Three questions, hope you dont mind Bertram born in 1898 and his brother Sidney

[warpo]

I have this photograph and as the title says I have three questions. I wasn't sure if I had to split the questions or just kill three birds with one stone so to speak.

This image is of Bertram born in 1898 and his brother Sidney born in 1901.

Question 1 - Is the child sat down an amputee or is he sitting on one leg. I think the shoe on his foot seems to be a right footed one which would indicate he is unfortunately an amputee. The owner of the image said his mother used to tell him one of the boys had one leg, but a cousin who knew the boys till they died said they was never aware of it.

Question 2 - Given the ages of these young lads I would assume the picture to be just over 100 years old. It has been in the frame all this time. A newly found family member would like a copy of it. Given the size of the image and pressumably its delicateness, how could a copy be accomplished?

Question 3 - If he had lost his leg, would there be medical records anywhere that could tell us how or why it happened, and most of all, which boy it was that had the disability, was it Bertram or Sidney.

Sorry about the picture, its the best ive been given so far.

[Billyblue]

Q1 - I think he has his right leg up on his left thigh.
See the discoloured part above his left hand - looks like a foot to me. Certainly not part of the other boy.

Q2 & 3 I'll leave to someone more qualified   

Dawn M

[shanghaipanda]

Photos of this age were always very formal.  It does seem rather strange that the little boy would be sitting with one leg underneath him. 

I think the seated boy is the older of the two. 

[isobelw]

The 1911 census might indicate if either of them had an infirmity.
Isobel

[Jebber]

Just to add how it looks to me.

I think he is sitting on the corner of whatever it is, and has his right leg pointing backwards the way children do, with the lower part of his leg and his foot obscured by the vignette of the photo.

[Gadget]

I've just done a bit of straightening on the pic - maybe easier to see.

As Jebber says, you can see his foot resting on other thigh.

If you want to scan it, you'll either have to take it out of the frame and mount and scan it, if it will fit on an A4 scanner. Alternatively, you could take it to a specialist printshop.


Gadget

[Ray T]

If you have access to a computer and scanner, that would be your simplest option - try it in the frame first but you're more likely to get better results if you can take it out.

There are places on the high street which could do the job for you but they will likely need to send it away. I wouldn't be happy to do that with an image of mine so, if you can't do the job yourself, I'd ask around to see if anyone you know has a scanner.

Once you have a digital file, you can take that to one of the high street printers and produce as many copies as you like.

[warpo]

Thank for your replies so far.

The picture is about an A3 size and my scanner is only large enough for A4.

The 1901 or the 1911 census do not indicate a disability.

[Gadget]

Given, the size, it would have to be a specialist print shop or a photographer who has a special holder that takes photos from the horizontal, then

I once did a multiple scan of a very large photo and then joined the pieces using imaging software - it took me weeks and I did it professionally in those days!