London Regiment?

[Drew]

Hello,

Could anyone tell me anything at all about the following photograph, please? In particular, what regiment the soldier might be from. I posted it on the Great War Forum saying I thought it might be Post Office Rifles, but I'm really not sure. It states on the back, "Roy Berry, 7th January '19".
Many thanks in advance for any help you may be able to provide.

Regards,

Chris

[Jelly Terror]

Hello Chris,

A higher resolution scan of the cap badge would be helpful, if possible please (anything north of 600 dpi).

If your man is London Regiment, the possibilities (on badge shape alone) would be 8th Bn, 17th Bn, 19th Bn. Perhaps someone could look up the MIC on Ancestry.

I'm not familiar with the s/t, but another possible contender might be Leeds Rifles.

Thanks for posting.

JT

[Drew]

Wow. Thank you very much for such a quick response JT. I will get on to your suggestions directly. I will perhaps need to get the postcard re-scanned. I live in Japan, but keep my cards in the UK because of the climate here; they would deteriorate far too rapidly if brought here, in my opinion. Apologies as it may take me a little while to do that. Meanwhile, I have attached the best I can do at the moment.

I tried an MiC search but didn't come up with anything. Perhaps he never made it overseas? I will add the back of the card in case I am not reading it correctly.

I never thought of the possibility of Leeds Rifles. Thanks very much for all your suggestions. It is very much appreicated.

Regards,

Chris

[Drew]

Neglected to upload it! Sorry

It is not at all clear.

[Jelly Terror]

Chris,

I read the inscription just as you have transcribed it... the year I take to be 1919, of course.

Given that the photographer's studio is shown as being in East Ham (East London) I'd suggest that the strongest contender might be 17th Bn, though not definite.

Thanks for the closer image of the cap badge, but it's still a little vague for me to discern any detail that might reveal one particular regiment or another.

Cheers for now,

JT

[tonyb]

I would suggest the arm badge is bandsman?
Have a look here http://www.britishbadgeforum.com/for...ctureid=114302
Cheers Tony.

[magpie]

Looking at his shoulder title it looks like a C in school so could he be in an OCT, looks young enough to me.

[Jelly Terror]

Originally Posted by tonyb

I would suggest the arm badge is bandsman?
Have a look here http://www.britishbadgeforum.com/for...ctureid=114302
Cheers Tony.

Agreed, Tony.

Also, I think the section of the cloth S/T that we can see looks as though it says 'LONDON', so '17th LONDON' might be a possibility too.

ST.jpg

Originally Posted by magpie

Looking at his shoulder title it looks like a C in school so could he be in an OCT, looks young enough to me.

Yes, he does looks very young.

JT

[Drew]

Fascinating! Thanks very much indeed everyone.

For some reason, I thought the lettering must be white, but now that you point out the 17th London one, it makes me think immediately of the L.R.B. title, where the pale green lettering always looks so light and almost white, in old photographs. The only thing is, I thought the 17th London title was rectangular rather than an arc shape, though I suppose that wouldn't necessarily preclude other variations. (see my attempted mock-up as I have never actually seen an original).

If he was OTC, as magpie says is a possibility, might that explain the difference from other London Rgt STs? Especially with regard the 'piping', which I haven't really seen before. I am not at all familiar with OTC and CCF shoulder titles. Many thanks for all your thoughts.

Thanks too for the bandsman spot, Tony. As I think you are all saying, he looks very young to be be a sergeant bandsman if not OTC or something similar.

I have a feeling that we won't get much better with the cap badge, as it is blurred in the original. I will see what I can do though. Despite the blurriness, I can't believe I didn't think of London when I looked at the ST. Look at what I titled the thread! The more I look at it now, the more I think I can see the small "TH" before LONDON.

Would his uniform be correct for OTC though? Wouldn't he be dressed as an officer?

Many thanks again,

Chris

P.S. What a wonderful album JT, thanks a lot for the link. A real treat.

[Drew]

I have had the postcard rescanned, and when I zoom in, I think the clarity of the image may be marginally better. However, when I try to save that 'zoom' as a jpeg in order to post, I think any quality I have gained is lost again.
Nevertheless, I will attach them here to see how they turn out when posted.

Cheers,

Chris

[Drew]

The cap badge really hasn't come out any clearer, unfortunately.

[High Wood]

Only two Roy Berrys had their births registered between 1895 and 1910 in England and Wales.


Births Dec 1899 Berry Roy Kingsley Dartford 2a 507

Births Dec 1908 Berry Roy Henry B Stroud 6a 309

[Drew]

Thank you very much for your help, that lead is very useful indeed. It seems that the main candidate is Roy Kingsley Berry. I am just looking into his service and it would appear he was a cadet with the RFC/RAF from 1918 to 1919.

Many thanks,

Chris

[Drew]

If I am interpreting his RAF service record correctly, Berry joined on 1.7.18 to a RAF Cadet Distribution Depot. It looks like he was sent to the Lond(?) C.D.D., 6 days later. Could that be why he might be wearing a London Regiment cap badge? He was then sent to the 10th Technical Training Wing the following day. Some months later, he was sent from the '6th C. Of Ws/Wg'(?) to the '8th S of A.' from which he transferred to G class Reserve on the 6.1.19. So, I suppose the photo taken the next day was a last chance to get one of himself in uniform.

I am not sure of the abbreviations. It would appear that the unit he was with when the photo was taken was the 8th S of A, whatever that was. That is, unless he joined the London Regiment the very next day, or as a Reserve unit?

Many thanks for everyone's help.

Chris

Edit: Regarding joining the next day, I don't think I was thinking straight. It would be unlikely that he would have uniform and sergeant stripes in a day!

[Drew]

This cap badge?