Photographs held by families can hold many clues: even if it’s hard to locate an individual’s war records, a photograph can yield many clues. Here our consultant Richard Devonshire takes a close look at the wedding photograph of Wilfred Badcock, of Kennegy, west Cornwall. Wilfred returned from the war but – as like so many others who returned from the conflict – never talked about his war experience. He lived a long life, farming with his family in west Cornwall.
Richard has also uncovered records relating to Wilfred Badcock’s military service. He writes:
The soldier is a private soldier in the Royal Field Artillery, a key regiment in WW1. Private soldiers in the Royal Artillery were known as ‘Gunners’.
The Royal Field Artillery (RFA) of the British Army provided close artillery support for the infantry.[1]It came into being when created as a distinct arm of the Royal Regiment of Artillery on 1 July 1899, serving alongside the other two arms of the regiment, the Royal Horse Artillery (RHA) and the Royal Garrison Artillery (RGA). It ceased to exist when it was amalgamated with the Royal Garrison Artillery in 1924.[2] The Royal Field Artillery was the largest arm of the artillery. It was responsible for the medium calibre guns and howitzers deployed close to the front line and was reasonably mobile. It was organised into brigades, attached to divisions or higher formations. (Source: Wikipedia)
His unit may have been the RFA unit supporting the Wessex Division which was raised in Cornwall and Devon: further research is needed in this area.Visible details from picture are underlined below:
The basic Active Service uniform was a combination of the ’02 Pattern Serge Service Dress & Cord Breeches. In 1914 it consisted of the following:
- Service Dress Cap (The ‘stiff cap’ with a shallow rounded {not slashed!} peak) with the RA Gun/Crown/Cipher brass badge & GS buttons.
- Khaki ’02 Service Dress Tunic, with GS buttons & RFA brass shoulder titles.
- Breeches, Khaki Bedford Cord with Braces & ’02 pattern Waist Belt
- Puttees (wrapped from knee to ankle)
- Boots (brown leather, without toe-cap & dubbined black)
- ’02 Pattern 50 Round Bandolier (worn L/H shoulder to R/H hip)
- White Lanyard (worn L/H shoulder)
