Anyone recognise this uniform?

[HeIsLegend31]

Appreciate not the clearest of pictures but his name is Albert Stringwell who would have been my great great uncle. Unfortunately we know absolutely nothing except that is his name and this is his picture. I know when he was born/died so it would have put at prime age for WW1 so believe this to be from then. 

Thank you in advance for any knowledge on this that may help me to look into him further. 

[Michelle Young]

I’d go for Lincolnshire Regiment or West Yorkshire. There’s a medal index card for a James Stringwell in the Lincs.

[Gunner 87]

I wonder if it's the West Yorkshire Regiment as they wore a black cap. 

[Gunner 87]

Ancestry is returning two possibilities for Albert Stringwell. The Kings Regiment and the Leicestershire Regiment. Neither of the two have cap badges that appear to match the photograph. 

[Gunner 87]

Looking at the records of the two I mentioned the Leicestershire Regiment man joined in May 1920 and left in October the same year and was 19 years old so unlikely him. Strangely, he was born in Lincolnshire but lived in Yorkshire. The Kings Regiment soldier joined in 1909 and left in 1911. Neither appear to match. 

The cap badge certainly looks like the Lincoln's as @Michelle Young says. 

HelsLegend31 would it be possible to let us know his year of birth, death and where about he came from in the UK if you know that?

Edited 26 April , 2023 by Gunner 87

[Michelle Young]

@FROGSMILE should be able to assist. 

[FROGSMILE]

1 hour ago, Michelle Young said:

@FROGSMILE should be able to assist. 

It’s a poor rendering distorted by the colouration, but on balance I think it’s probably Lincolnshire Regiment.

The ‘universal (coloured) forage cap’ for non royal infantry was the same for all and rather than black (which it looked in orthochromatic photos) was a very dark blue with a narrow scarlet welt around the top.

Edited 26 April , 2023 by FROGSMILE

[Allan1892]

Several public trees on Ancestry have Albert Stringwell AKA John Easy.

There is a John Easy in the 1st Battalion, Lincolnshire Regiment, #1/9322, discharged 24/5/1916.

1 hour ago, HeIsLegend31 said:

at prime age for WW1 so believe this to be from then.

I can not find a John Easy that would fit 'a prime age'

If Albert Stringwell was born circa 1889 with parents William and Emma then it is possible that John Easy and Albert Stringwell are the same man. My reason for this being possible is that Albert's pension card shows a residence at High Street, Eastoft, near Goole. William and Emma Stringwell are living at Wash Hole Lane, Eastoft in the 1921 Census. The 1921 Census shows Albert living at Adlingfleet Grange Cottage, Goole and working as a Cowman on a local farm. The Census shows that he was married to Elizabeth Francis with children Arthur William; Florence Emma; Ada Elizabeth and George Ernest.

Any thoughts on this from the OP?

 

[Tawhiri]

1 hour ago, Michelle Young said:

There’s a medal index card for a James Stringwell in the Lincs.

This particular James Stringwell was killed in action on 28 April 1917 while serving with the 8th Battalion of the Lincolnshore Regiment, and is commemorated on the Arras Memorial. No further information on the CWGC website, but there are a number of pension index cards naming either a Mary Jane Stringwell or a Richard Stringwell. There is also a possible surviving service record that names a Richard Stringwell as next of kin. Somebody with full access to Ancestry or FindMyPass should be able to find out further details, but his service record, if it is his, notes that he was 26 on enlistment.

[Gunner 87]

4 hours ago, Tawhiri said:

Somebody with full access to Ancestry or FindMyPass should be able to find out further details

This is from James Stringwell, 21532, Lincolnshire Regiment, service papers. 

Edited 26 April , 2023 by Gunner 87

[FROGSMILE]

A point I overlooked to mention is that his walking-out-dress in the photo, comprising full dress tunic, universal forage cap and white belt, implies a prewar enlistment in the regular army. 

Edited 27 April , 2023 by FROGSMILE

[HeIsLegend31]

Hi All, sorry didn’t expect so many responses so thank you!

 

My family appear to all be either Yorkshire or Lincolnshire, they often seem to move between the two a lot through various people and generations. I believe Albert lived in both in his time and possibly Lancashire. 
 

@Allan1892 I believe I have heard of Albert being referred to as John before and yes his parents were William and Emma. Goole could fit as my family are all Yorkshire/Lincolnshire based. I currently live about 10 minutes away from there. I believe Albert was born in 1888/89 so he would have been mid 20s at the outbreak of the war. 
 

@Tawhiri yes as far as I know Albert survived the war so that wouldn’t be him I don’t think. He was born around 1888-89 from what I know but don’t know an exact date.  Neither a Mary or a Richard Stringwell fit for anyone in that side of the family is next of kin. Albers parents were William and Emma

 

@FROGSMILE those images look a pretty good fit and would link with some of the other information I have put to others above ^

[FROGSMILE]

11 minutes ago, HeIsLegend31 said:

Hi All, sorry didn’t expect so many responses so thank you!

 

My family appear to all be either Yorkshire or Lincolnshire, they often seem to move between the two a lot through various people and generations. I believe Albert lived in both in his time and possibly Lancashire. 
 

@Allan1892 I believe I have heard of Albert being referred to as John before and yes his parents were William and Emma. Goole could fit as my family are all Yorkshire/Lincolnshire based. I currently live about 10 minutes away from there. I believe Albert was born in 1888/89 so he would have been mid 20s at the outbreak of the war. 
 

@Tawhiri yes as far as I know Albert survived the war so that wouldn’t be him I don’t think. He was born around 1888-89 from what I know but don’t know an exact date.  Neither a Mary or a Richard Stringwell fit for anyone in that side of the family is next of kin. Albers parents were William and Emma

 

@FROGSMILE those images look a pretty good fit and would link with some of the other information I have put to others above ^

There was a distinct boundary in the North of Lincolnshire with adjacent Yorkshire and I’ve noticed before that prewar some men enlisted over the border in both directions.

[corisande]

As often happens, I do not think that the OP has told everything they know, and to a certain extent the forum is having to reinvent the wheel. I think the OP is aware of these Ancestry trees and is probably the owner of one

• As @Allan1892 says above "Several public trees on Ancestry have Albert Stringwell AKA John Easy. "
• Those trees have the same photo as is here in OP. https://www.ancestry.co.uk/family-tree/person/tree/165494820/person/342153768937/facts
• Born 13 Feb 1889 in Lincolnshire
• SWB shows enlisted as John Easy on 12 Feb1912 in Lincs Regt
• Trees suggest that he joined the Lincs Regt as John Easy as #1/9322  and was discharged 24/5/1916 for disability - GSW to right hand
• 27 May 1916  in Lichfield, Staffordshire married Elizabeth Frances Clement using the name John Easy (3 days after discharge, but still using John Easy)
• He had reverted to Albert Stringwell by the time his daughter was born in 1919. Mother was Clement
• His wife died 1930, he married again and divorced
• died 1958 in London

From the thread it would appear that the photo is probably of him serving as John Easy in Lincs regiment, taken pre-war on or after 1912

I cannot offer any explanation as to why he had to use an alias when enlisting in 1912 - there are a number of possible reasons, but I cannot find proof

 

[corisande]

There is some stuff on Reddit

 Hi, my great grandfather, born 13th Feb 1889, Albert Edward Stringwell (sometimes known as John Easy) got married aged 51 in June 1943 in Cheltenham, left the RAF on 21st Sept 1943, was prosecuted for wilfully neglecting his wife and child on 23rd March 1945...then seemingly drifted for the next 13 years of his life. He lived for a time at 224 Coventry Road, Small Heath, Birmingham in 1945. Then in 1946, he found accommodation in a shelter at King’s Cross, London called Rowton House. He next appears in 1955 in another shelter called Bruce House, in Kemble St, London, where he lived until his death in Sept 1958 aged 70.

Would anyone know how to find out what he was doing for these 13 years? He pops up on the electoral register, and his death certificate says he was a retired iron moulder. But apart from that, I simply have no idea what he was doing for all these years and no idea where to look to find any clues of his activities over this final period of his life. I have no idea where he worked (as an iron moulder) or if committed any crimes, or appeared in any newspapers in London.

 

A reply gives

 He’s in the British Newspaper Archive. He stole some potatoes in 1926, he lived in Wiggington.

Then there are a couple of stories which could be about him, evicted in 1927 from a farm labourers cottage Thornton near Market Boswell.

Then the next time he pops up is March 1945 when he and Frances split up, and he neglected his child payment. And that’s about it for newspaper mentions.

I just read this about Rowton House ‘In the 1950s, the Houses were increasingly occupied by the elderly of modest means for whom they offered a more attractive residence than other types of institutional home — one Kings' Cross resident lived in the house for 22 years. Some residents did seasonal work elsewhere during the spring and summer then returned to spend the autumn and winter in London. The Houses also received a certain number people referred by the National Assistance Board or by Probation Officers.’

So it’s possible he got buy doing hop picking/fruit picking and other seasonal work? If he originally started as a farm labourer that would make sense.

 

And further

he died of a heart attack. As the family legend goes, he was going to buy a loaf of bread, and he had a heart attack on the street. He seemed to have survived for a while, and died at Charing Cross hospital, which is no longer in existence. But the shelter, Bruce House, is still running in 2022.

When he died, the police took his worldly belongings, a set of false teeth and glasses, back up to Keadby, Lincs, and returned them to his daughter (my nan) and tried to get her to pay for his burial. I also found out that they went to the Cheltenham, as he had not divorced his second wife, and they tried to get her to pay for his burial too. I found the grave and it doesn't have a headstone....so nobody paid up at the time...but I'm working on this now.

 

 

 

 

[Allan1892]

@corisande -- excellent detective work