Information

[PETEM7591]

Hello. Could any member please identify this Soldiers Regiment?, and around what year. On the picture there is a imprinted stamp on the bottom corner with "LAMB PHOTO BARNSLEY" (Yorkshire), i have a zoomed up view of the buttons on the uniform and there appears to be a Lion on but i could be mistaken.
Thank you. PETEM7591.

[leigh kitchen]

Belgian?

[davidwyke]

Hi

Certainly not British. I would go for Belgian too or could he possibly be Dutch or even Norwegian?

Date - I would guess c.WW1 or maybe a bit later.

David

Many Belgian refugees ended up in Yorkshire in the early months of WW1, although to be honest he looks too well turned out to be a refugee.

A further thought, it's unlikely but as convincing as he looks could there possibly be a theatrical connection?

[Toby Purcell]

He is wearing a 'Bonnet de Police' a headdress of Napoleonic origin long retained by the Belgian Army. The style of his apparently, khaki uniform, also indicates a Belgian soldier either of the 3rd Artillery, or 3rd Infantry Regt (the buttons might bear crossed gun barrels and the lion of Nassau).

[davidwyke]

Hi Toby

Belgium it is then but I wonder what he was doing in Barnsley? I mentioned refugee in my previous post but I think that's unlikely really. I think the Belgian refugees who came over here early in WW1 were probably all civilians. Also, didn't the Belgian Army start WW1 in "coloured" uniforms and only adopt khaki subsequently?

Another thought, some Belgian refugees were housed in a large mansion not far from here, they left and it was then turned into a military hospital for the duration of the war; as were many large houses around the country. As far as I know that particular hospital only treated British soldiers but I wonder if some wounded Belgian soldiers were hospitalised over here? Perhaps that could be the answer?

David

[Toby Purcell]

Originally Posted by davidwyke

Hi Toby

Belgium it is then but I wonder what he was doing in Barnsley? I mentioned refugee in my previous post but I think that's unlikely really. I think the Belgian refugees who came over here early in WW1 were probably all civilians. Also, didn't the Belgian Army start WW1 in "coloured" uniforms and only adopt khaki subsequently?

Another thought, some Belgian refugees were housed in a large mansion not far from here, they left and it was then turned into a military hospital for the duration of the war; as were many large houses around the country. As far as I know that particular hospital only treated British soldiers but I wonder if some wounded Belgian soldiers were hospitalised over here? Perhaps that could be the answer?

David

A large number of Belgians, civilian mainly, but also some military came and settled in Britain. I recall that they formed their own village adjacent to a shell factory for which they provided the workers. There was also a school and a hospital. I cannot remember where the village was.

The khaki uniform was latterly adopted yes, in the Spring of 1915. From 1914 until then and mainly on the Yser they had worn a French style blue, with wine red trousers, the supply of which had been hastily arranged when stocks of the pre-war, 1913 pattern, had run out.

Afternote: Apparently the Belgian village was at Birtley, Tyne and Wear, and known as Elizabethville: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Birtley_Belgians

[btns]

The buttons are the Belgian lion buttons from later on in WWI.
I think they are zinc metal or a similar alloy.

[leigh kitchen]

I think I have examples in yellow metal......

[Toby Purcell]

Originally Posted by leigh kitchen

I think I have examples in yellow metal......

Perhaps for officers.