A tale of two sergeants - uniform changes 1881-1913

During my webinar yesterday for Findmypast - which I must say I enjoyed  very much -  I showed a slide which I called "A tale of two sergeants".  I showed the two images above and below of two different seregant in the Royal Sussex Regiment.  The photo above dates to between 1881 and 1902 whilst the one below dates to between 1902 and 1913, and probably to between 1911 and 1913 when the 1st Royal Sussex was stationed at Rawalpindi where this photograph was taken.

The sergeant wears - I believe - a serge, five-button tunic and the white piping around his collar tab marks this as a tunic no earlier than 1902.  I also made pointed out that from 1913 the shoulder tabs were white. I didn't illustrate this in my slides but do so now via the Harry Payne illustration below. The solider here is an Essex Regiment corporal - and marksman, to boot - and wears the QSA and KSA on his left breast. He wears a seven-button 1902 pattern tunic with the pointed cuffs; very different from the jam-pot cuffs seen on the uniform of the sergeant in the first photo. 

The Essex Regiment - an English infantry-of-the-line regiment  -wore white facings, unlike the Royal Sussex Regiment which, as a "Royal" regiment, wore the blue facings. Note the thin red stripe on the Essex corporal's trousers and compare this with the thicker red stripe seen on Royal Artillery and Royal Engineers' uniform.

I research soldiers! 

Contact me if you need help with your military ancestor.

Royal Sussex Regiment resources online

Here's a very useful resource for anybody (like me) with an interest in the Royal Sussex Regiment.

West Sussex Council has put together a very helpful Great War West Sussex site which provides access to Royal Sussex Regiment war diaries, indexes to Royal Sussex Regiment men (which includes nominal rolls for some battalions), selected newspaper articles and documents and, at the time of writing, 73 case studies of men and women who served.

The jewel in the crown is undoubtedly the war diaries, typed copies of the originals which are available to download free of charge as PDFs. I've grabbed them all.

I offer a fast, efficient and cost-effective military research service. Have a look at my military research page and drop me a line if you think I might be able to help.

Undertones of Worley

I have been re-reading Edmund Blunden's Undertones of War and was pleasantly surprised to find that pages from Edmund Blunden's minute book are available online at the First World War Digital Poetry Archive. These include photos of his much loved sergeant Frank Worley (above) as well as fellow officers and other personalities mentioned in his memoir.  This was a real find for me and I hope it may be for others too.

Frank Worley's service record does not survive but we know that he joined the 11th Royal Sussex on the 11th September 1914 (probably at Worthing) and that he was given the number SD/555.  His medal index card incorrectly records his name as WARLEY. Frank Worley was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal, his citation reading:

He was discharged due to wounds in December 1918, married in 1922 and died at Worthing in 1954 at the age of 63.  The register entry for his death records his name as Francis J (for Joseph) Worley.