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Old Photographs, Recognition, Handwriting Deciphering => Free Photo Restoration & Date Old Photographs => Topic started by: fortmap on Sunday 22 August 10 15:09 BST (UK)
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Hello,
I recently found some old family photos. Nobody knows who the people in many of the photos are, so I'm doing my best to figure it out.
There is a group of four, three older women and a boy that feature in a few photos, always looking rather sinister. Though I'm sure they were actually lovely.
Perhaps if I had a good estimate as to the date on one of these, it might help my mission.
So, what do you think?
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Second attempt to upload it...
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I might as well put up one of the others...
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A lot of victorians looked sinister as they thought it wasnt decent to smile in photographs. I dont think I have ever seen a photo of that era with the subjects smiling!
I would say 1890- 1900 as a date?
The second photo looks obviously like a mother with her children. Also, victorians did not touch in photos unless they were close relations.
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Thank you very much for that. I didn't know about the touching thing.
I'm open to anybody else who has anything else to add, or to contradict! :)
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I would agree with 1890, but would make the final date a little later say 1910, as costume did not change that fast in many areas. The lack of touching which I didn't know about either does fit with the general Victorian ethos.
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Yes I would agree with the latest date of 1910. It's interesting to see the family in their Sunday best and then more day to day clothing. I wonder if the father was taking the photos?
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OK, I have a third picture.
Their poses seem much less Victorian in this one. Perhaps this upsets the pre-1900 theories? ???
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Definetely seems around 1910 or even slightly later.... also now seems positive that the father or other very close relation was taking the photo- he obviously caught them in a very natural pose lol!!
They are fantastic photos and in great condition, you are very lucky. Maybe the father was a photography enthusiast?
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On reflection I think it could be as late as 1914, but not later than that watershed.
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1st. & 3rd. which appear to be the same family group around 1905-10.
2nd.the younger children in this appear to be the same as appear in the other 2 photos.The boy who's in the 3rd. is in long trousers whereas in the 2nd. he's in breeches so a bit younger.
Maybe the older sister was taking the other 2 pictures.
jim
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Thanks for all your ideas.
The photos are in a little red album that was owned by my grandmother Dorothy, who lived from 1894 until the 1980s.
Her husband William lived from 1885 to 1938. It's definitely not them and their children.
So, I've been thinking that it's either Dorothy's siblings and mother, or William's siblings and mother.
Here are William's brothers and sisters, and dates of birth (and death if I know them) - they all grew up and got married:
George Albert H. Keeling (1880)
Archibald Albert Keeling (1881)
Emily Kate Keeling (1884 - 1957)
William Ernest Keeling (1885 - 1938)
Elsie Alice Keeling (1887)
Douglas Harry Keeling (1889 - 1931)
Leslie Alfred Stanley Keeling (1891)
And mother and father:
Emily Bolt (1852)
George John James Keeling (1853 - 1902)
That doesn't seem to fit to me.
So, for Dorothy:
Millicent Jane Purchase (c1879)
Richard William Roberts-Purchase (1880 - 1930)
(Lily) Lilian Mary Purchase (1881)
(Bertie) Herbert Allen Purchase (1882)
Reginald Roberts Purchase (1886)
Edith Annie C. R. Purchase (1889)
Percival Edgar Purchase (1893)
Dorothy Ellen Roberts-Purchase (1894)
And parents:
Mary Selina Jones (1860)
Richard Roberts Purchase (1855)
And that also doesn't seem to quite fit to me, either.
My best guess is that Percival Purchase is the boy, and the ladies are some combination of Dorothy, Edith, Lilian and the mother Mary.
The father was a jeweller / watch maker, so perhaps he gave the boy that flash watch chain!
What I really need is for somebody to have written the names on the back of one of the pictures! :)
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Could be Edith,Percy & Dorothy with an older sister in photo's 1 & 3 along with their mother who would have been in her 40's at the time.
jim
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Could be Edith,Percy & Dorothy with an older sister in photo's 1 & 3 along with their mother who would have been in her 40's at the time.
jim
Just to confuse issues I think the woman in the middle of pic1 is the same woman in pic 2 and is the woman lying down in pic 3...
The blond girl in pic 1 is also in pic 2 :-\
pic 3 is gorgeous ;D
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Agree with Jim on the 1908ish date for the first photo...definitely not 1890s.
Cheers,
China
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If the boy is Percy Purchase, 1908 makes the boy in the first photo aged 15.
He looks maybe 10 to me.
So if it is Percy Purchase, I reckon the first photo would be 1903.
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I was searching my family and this came up.....just thought id say the lady on the left in picture one is a dead ringer for my mother lols!! She's the Keeling family. The mother in the photos is a dead ringer for my Aunty - also Keeling. Not sure if it helps. Haven't made the connection between my Keelings and Dorothy yet, still nutting out a few bits of my tree.......
did you ever find out who was who etc? the little blonde girl looks similar to a Keeling wedding photo i have.....
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I have a wedding photo of a large family group. Some of the women are wearing almost identical hats and blouses to the ladies in the third photo. The wedding was in the June quarter 1912