1872 - Capt. M. Dought(y)?, 10th Regt.

Fri, 02/15/2019 - 15:59

Subject: Capt. M. Dought(y)?, 10th Regt.
Date: 1872. 
Photographer: William Pryor Floyd, Wellington & Wyndham Streets
Format: carte de visite

Photo courtesy of The Pottinger Hong Kong hotel.


There's a pencil note on the back of the card: "CAPT M DOUGHT(Y)? 10th Regt. 1872".

The Captain's name is not clear, but the year fits the range of years, 1867-74, that photographer W P Floyd was active in Hong Kong.

The Jan 4 1875 edition of the London and China Telegraph also confirms that the 10th Regiment were in Hong Kong during 1872:

THE HEALTH OF THE ARMY IN CHINA.

The annual report on the Health of the Army in China has just been published. During the greater part of 1872 (the year to which the report relates) the first battalion of the 10th Regiment was serving at Hong Kong; and on leaving for Singapore (where it is at the present time stationed) it was relieved by the 80th regiment, which has since remained in China. A battery of the Royal Artillery, detachments of the Royal Engineers, and the Army Hospital Corps, and the Garrison Staff, made up an average strength of 769.

The full name of the regiment in 1872 was 10th Regiment of Foot, then in 1881 it became The Lincolnshire Regiment . Via several re-organisations, the modern-day descendant is the Royal Anglian Regiment. (source: Wikipedia).

Date picture taken
1870s
Author(s)

Comments

Here's a hypothesis.

Fact: Yes, it is independently comfirmed the 1st Battalion of the 10th Regiment of Foot was in Hong Kong in 1872 as alluded to in the penciled annotation at the back of the photo 

Fact: Capt. M Dought(y) does not exist for the 10th Regt of Foot in 1872 (or 1873 or any other time or anywhere in the British Army) according to Hart's Army Lists (even variations of the name - Doherty, Dougherty, Dought etc).

Given the Captian's name is not clear and it was scribbled in pencil maybe it is NOT Capt M. Dought(y)

Looking at Harts Army List for 1872 for the 10th Regt of Foot, perhaps it is Charles Marryat Short, who was in the 1st Battalion?

https://digital.nls.uk/british-military-lists/archive/104523326

The word 'Chas' (Charles) was misread as 'Capt'. 'M' was the middle initial (correct). And 'Short' was somehow misread as 'Dought'.

 

If it is him, interestingly he retired on 8th May 1872 according to the London Gazette:
https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/23855/page/2197/data.pdf

...which means we can narrow this photo to between January to May 1872.  

...and if so, did he retire and continue living in Hong Kong?

David

 

Thanks for the link to the Army list, I was looking for where to find that.

After looking at the list we're agreed that it isn't Captain Dought or Doughty. I'm not sure if the wrong name was written when the original recipient of the card jotted down a name, or later when an album was broken up and sold.

Captain M Battye is another possibility for a misheard name, but unless other photos of those men turn up, it'll be hard to confirm. In the meantime I'll ignore the name and just treat him as an unnamed Captain of the 10th Regt.