Help with uniform identification please

[ninjilly 11673xp 0]

Fantastic @damon thank you so much. Really looks good for it.

[Anonymous]

@ninjilly, if the gentleman was born in 1837, that photo is at the earliest 1860 and he would have been some 23 year old to have that moustache and hair.  I would guess he is closer to 40 than 30 in the photo, so dating it to 1870s.

[ninjilly 11673xp 0]

Yeah, once she gave me his birth date, 1850s was clearly too early. By 1881 is is out of the Marines and remarried. There’s no death to be found yet but she’s only just starting down this side of the family tree. It was really more to identify which man it was as the photo was in her own mum’s belongings.

[torros 23841xp 0]

Going for a bit of a stab in the dark based on the stripe on the trousers  and the Austrian  knot  and say  maybe military  foot police

[brucelea 7909xp 1]

Just to throw my basic knowledge into the mix, the artillery and engineers were sister regiments and I would agree with @damon that the uniform is a match for artillery units. The bombs on the collar look like they only have one spread of flames (usually 7 for artillery) and the stripes on the trousers should be red if it’s an artillery related uniform, the cuff detailing matches the style I’m familiar with but I couldn’t be accurate on how they differentiate between units. The real identifying feature would be the belt buckle but I can’t make out anything. It’s not uncommon though for No1 dress to have a belt in the same cloth as the rest of the uniform, or plain leather, as well as a more formal white belt (stops you getting blanco all over your uniform when you’re not on parade). My thoughts would lead towards Royal Marine Artillery.

[brucelea 7909xp 1]

Just found this, it’s for Royal Marines and their artillery units and it would seem to match the shape of the outline of the one in the photo.

[oriskany 60796xp 1]

@ninjilly – yeah, definitely go with @damon and @brucelea on this one.  My apologies, I did not know that artillery within Royal Marines had a separate insignia for their collar device.

[elessar2590 18239xp 2]

If I can add my own 2 cents I would put him at the end of his career and possibly about to retire sometime after 1880.

He appears to be wearing the Blue Serge Jacket that was adopted for the Anglo-Egyptian Campaign (came in before it but was first used in 82) and replaced with a Grey Alternative in 84 for the Mahdist War.

Here’s a picture of RMA in Egypt 1882 for comparison.

He appears to be wearing the Dress Uniform Version as seen of the man second from the right or a version of it possibly an earlier variety at the start of the decade.

That would make him about 45ish in this photo if it was taken in 1880-81.

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