TOPIC:

Rob - The QSA medal ribbon makes the photo summer 1901 at the earliest. When they were issued in the field it appears to have been done in a responsible and controlled way for obvious reasons. By the summer of 1901 262 Henry Core had been in South Africa for about 18 months. So his uniform would be a replacement and quite likely not the best of fits. Also I am not totally convinced they have been tucked up. I admit the collar badges could be a bit of problem but the images of them are rather unclear. Thomas Lee of Barberton is a recognised professional photographer and I don't see why he would go to the bother and expense of photographing an unattractive woman in uniform - surely a more attractive woman would have been a better seller? I think it is a photograph of a genuine soldier in need of a haircut.

Regards, David.

David,

The words in pencil are "Copy by" (normal practice when a studio was asked to produced a duplicate of an existing image captured by another photographer).

And, to my eye, definitely a woman. Certainly not a serving soldier with those locks!

Neville