Battery Sergeant Major
William Hammond Coleman

New South Wales Contingent

This cabinet photograph is being tentatively identified as No. 304 Battery Sergeant Major William Hammond Coleman, in the uniform of the Victorian Horse Artillery and formerly attached to the New South Wales Contingent Artillery that saw service in the Sudan in 1885.

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William Hammond Coleman was appointed Battery Sergeant Major in the New South Wales Artillery in 1883 and would retain that rank until receiving a warrant officers commission in 1915.

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Coleman was born in Sofala, New South Wales in April 1855 and attested with the New South Wales Artillery in 1876. Coleman was the only Battery Sergeant Major to serve in the Sudan with the New South Wales Contingent and would receive the Egypt Medal with the clasp "Suakin" and the bronze Khedive's Star. 

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Coleman remained with the artillery after returning home from the Sudan and would see additional active service in South Africa during the Anglo-Boer War.  He was entitled to the clasps "Cape Colony", "Orange Free State", "Transvaal" and "South Africa 1901". During the South African War Coleman would additionally be awarded the Long Service and Good Conduct Medal. 

No. 304 Battery Sergeant Major

William Hammond Coleman

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Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

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c. 1890