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Old Photographs, Recognition, Handwriting Deciphering => Free Photo Restoration & Date Old Photographs => Topic started by: parf on Sunday 02 July 17 12:20 BST (UK)
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Hello I am trying to find out more about two pictures I have of my Great Grandmother, Mary Ann Thomas from Pencoed, Glamorgan. I was told she was a Midwife in the Bridgend area of Glamorgan. She has always looked like a nun to me in the picture but she was a Midwife.
The first picture (the nun) is stamped on the back with the date 31st Oct 1929 & is addressed to my Grandad Thomas John Thomas in Pencoed nr Bridgend. Mary Ann died in 1933 aged 78yrs old.
The second picture of Mary Ann is not dated but looks younger & looks more like a nurses uniform
Could anyone help date the second picture please
Thank you
Jan
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Clean up for Mary...
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I wonder if she was a midwife like those in the T.V series "Call the Midwife"The ones who were nuns?
Was she married do you know?Viktoria.
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Nicely cleaned up, Handypandy.
No expert, but I think the nurse's uniform would be from the 1910s - similar to 1900s uniforms but without the exaggerated shoulders. To me she looks late 50s to early 60s, so say first half of the decade.
Cheers, Peter.
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Just looked at a larger image and she does have a wedding ring and an engagement ring so not a nun.( They do have a wedding ring as it is considered they are married to Christ but there would
not be an engagement ring.)
In the first photograph she wears a strange hat- looks like velvet with streamers down the back.
Could she be in a costume perhaps, the hat reminds me of those Mary Queen of scots is depicted as wearing.
The apron and cuffs though are typical of nurses` uniforms.You have started a mystery!
Viktoria..
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Thank you all for your help, yes she was married and had ten children, so not a nun !!
She is a bit of a puzzle, says she is a nurse on 1911 census. Would have liked to find out a bit more about her nursing career such as where she worked etc.
Thanks again
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Hi...You might want to contact Sue here, she may be able to help:
http://www.scarletfinders.co.uk/
Carol
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She may have become a nun late in life.
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My effort, :)
Yvonne
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I keep following this to see if anyone thinks like me but they don't :)
I think the 'nun' looks younger than the 'nurse'. Is it definitely the same person? I can see the likeness so am not sure there. According to the dates, she would be 74 yrs or thereabouts on that photo.
How is she described on her death certificate?
Heywood
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Like Heywood, I'm puzzled by these two photos. They certainly look very similar and also think the nun one is younger than the nurse one. Did she have a sister?
I've cropped the two for closer comparison and also flipped the nun one.
Gadget
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I thought the nun one looked younger too...a high res scan of the medallion might give some detail. I don't think she looks 74.
Carol
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No lines on the nun's face but a definite furrow on the forehead above the nose on the nurse one.
The left eye (flipped on the nun) is so similar with it's extended downward edge and the mouth and chin are near identical. However, the noses are different - the nurse's is longer and more pointy. Apparently, noses grow longer as one ages (mine hasn't ;D ).
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Yes, the furrows influenced me, Gadget. :)
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Just been sifting through some of my photo dating refs as the nurse pic looked Edwardian, which I now think it might be - say 1904 +
I see that the studio was Duray - there was a Dura in Swansea at around that time.
Gadget