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Old Photographs, Recognition, Handwriting Deciphering => Free Photo Restoration & Date Old Photographs => Topic started by: action49 on Thursday 26 March 20 02:01 GMT (UK)
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Yesterday I very excitedly found this very poor photo in a mourning locket.
Looking at all the possible ladies it could be, I have a lady who died in 1862 - she was very young when she died, do you think this could possibly have been her? Sarah Bridge from Durham
I couldnt get a great picture of it because it is woefully small.
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1860's/70's looks about right however this is a girl aged around 15. You don't say how old she was when she died.
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Have you got any other information about her as I don't see a death registration for her in Co Durham around that time.
I may have missed it but i'bve tried different sites :-\
Gadget
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Thanks guys! Her maiden name was Sarah Bridge born 1834 in Hetton le Hole, Durham, married John Swinburn at 22/23 in 1857 and died in 1862 age 28 of scarlet fever. I was thinking, given the arm across her shoulder that this would have been a wedding picture. She does look very young but 23 could have been possible. I cant see anyone else who would fit the bill in the family I have got on that side. It's definitely a mourning locket because it's big and black. I really had no idea whether people were having wedding photographs done in the late 1850s!
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Ah so not very young as in a child then but a married woman.
I too think the girl in the picture looks around 15.
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It's not as early as 1857, I think Jim's estimate is about right. She does look look to be about 15 tears old.
Carol
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Oh Pooh! Back to the drawing board then I guess if you think it's after 1857. I suppose it didnt need to be a wedding photograph.
Thinking outside the box - would a better fit be a 17 year old being married in 1873?
When I was clearing out my mum's stuff I came across an in memoriam card in my grandmother's best handbag which had been in mum's drawer for over 40 years. I knew the name on it - Tabitha Binks - but the date on the card was 1876, and my nanna wasnt born until 1897. I did some sleuthing and found that the Tabitha Binks who was nanna's friend was named for her father's first wife Tabitha Rhodes who had died age 22. Now, I wonder whether this may have been her instead. Though why my nanna would have a mourning locket of someone who wasnt related is a bit of a conundrum - equally, I have no idea why she would have kept the in memoriam card of someone unrelated who had died more than 20 years before she was born.
Looks like I might never know!
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It would be interesting to know if there is a name written on the back of the photo, are you able to take it out?
Carol
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Good idea, Carol, but sadly I think araldite must have been used!
Just floating another possibility - would a 21 year old in 1882 be a better fit? Still not 15 but we all look young in our family (cough!!!)
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I think that date is too late.
Carol
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Thanks Carol. Back to the drawing board!
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I might be seeing things, but is the girl in the locket wearing her hair down? If so, she will be quite young, so not one of your married ladies, and I agree that she looks around 15.
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Have we any idea of the age of the locket itself?
Sue
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Have we any idea of the age of the locket itself?
Sue
Good idea. Knowing a bit more about the locket and it’s previous owners might help work out who the girl is.
As the photo in the locket has obviously been cut from a larger photo it could be that it originally contained a different portrait. I don’t suppose there is an earlier portrait underneath the girls photo?
Is the locket made from jet? It is very lovely.
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I think jet would have a higher polish. May be bog oak, which was duller?
https://artofmourning.com/2011/02/15/bog-oak/
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I think jet would have a higher polish. May be bog oak, which was duller?
https://artofmourning.com/2011/02/15/bog-oak/
Some nice pieces on that website josey. ;)
Through a bit of googling, I found some jet pieces which look quite dull.
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Doesn't help but I wonder if it could be her father with his arm round her.
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I agree. Difficult to say if she is sitting or standing but I would say sitting. If she is standing then there is a large height difference.
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I was thinking standing but it is hard to be certain. The other person standing and if it was father and daughter he would naturally be taller especially if she was a teenager and still blooming.
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Some excellent thoughts there. The locket is Jet (they lived close enough to Whitby and there was quite a bit of jet in my nanna’s house - it’s very shiny on the outside and stiff as can be to open up. I can’t get the picture out unfortunately and there’s nothing on the other side space.
I naturally thought she was sitting - my thought was it was a wedding pic and that’s what I’ve seen before with husband’s proprietorial hand on shoulder. The hair kinda threw me because Ive not often see it down in pictures but it looks like she had an unmanageable amount of it so it may have been her pride and joy. My other thought was that this would have been in a coal mining Durham village where maybe the niceties of style in society didn’t apply but otoh it looks like she was well dolled up for the occasion, whatever it was.
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I think you need to be careful here & not to try and hammer this in to someone you would like it to be.
What you've said contradicts what everyone is saying to you in that this is a girl around 15.
Women of all classes managed their hair into the fashionable style of the day without any problem.
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I think it late 1860s 1870s from the style of her hat and hair and not sure if she wearing choker or not.
Reminds me a bit of queen Alexandra's style
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It does look like a choker now you mention it. These were popular in the 1870's & made a comeback during the Edwardian Era as you say.
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I think 15 and no older. Maybe she died at that age and it is her last photo.
Do you have anyone who died around that age in that era ?
Who did the locket belong to ?
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I suppose we are assuming that the photo is of the age she died. It might be that it was a special photo for the person to remember them by
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I've tried to get greater definition ... is her hair down at her right side or is it a veil from the hat?
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I assumed it was all hair and nothing but the hair.
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I think you need to be careful here & not to try and hammer this in to someone you would like it to be.
What you've said contradicts what everyone is saying to you in that this is a girl around 15.
Women of all classes managed their hair into the fashionable style of the day without any problem.
Of course! You guys are the experts. It would have been lovely - I think I have very dim memories of my mum telling me it was Sarah but mum was renowned for scattering red herrings everywhere and I stopped taking her word as gospel a long time ago! Will go back to looking for a girl who was around 15 in the 70s (I thought I saw the choker there too) and who died young (perhaps - or it was just a favourite photograph)
Lots to think about! Thank you all for your insights!
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I am not suggesting you do this (I wouldn’t if this were mine), but the locket must be able to be opened. I would be very reluctant to force anything but a restorer or dealer in antique jewellery may be able to help you.
I doubt that the photo is contemporary with the locket, so I would be curious to see if there is an earlier photo or other image behind it.
You might be able to do something to loosen up the hinges, possibly a tiny amount of specialist oil such as that used for oiling clocks. You would need to take care to not get anything on the jet though. Once again probably best left to a professional.
Jet is lovely - you are so lucky to have so much of it.
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I am no kind of expert, but.....
I thought girls/maidens wore their hair down until marriage or, until too long "on the shelf" to get away with it anymore.
Would a 15 year old, in Victorian times, be getting married? And would the hair go up before or after the marriage ceremony?
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Young women usually dressed as adults at around 18,marriage didn't have anything to do with it.
It was a case of longer skirts & shorter hair.
It might be worth mentioning that jet was a fashionable jewellery accessory & worn in it's own right
& not just for mourning purposes although that was the most common practice.
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If it can't be opened by you without damaging it I would be inclined to take it to an old fashioned jeweller, he might have the small implements to open it without damaging it, worth a try
Good Luck
Louisa Maud
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Wikipedia has fascinating facts on whitby jet et al. Apparently Queen Victoria wore lots of it when mourning her Albert and so enhanced the fashion for ' mourning jewellery'. see here ...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jet_(gemstone)
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Yes Ian...a subject that has been much discussed on here and also Bog Oak which is often mistaken for jet.
Carol