Unknown Old Scotsman

[edas]

Hi, I am attaching the photo of an unknown old Scotsman - looks like he was pretty tough except for the pigtail. His photo ended up in a box of old photos in Tasmania - my guess is it probably came from Stewarts of Dingwall. Is it possible to determine age/era/locality (eg Highlander) or anything else from this photo? The badge on his cap and belt buckle are unclear and I have tried researching badges based on the shape of the badge, but no luck. Any comments appreciated. Thanks for taking a look.

[Arlen]

Just for reference, folks, here's the picture. Edas used the long photobucket link which goes to the page rather than the image.

[figheadair]

The picture looks to be c1860-90 and to be a mix of military/civilian dress although it may be wholly civilian in military style. That said, the white belt and cut of the jacket make me wonder if it was the uniform of one of the local Volunteer Units. Unfortunately no amount of image playing makes the buttons more distinct.

The tartan is a 42nd type but again, the quality of the image and fold of the cloth means that it could be one of the decorated variants such as Breadalbane. The sett appears quite bright but this may well be the effect of colours photographed in early B & W. Red often appears pale compared to blue, black and green; so the jacket could be red or some other colour such as grey and the tartan could equally be the 42nd Fraser setting.

What's the relevance of the Stewarts of Dingwall reference?

[edas]

I am just guessing that it may be a Stewart from Ferintosh/Dingwall, and was wondering if it could be an Alexander Stewart who married a Mary Stewart in Urquhart 25.04.1817 (married by Anaes McBean), whose son Simon (and wife Margaret Lamont and migrated to Tasmania, but that's getting into detailed genealogy). There was a box of photos - all unnamed except for a Hugh Stewart taken in Canada, but some recognisable as Stewarts and McCullochs that had been taken in Tasmania. I was hoping to get some idea of era of photo to guess his age.

Thanks for your reply. This is my first posting and still need to get the hang of uploading photos.