Hello, i have received a photo of my great uncle Freddy and my family would like to find out more about his time in the Army,to do this we need to identify his regiment,so i hope someone could look at this photo and tell us what it was. Many thanks
Hi 'Uncle Freddy' and welcome to the forum....I'm sure this will be easy for someone on here to identify. So far I reckon he's from WW1 (incase you didn't know) and his collar dogs look like a Staffs Regiment. I'm off to zoom into the saved picture South Staffs have the same rope design on the collar dogs Cheers Andy
Thank you for the very quick response. As far as i know he was in WW2, i dont think he was not old enough to fight in WW1. My Mam thinks he was a POW of the Italians in the desert,could this be correct? where can i find more info of his service record? Sorry for all the questions its just this research is all new to me. Thanks again
So far I reckon he's from WW1 (incase you didn't know) and his collar dogs look like a Staffs Regiment No Drew, although it's Service Dress they never wore collar dogs in WW1. It's Inter-war. Apply for service records here. >> Service records
I maybe wrong but his uniform appears to be WW1 unless it was like that pre war 1930's??? The cap badge looks slightly different to the collar dogs - It looks like it has a 'floral reef' around it. Did he die during the war? If so you can look him up on the Commonwealth War Graves Comission website. Can you post his full name and DoB? There's a few POW experts on here Cheers Andy Edit Cheers Owen
His name that i have is Frederick Spence i have no DOB but will try to find out more. He didn't die during the war that i know.
Collar badge to me looks like it is a cloth oval behind the badge perhaps. Is there any clue to be had from the shoulder title on the left shoulder - looks like the curved type. How far back does that type of title go?
Andy, The Uniform is definately Post WW1 and is of late 20's-30's Vintage. This style was used well into the 30's.......collar dogs ussualy mean its not WW1, there are exceptions but this is not one ..... Donnie
I beleive the 1st battalion fought in Burma wheras the 2ns Battalion were an air landing group (Gliders)who landed in Sicily - but that was a mess and it is possible that many were captured - the survivors also fought at Ahrnem Cheers
I have a photo of my grandfather taken in France in 1940. He is wearing '02 service dress as seen in the photo above, so it was used well into WW2.
Uncle Freddy, May I suggest you contact the Regimental Museum & ask what they know about him. http://staging.reftech.co.uk/staffregmuse/contacts.php
This man is my father, Fredrick Spence, he was a prisoner of war in WW2 in Poland, he would never talk about the war to us. He was born December 15th 1917, he died 23rd April 1990. My biggest regret is not knowing much about his time in Poland, by the few things my mother told me it was horrendous and as far as I am concerned life damaging. I am trying to find more about his brother James Spence (Green Howards 4th Bt, he dies aged 20 in WW2, I think I have just seen his grave in Bedford House cemetery in Belgium ( just got back from my visit there on Thursday 19th October 2017) Any help would be much appreciated.
Re Frederick Spence's photo: that cap badge is surely the South Staffs Regt, as Owen says; North Staffs had the Prince of Wales's three feathers instead of the crown which is visible here. I think I can make out a scroll beneath the Staffordshire Knot, which rules out the Staffordshire Yeomanry who had a crown but no scroll. Both the cap badge and the collar dogs seem to be cloth-backed, which helps date the picture as this is is presumably the buff-coloured 'Holland patch' backing granted to the regiment in 1935 in recognition of its 57 years of continuous service in the W. Indies, during which time the men's uniforms had to be patched with sacking they were so threadbare. The North Staffs had a black backing which derived from their original uniform facing colour, which again is absent from this photo. The whole rig looks inter-war to me - though Paul is surely right in saying older patterns must have been in use into WW2, perhaps more so in Territorial battalions? Up to the expansion of the force in 1939 there were two for the South Staffs Regt, the 1/5th and 1/6th; a 2/5th and 2/6th were added then. They were all in 59th Division and fought in Normandy until the division was broken up and the battalions redeployed variously. Don't know if they also had the Holland patch though: the Mercian Regt museum seems to suggest 1st Battalion only. If that's so, then it'll help ID Frederick Spence's battalion. Cheers, Pat. Edit: meant to say to Rushwoods, the War Diary for the Green Howards for May 1940 may well be in existence, so you might possibly find out more in it about the background to James Spence's death.
Regarding my uncle Jimmy. Thank you Pat for the information, I will have a look. I omitted to say in my previous message that Fredrick Spence is my father.
