

The fact that he is wearing shorts with hosetops would say no. I will have to check when shorts first came in as uniform but not that early. After WW1 as far as I recall.

John915

[John915]

Back again,

It seems my memory is a little hazy. Shorts were first introduced in 1905 for wear in tropical climates. However, at that time they were worn with puttees wound around the leg from ankle to below the knee.

This was the order of dress through WW1 although some scots regts, in kilts, abandoned their diced hose and spats and instead wore wool hose and short puttees.

But for the army in general hose tops and short puttees were introduced with the tropical uniform in the 30s.

So your picture would be from this period or later.

John915