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Hi, thanks for your reply .On the back it says recruiting officers Natal 1900.I'm unsure if this is a correct description as they are wearing black armband, I thought his would date to post Jan 1901 after Queen Victoria's death. I been told by a few different people that in amongst the group are varies different Australian personal from South Australia Mounted Rifles to Queenland Light Horse. Given I have limited knowledge I though the best place to found information would be here. I will try and post some more photos of their epaulettes. Thank You

Thank you for sharing your knowledge. I will do some research.

Sharly
Your assumption of the date of your pic being dated after 3/1901 - based on the black arm bands - is very hard to argue against. The inscription on the back of the pic is interesting; firstly because of the date (1900), secondly where the pic was taken (Natal), and thirdly the words "recruiting officers".
Colonial Australian units for South Africa in 1899-1900 were recruited at home and I very much doubt they trawled locally in SA for recruits until later. Moreover, they were not on the Natal front in 1900; being occupied elsewhere in Rhodesia and Cape Colony. So the date "1900" is definitely suspect. Whoever wrote it made a mistake. So we come back to the words "recruiting officers".
To diverge a little, initial recruiting at home for the Boer War colonial Australian contingents was usually over-subscribed for several reasons - and the same probably also applied to contingents fron NZ and Canada. Here in OZ, and especially in the later phases of the campaign, disappointed would-be recruits often journeyed to SA as horse handlers or indulgence passengers; on the understanding that they enlisted in one or another of the locally raised units on arrival. No one really knows how many there were - unless a man disclosed his home address on his enlistment papers.
When the seeker-after-adventure arrived at one of the sea ports in SA Durban in Natal or Cape Town, there were waiting recruiting officers for the ILH, Brabant's, SALH, etc., ready to snap up a likely lads for five bob a day each and all found. Thus, two aspects of you pic's notation fit into such a scenario. "Recruiting Officers" and "Natal".
Regarding the ID of the uniforms in your pic, I cannot really offer much more than I already have. Should the recruiters have included an officer from the QMI, I would have thought he would have sported Emu Feathers in his pugaree. I can't help much about distinctive headgear for the S. Aust MR, Bushmen or IB.
Let me know what you think about the scenario I have proposed. What a pity we will never know for sure.
Regards
IL.

Hello Sharly

The date on the back of the photograph may be correct. The armbands could be for Harry Escombe, who was briefly Prime Minister of the Natal Colony in 1897. Escombe died on the 27th of December, 1899.

Regards

The only Army Order stipulating the wearing of black armbands can by found in A.O. 271, published in Pretoria on 26th January 1901. The 6-month period of mourning ended on 24th July 1901 (as per A.O. 273).

As far as the photograph is concerned, my feeling is that it depicts recruiting officers from a number of different colonial units. There seem to be too many for a single regiment (one captain per regiment in the modern UK army). This would also explain the different uniforms.



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