Austria-Hungary "Graf Walderdorff ? 16 Jun 1866"

[Guest Rick Research]

Two photographs from a mid 1860s Bohemian album. The originals are sepia, which I've changed here to make the faded images a bit better.

1) Undated, as a Captain with ? Vatican Order of Saint Gregory the Great or some Italian state's Commander grade order?

Does this style of collar help date this?

What actually is he wearing, since Hapsburg Rank Lists do not show foreign awards.

I have Schematismus editions 1855, 1857, 1861-62, and 1864 and can match none of the three Counts Walderdorff listed-- two of whom appear to have retired BEFORE then with Military Merit Crosses and the 3rd was too junior.

[Guest Rick Research]

M. L. Winter in Prag dated this one in 1863:

the same name and death date is written as on the photo above

He appears to be wearing the uniform of a full Colonel (braid on collars and cuffs) and if dim memory serves, the Napoleonic style fore and aft chapeau was actually only worn at this time by GENERALS-- so is he a General der (Infanterie or whatever?).

His sole decoration appears to be an Austrian long service cross.

[Guest Rick Research]

Quality of these little Cartes de Visite is quite poor, and there has been at least (so far) one complete mis-identification of a Nassau officer... so it may be that the English speaking lady who wrote names had gotten them completely scrambled in her memory many years later.

If it IS possible to sort these officers out, I would appreciate it. I've spent my adult life immersed in German Rank Lists, and in two weeks with Austrian ones, cannot make heads nor tails out of them!

[Glenn J]

Quality of these little Cartes de Visite is quite poor, and there has been at least (so far) one complete mis-identification of a Nassau officer... so it may be that the English speaking lady who wrote names had gotten them completely scrambled in her memory many years later.

If it IS possible to sort these officers out, I would appreciate it. I've spent my adult life immersed in German Rank Lists, and in two weeks with Austrian ones, cannot make heads nor tails out of them!

Rick,

the captain is wearing the uniform of either the Tiroler J?ger-Regiment or one of the Feld-J?ger-Bataillone: Note the Green "Lampassen" on the trousers. The turn down collar dates the photograph between January 1861 and April 1868. One Hauptmann 1. Classe Rudolph Graf Walderdorff was serving with 4. Feld-J?ger-Bataillon in 1865 as per the 1865 Schematismus. Hauptmann Graf Waldersdorff was KIA at K?niggratz on 3 July 1866 still with 5. FJB and posthumously awarded the MVK.

Regards

Glenn

[Guest Rick Research]

Aha! Thanks! So that's the seated fellow. But IS the standing one with a chapeau bras a General?

125 years, mislabelled by somebody who was alive at the time.... :banger:

[Glenn J]

Rick,

I believe he is a full Colonel and to the best of my knowledge no Graf Waldersdorff achieved General officer rank (or commanded a regiment).

Regards

Glenn

[Guest Rick Research]

Figures. The seated fellow is, probably the only one correctly identified in that album. Almost all the others you've ID'd have also been INCORRECTLY labelled--

all part of the endless Research Gnome work of CORRECTLY identifying people who even their living contemporaries got WRONG!