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Would appreciate some expert eye to look at this rather poor quality photo and proffer an estimate of year/decade it was taken.

I do not have the original photo, so cannot give any more details other than I know the photo was taken in Australia.

Much appreciated

Earlsdau

I am wondering if anyone could kindly point me in the right direction?

I have a question regarding a baptism which happened at St. Dunstan's and All Saints, Stepney, on the 25th May 1828. I have a transcription of the record but have not seen the original and I need to elicit whether an occupation is recorded there. The baptism is for a William, child of a William and Louisa CHAMBERS.

Is there a source I can go to, to see original images?

Many thanks!

Hello experts,

I am wondering if anyone could identify the approximate era this attached 'photo' was taken. Also about how old do you suspect the two people to be?

Information I have regarding the image makes me a little suspicious about them being who they are said to be.....merely because of the history of photography not extending too far back into the early 1800's. Hopefully I am wrong!!

Earlsdau

I do not quite know where to post this as it may cover England, Scotland and possibly even Ireland! Scotland it may be Renfrewshire or Angus. England: Dorset or Lancashire. Ireland....no idea!

Surname: CLARK or CLARKE. First name: Charles. Occupation: Smith.

These are the only formal references I have to the father of an almost equally elusive son.

- On Charles's son, Frank's marriage record in 1891 it states his father as being Charles CLARK a Smith. It does not say he is deceased.

- On his son Frank's Military Records it states Frank's place of birth as Dagons, Dorset, England

- Frank's year of birth is circa 1865, based on age at recruitment in 1890 and at death in 1899.

- Frank's army enlistment place is stated to be Liverpool, Lancashire.

- I have found no census records for this family for either England or Scotland in 1871 or 1881. This has made me wonder whether either Charles CLARK (alone) or his family may have been living in Ireland at that time. We know the Irish Censuses for those years no longer exist. Could Charles have been a Blacksmith in the Scottish Military and based in Ireland? Could he/the family have just lived in Ireland?

- On Frank's Military papers his NOK is stated to be his mother, either Ann or Alice, an older brother John and a younger sister. The brother John is stated to be in the 13th Hussars. Investigation via the National Archives can find no John CLARK in the 13th Hussars in several years leading up to 1890. However there is a J. ELLIOTT but no further information is available.

- Frank's three children (2 boys and one girl) were all given the middle name of Elliott. Was there something significant about this name? I have searched for Clark/Elliott marriages but nothing pans out in England or Scotland.

- The address given for his mother on his attestation papers in 1890, is 7 Guion Road, Litherland, Lancashire.

- The 1891 Census shows a James and Elizabeth CLARK to be living at that Litherland address. In trying to find a connection between James CLARK and Charles CLARK I have traced James (marine engineer) to Arbroath, Angus Scotland. Their first child Elizabeth Jane was born in 1868 at Silvermills House, Midlothian, Edinburgh. Despite going back a couple of generations I have yet to find a connection to Charles and James. However my investigations have not been completely thorough on this front as the name is so common (and I'm at the point of being befuddled), also Scottish records are so expensive to universally access.

- A recent family comment from a relative of someone who died only three years ago says that she believed this CLARK family came from Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland. How many generations this would have been is unknown, if indeed this is true.

So that is about a summary of what I 'don't know' about Charles. I have investigated ELLIOTT as a surname option but that hasn't panned out either. There is one family living so close to Dagons/Cranborne who even has a Frank born about the same time but it is not him.

I know many of you people are absolutely amazing with the ideas you have and the resources you can access, so was wondering if you can pull anything wondrous on this one?

I am wondering if anyone could shed light on a dilemma I have.

Was it possible or commonplace for boys who had been raised in an orphanage to be put into the army at a young age?

I have an English family member who spent some years in an Irish orphanage before entering the army. Family knowledge says he fought in France sometime before the end of WW1. He was born in 1898. He evidently stammered a great deal which was put down to 'shell-shock'.

His older brother was in the army by 1911 (census), as had his deceased father before him (1890-1899).

In my searches I have come across the record of someone with the same first and last names and same middle initial who was recruited to the army in July 1912 and was discharged out "Para 132 Sick" by 12th Dec 1917 at aged 19. The record says he had served overseas.

I have not been able to find Service Records for this relative.

I appreciate any input!