When I saw that drawing of WH Wakefield, I thought I'd seen that face before. This is a famous photo from India...."The Last Empire" (republished in America under a different name), a collection of photos (fantastic) of the Raj (called by the Indians the "Sirkar"). The problem is the photo is dated "1860."
-- I'm having a hard time seeing hammers on those guns - they may be there - not sure; but since hammerless guns didn't come out until about 1880...no matter - I have an EM Reilly with hammers firmly dated to 1898.
-- And in 1860 there were demned few center-break shotguns out there...everyone used something that would shoot British Army ammo...and breech loaders didn't even come into use in India until the Snider-Enfields started to arrive about 1866. (Center break guns were made and publicized by British gun makers impinging on Casimir Lefaucheux's patents beginning in the 1850's.. but the shooting fraternity was extremely conservative).
-- No under-levers either. No Damascus barrels but rather steel....
-- And I'm not sure Indian Army (British Army) was using "puttees" (Lower leg boot wraps) at the time (I thought they came out of WWI), and I don't think "Khaki," color invented by the Guides in India existed until the late 1880's; these guys are not army..but are wearing Khaki and puttees.
-- And the key - The center character is wearing a wrist watch - They didn't become popular until 1914-6 courtesy of Soldier fashion. "On July 9, 1916, The New York Times puzzled over a fashion trend: Europeans were starting to wear bracelets with clocks on them."
The photo is clearly mis-dated by some 60 years. So is the center person actually WH Wakefield out in India circa 1920? (edit: Underlever on the shotgun on the left; possible Damascus barrels on the shotgun on the right; possible hammers on all of them?)
The above is a pretty silly post and extremely unlikely. This was a wealthy and prominent family. The Grandfather had a gunpowder company as well as a bank and a railroad. And someone sketched him as a young man in Kendel. Nevertheless, I can find no follow-on information on Jacob's son William Henry. There were numerous Wakefields who worked in India or were connected to India. The Family gave up the great house before WWII. It is credible that faced with other relatives running the banking business....he went out to India...perhaps as a 20 year old before WWI.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Henry_WakefieldDo my eyes deceive me or is there a significant cast off on that shotgun on his lap?
