Unknown unit, India Burma group photograph.

A recent purchase and while I am waiting for it to arrive I thought that I would post the seller's pictures to try and get a head start in indentifying the unit.

There are several clues in the photograph and a couple of names and addresses on the back.

Firstly the photograph shows eight men in uniform. One Captain, three Sergeants, two O.R.s and two of indeterminate rank who may also be officers, one is possibly a Lieutenant. Hopefully their rank slides will be readable with a magnifying glass when the photograph arrives.

No medal ribbons are being worn which suggest that the war has not yet ended and, as the majority of the men are not in the first flush of youth, they have not seen service in another theatre such as North Africa. Or at least the ribbon for that campaign had not been issued yet which helps to date the photograph.

One of the Sergeants appears to be wearing a badge or formation sign on the right hand side of his slouch hat, circled in red. The Captain also appears to be wearing a cloth badge on his slouch hat. It seems to consist of a dark horizontal rectangle beneath a lighter coloured triangle. Circled in blue.

Most of the men appear to be wearing slip on shoulder titles of a darker material than the K.D. uniforms that they are wearing. Unfortunately, the picture is not of a high enough resolution to read them clearly. However, the appear to consist of three or four letters.

Another of the possible officers appears to be wearing a formation sign on his right sleeve, circled in red.

My first thoughts are that this group are serving with a battalion of the Royal West African Frontier Force.

 

Well the Officer in the middle is definitely a Captain (3 pips)……the rest, my old eyes can’t see

 

The back of the photograph has two names and addresses written on it. The first says:
Rosendale
Old Soldiers Home
West Ferrie
Albert Road.
George Dolan.

The Rosendaele Old Soldiers Home still exists today at Albert Road in the West Ferry area of Dundee. Unfortunately George Dolan is a fairly common Scottish name.

 

[QUOTE="Temujin, post: 953999, member: 30023"……the rest, my old eyes can’t see[/QUOTE]

Until the photograph arrives, which will probably be after Christmas, that is the fundamental problem.

If you download the photograph to your computer it reverts to the original size and the details are somewhat clearer.

 

The second address states:

Nichol.
92 Albert Road
Queen's Park
Glasgow.

So it would appear that there is a Scottish connection to the photograph.

 

I'd say the Captains bush hat flash is a triangle over a bar which I think is RWAFF (with different colours as different battalions) Royal West African Frontier Force - Wikipedia - is the front left gents sleeve flash an 81st West Africa spider patch? 81st (West Africa) Division - Wikipedia

edit - I should probably have read the full post rather than going straight to the photo as I seem to just be agreeing with a lot of the original observations

 

Is Albert Road possibly Albert Avenue? the first letter of both words looks the same (although in Queens Park there is an Albert Road and Avenue)

 

James H Nichol at 92 Albert Avenue in 1935 valuation roll

 

From a British Newspaper Archive search

"Sgt. Francis James Nichol, R.W.A.F.F , only son of Mr and Mrs James H. Nichol, 92 Albert Avenue, Glasgow, 5.2, to Fit. Sgt. Mary Geraldine"

Afraid I only have search not an active subscription, but thats from the Southern Reporter (from Selkirkshire) 27/5/43

He is on Ancestry Family Trees - 21/1/18 to ?/5/86

 

A.B.64, thank you very much for taking the time to look this up for me, it is appreciated. It is just the breakthrough that I was looking for.

Albert Road could very easily be Alfred Avenue as the writing is not very clear.

I am assuming that the Sgt Francis James Nicholl article is a marriage announcement, If it is on F.M.P. I will see if I can find it.

The other thought that struck me was that it seems odd that the other address is for an old soldiers home, perhaps George Dolan was the father of one of the men in the picture, or perhaps worked there as live in staff.

Many thanks,

Simon.

 

The article was a marriage annoucement. Francis James Nichol married Flt Sgt. Mary Geraldine Agnew who was from Western Australia, at the Brompton Oratory in London on May 17th 1943.

It was probably his last home leave before going to India and Burma. I will have to check but I seem to remember that the African divisions may have formed up in Ceylon.

 

From the Broughty Ferry Guide & Advertiser. 20th July 1946.

Deaths. at D.R.I. on July 14th 1946. George Dolan, of Rosendaele Home, Broughty Ferry.

Presumably D.R.I. is the Dundee Royal Infirmary.

 

From Scotland's people he was 73 at time of death, not sure if the notes relate to a son, depending on the nature of the home maybe his family stayed with him

edit - he has a family tree on ancestry - born 2/8/72 in Glasgow, had 2 sons John & George Thomas - also a child whose record is private

edit (2) - George seems to have been Cameron Highlanders in WW1 - his service records are available

 

Many thanks, I was having trouble getting further details via F.M.P.

It would be possible that George was in the Old Soldiers' Home and that it was one of his sons that sent him the photograph. I really need to identify the exact unit of the R.W.A.F.F. so that I can locate both Nichol and Dolan. It is even possible that there is a family connection between the Nichol and Dolan families or that Francis Nichol sent the photograph to George Dolan.

 

If we are talking about S/10499 Pte George Dolan he had a very interesting military career. He enlisted in th K.O.S.B. and served on the North West Frontier in the 1890s and in South Africa during the Boer War. He re-enlisted into the Cameron Highlanders for the Great War and was in France in 1914 before being sent home with rheumatism in 1915, he then transferred to the Royal Engineers and spent the rest of the war in a quarrying company.

He seems to have fathered six children between 1906 and 1914 including John and George Thomas.

 

I have found a thread on the Military Badge Forum that states the following:

"I have a note that within the RWAFF the equilateral triangle was in the following colours for national/state units:

Red. Div HQ
Green: Nigeria
Yellow: Gold Coast
Blue: Sierra Leone
Brown: The Gambia

I also have a note from Formation Sign (FS) 88 that Gold Coast Infantry units wore a red AoS strip at the base of the yellow triangle. And a query from FS 120 about a combination patch of yellow triangle and three red AoS strips below. But I regret, no clue as to what the white AoS strip might signify although there is a query in FS 223 - a slip-on with one white and one red AoS strip above an Ordnance issue R.W.A.F.F. title."

I am not sure if yellow would show up as the lightest of the colours listed above in a black and white photograph but a yellow triangle with a red Arm of Service strip beneath would seem to indicate that the men in the photograph were serving with the Gold Coast Regiment.

 

Post 12 by High Wood refers to:

Via: Military hospital in dundee (World War One) Page 1 RootsChat.Com There is a Post No. 4 for WW1 military hospitals in Dundee and it is sourced from TNA medical records: Search results: dundee royal infirmary | The National Archives several of which refer to Royal Infirmary, Dundee or Dundee Royal Infirmary.

Plus there is Wiki: Dundee Royal Infirmary - Wikipedia Open 1798-1998

I suggest your presumption is correct.

 

Incredibly the photograph arrived this morning all the way from Dumfries and Galloway. Superb service from the Royal Mail at any time, let alone two days before Christmas in the middle of a global pandemic.

In this picture the Captain's Divisional sign is visible and clearly shows the lighter triangle above a darker horizontal rectangle.

 

The sleeve badge worn by the man on the left in the front row is clearer but I do not recognise it. I did think that it may be Sergeant's chevrons but much smaller than the other Sergeants are wearing. However, I am not awate that chevrons were worn this small.

 

I am now wondering if the sleeve badge being worn in the photograph above is made up of sergeant's chevrons with a crown above. If so, it would indicate that he is a C.S.M. which would explain him taking the seat next to the Captain.