British officers in Italy (Major General William Earle?)

[valdinocis]

Good afternoon to all!
My name is Sonny and I’m a collector of old photographs from Italy. Some days ago I bought a cabinet-size photograph of four British officers. On reverse there is an inscription written in French which tells us the names of the officers depicted:

“Pour Major Sanguinetti avec les compliments de
Major General W. Earle (the same who died in the Battle of Kirbekan?)   
Colonel Lord Ralph Kerr (Lord Ralph Drury Kerr [1837-1916]?)
Lt Col A. Crookshank (Arthur Chichester William Crookshank [1841 – 1888]?)
Lieut Hon. A. Henniker (Lieutenant Honourable Arthur Henry Henniker [1855 -1912]?)”

This photograph seems to date back to 1880s but I haven’t found nothing about Major Sanguinetti or the reason why these officers were in Italy.
Someone could help me in the identification of these officers? Do you have any idea of the reason why they were in Italy? Is it related to the Anglo-Egyptian War of 1882?
I will be grateful for any help you can provide!

Sonny

[peter monahan]

Perhaps a private visit to Italy, enroute to of from postings in the Middle East or Far East?   Just a thought.  

[valdinocis]

On 12/10/2016 at 14:46, peter monahan said:

Perhaps a private visit to Italy, enroute to of from postings in the Middle East or Far East?   Just a thought.  

Hi Peter!

Thank you for your message! In these days I made a research and I identified all the officers depicted. A member of another forum suggested me that  it is probably related to the Anglo-Egyptian War of 1882 or to the Italian military expedition to Massowa. Both Britain and Italy became involved in the Sudan at that time and there was an agreement between the two Nations. As the British Army was the most experienced of the two in that kind of operations, the officers pictured were probably sent as advisers to the Italian military.

[peter monahan]

You're probably right.  i must confess I didn;t know that Italy was involved in that particular imperila adventure but if she was, your theory makes perfect sense.