The identity of the soldiers featured on this page is unknown. They may or may not have a Matlock Bath and district connection, though the evidence points to them having some link. Their photographs were found in a collection belonging to Sarah Pearson's grandparents, who lived at Scarthin, and they have only recently been rediscovered. They were kept alongside a memorial card for Charles Joshua Knowles, a young Starkholmes soldier who was killed during the big German push on 21 March 1918 and who is commemorated on a panel on the Pozieres Memorial near Albert.
Charles Joshua is listed amongst the names on Matlock's war memorial.

This is an enlargement of the badge on the epaulette of the top soldier.
We would be grateful for any help in identifying the regiment.

The first image is a studio portrait and was taken in Randolph C. Nield's Oxford Studios in Ripley but the photographer of the second main picture - of the two men shown in the oval picture below - is unknown. Clues perhaps lie in the families of either Charles J Knowles or of the extended Pearson or Outram families as the photographs had belonged to Alfred Joseph and Emma Verona Pearson of Scarthin.

What is known is that Charles Joshua Knowles worked briefly for a Riber farmer called Annie Outram, to whom he was related. Annie Knowles had married William Outram at Whittington on 27 Nov 1877 and at the time of the 1881 census William was both a Professor of Music and a currier^[1].

The Outrams connection to the Pearsons was through the marriage of William's sister Ellen to Joseph Pearson at the Wesleyan Chapel, Cromford, in 1873. The Pearsons lived in Scarthin^[2] and in 1901 their son Alfred Joseph and his wife Emma Verona (nee Farnsworth) were a few doors away^[3]. By 1911 Alfred and Emma were at Scarthin House, with Emma running a drapery and tailoring shop alongside Alfred's piano tuning business.

Another alternative to their identity is that the soldiers could be friends or neighbours of the Pearson family, especially as Albert and Emma's sons were a similar age to, and undoubtedly school friends of, some of the local recruits. Departing soldiers would have given a photograph of themselves to their friends and acquaintances as well as to their immediate family.

If you recognise any of the young men shown here, please get in touch (go to Contact Ann at the foot of the page).

Note the single stripe on the upper arm of the soldier on the right showing he held the rank of a Lance Corporal. It is hard to tell what regiment either man belonged to. The badge on the right hand soldier's shoulder is indistinct. Were they brothers?

Sarah Pearson's blog about Scarthin during WW1
Cromford Trade Directories list Scarthin names, including the Pearsons and Outrams

References:

^[1] William and Annie Outram can be found in the 1881 census (her parents, Thomas and Sarah, were next door) | the 1891 census. William passed away and Annie continued to farm - see the 1901 census. William's father can be seen in Scarthin in the 1841 census.

^[2] Joseph and Ellen Pearson were in Scarthin in the 1881 census (Ellen's father Thomas was next door) | in the 1891 census | on Chapel Hill in the 1901 census.

^[3] Alfred, Emma and their growing family were living at Staffordshire Row in the 1901 census.