My parents have found this photo in their attic and think it might be my mum's great great great grandmother's brother (his name is Frederick) but apart from clearly seeing he is very well dressed we cannot make out anything written on the back or anything about his uniform to pin it down!

Any ideas, you wonderful people? Possibly based in Norfolk, but that is a stab in the dark too!

by dellgirl07

19 comments

  1. You might want to ask in one of the photoshop or photo restoration subs, they might be able to make the writing more legible.

  2. The jacket and boots look like a late Victorian, early Edwardian army uniform for hot weather (Khaki essentially), the hat behind is a warm weather hat for safari or jungle environments.
    The three bars on the sleeve denote he was a Sergeant.

  5. Looks like it’s 1899 onwards. We introduced khaki uniforms for the Second Boer War and the pith helmet was in use then too.

    This repro looks very similar;

    [British Victorian “Boer War” Uniform (thehistorybunker.co.uk)](https://thehistorybunker.co.uk/British-Victorian-Boer-War-Uniform)

    The 1902 pattern top had extra pockets below the belt line.

    [1902 Pattern Service Dress Uniform (Other Ranks) – Football and the First World War](https://www.footballandthefirstworldwar.org/british-army-uniform-world-war-1/)

    So this could be someone on colonial duty with an older tunic. But I’d say there’s a good chance it was taken for this Sergeant shipping out for the Second Boer War.

    This is Kitchener’s Boer War portrait with the same tunic, helment and ‘tache.

    [Major-General Lord Kitchener, 1902. Artist Our beautiful Wall Art and Photo Gifts include Framed Prints, Photo Prints, Poster Prints, Canvas Prints, Jigsaw Puzzles, Metal Prints and so much more (mediastorehouse.co.uk)](https://www.mediastorehouse.co.uk/heritage-images/major-general-lord-kitchener-1902-14990513.html)

    But I’m just going from some quick googling.

    [Major-General Lord Kitchener, 1902. Artist Our beautiful Wall Art and Photo Gifts include Framed Prints, Photo Prints, Poster Prints, Canvas Prints, Jigsaw Puzzles, Metal Prints and so much more (mediastorehouse.co.uk)](https://www.mediastorehouse.co.uk/heritage-images/major-general-lord-kitchener-1902-14990513.html)

    On the other hand I’m struggling to find pictures of Boer War soldiers wearing shorts. So it could be a later deployment in India or the like.

  6. This looks like it could be the Burmese military police during the Imperial British period.

  9. I’m not an expert but I copied the image of the handwriting and pasted it in Paint to have a better look at it.

    I inverted the image so the writing was a little bit more clearer and I then drew over the top of it with white so it would stand out more and at first I thought the writing said “Luther” but after spending more time looking at it, I think it looks like it might say “Laverne”, Leverne” or “Luverne”.

  12. Have you had any luck with the short line of writing just above it or the writing reading the under the black bit at the top?

  13. The letters I can make out on pic 2 say something like:

    Mrs [ ] E[ ]waerduer[ ]y Edit: actually I think it’s a ‘g’ at the end instead of a y. Or potentially ger. And the E could definitely be an L.

    Salm [scribble – &?) gus

    Then a signature that looks to me like an S.

    It doesn’t make much sense to me but maybe you’ll see it and somehow make sense out of it within the context of your family tree. Intrigued to see if anybody can actually read it!

  14. You know the writing appears to be on an outline map of the Middle East right?

  16. This looks like British army in India, I’d say 1905 onwards as shorts weren’t a thing much before then, it wasn’t until 1914 shorts started to become more popular and common.

  17. He has a similar look to a British soldier from that period his name was John kirk and he was the inspiration for Charles dickens Oliver twist

  18. He’s a corporal, I wonder if this is a private portrait rather than an official military picture. You don’t usually see that rank in formal poses like this. Obviously, I could be very wrong.

    Also, there is no regimental insignia on his collar or lapels.

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