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Thank you all for those comments about the photo, it really is a special one and so good to have been restored. On the back it says that the photographer had told him to think about having a ‘jar of Tetley’s [beer]’ in order to smile but that he didn’t get one!

Just the censuses, 1841 on. These give her birthplace (Manchester) so I’ve been able to link her to the 1799 marriage to Christopher Curtis.
I might also add that I have a distant DNA connection to Curtis in Dilton Marsh (likely eighteenth century) but no direct lineage found, i.e not his baptism records. I’m pretty sure that he came from there and is connected in some way to the Curtis families there - e.g. his son Edward (b 1806) is executor in 1850 for a Thomas Curtis whose lineage I can indeed find. So it’s the gaps round Christopher’s life that are the challenge! The fact that his job appears to have taken him around the country suggests he may have died elsewhere.
Thanks for applying another mind to this!

Hi, I have a mystery to solve. My 3G grandfather (birth and death dates not established but around 1775-1815ish) was Christopher Curtis/Curtes. I think he originated from Dilton Marsh in Wiltshire, but married in Manchester in 1799 (described as a cloth draper), had my 2G grandfather in Falmouth Harbour in 1806 and another son in Battle in 1811. His widow and boys were in Dilton Marsh by the 1820s. The only thing that makes sense to me is that he travelled for the cloth trade and I am wondering if he was involved in supplying the military (navy for Cornwall, army stationed at Battle).

My question is, does anyone know where to access either cloth trade or military information that might shed light on this? I haven’t found his death date or location, nor his birth.

At the risk of confusing the issue re Dods/Adamson and Lilliesleaf: I have a strong suspicion that Janet Adamson, who married Baillie Dods in 1762, was born in Lilliesleaf to George Adamson and Janet Simpson, on 16 Dec 1734. That might provide some reason for the mention? In this family’s history, there is also a pattern of birth in Lilliesleaf and baptism in Makerstoun.

Brilliant, Lessudden makes a lot of sense! Thanks, that narrows it down for me.