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Free Photo Restoration & Date Old Photographs / Re: Can anyone date this photo, please esp re: CLOTHING?
« on: Friday 14 August 09 11:52 BST (UK) »
Good point, DB10!
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29
Free Photo Restoration & Date Old Photographs / Re: Date for photo of motorcycle race, please
« on: Friday 14 August 09 10:51 BST (UK) »
Hibee - I've just checked the original again and the photographer is 'A Warren, The Crescent, Leatherhead'.
Shane - the 1940s would be great, as the youth could then be my dad - he rode motorbikes as a young man. I'm still not totally convinced due to the 'hat' situation, though! I tend to think that hat-wearing was on the decline during the 1940s, but then I might be wrong.
Shane - the 1940s would be great, as the youth could then be my dad - he rode motorbikes as a young man. I'm still not totally convinced due to the 'hat' situation, though! I tend to think that hat-wearing was on the decline during the 1940s, but then I might be wrong.
30
Free Photo Restoration & Date Old Photographs / Re: Date for photo of motorcycle race, please
« on: Friday 14 August 09 08:44 BST (UK) »
Thanks so much, everyone, for the replies - very helpful!
I realise that the date will probably remain elusive, but I'm tending to think that the photo may be more the 1930s, mainly due (as much as I can make out) to the style of the women's hats in the background and the fact that so many of them are wearing them. Somehow, there's a 30s feel to the photo.
I've googled the photographer, but can't find anything. I had wondered whether the youth second from right at the front was my dad, but a 30s date means that he'd only have been a young boy.
Thanks again!
I realise that the date will probably remain elusive, but I'm tending to think that the photo may be more the 1930s, mainly due (as much as I can make out) to the style of the women's hats in the background and the fact that so many of them are wearing them. Somehow, there's a 30s feel to the photo.
I've googled the photographer, but can't find anything. I had wondered whether the youth second from right at the front was my dad, but a 30s date means that he'd only have been a young boy.
Thanks again!
31
Free Photo Restoration & Date Old Photographs / Date for photo of motorcycle race, please
« on: Wednesday 12 August 09 20:22 BST (UK) »
Can anyone suggest a date for this photo, please?
It was taken by a Leatherhead, Surrey, photographer and I'm hoping that one of the riders might be my father - if the date is right!
It was taken by a Leatherhead, Surrey, photographer and I'm hoping that one of the riders might be my father - if the date is right!
32
The Common Room / Re: Ideas on the ethnicity of my grandfather?
« on: Sunday 31 May 09 21:35 BST (UK) »
Thank you, Carmela and Redroger, for all this info and food for thought.
Mulling over all of this....
ClaraX
Mulling over all of this....
ClaraX
33
The Common Room / Re: Ideas on the ethnicity of my grandfather?
« on: Saturday 23 May 09 20:19 BST (UK) »
Redroger - the only descendents would be my uncle (last surviving child of my grandfather, now aged 83, living in New Zealand) or his two sons (one living in Australia, one in Switzerland).
How difficult/expensive is the DNA testing?
How difficult/expensive is the DNA testing?
34
The Common Room / Re: Ideas on the ethnicity of my grandfather?
« on: Wednesday 20 May 09 10:07 BST (UK) »
c-side: thank you for those links - I haven't come across them before, so that's really helpful.
Carmela: thank you very much for your perspective, and all the extra information. I really need to think about all this! I do remember that my aunts said that my grandfather had "run away" from ?an orphanage in Canada because he was treated very badly. Also, I should mention that he may not have been 19 (ie born in 1881) when he joined the army; I suspect he was younger than that (perhaps 17), and also he may not have arrived in England straight from Canada. Interesting to hear your impressions of the photos!
One other thing I will say is: despite all this subterfuge on my gf's behalf, most of the old family rumours about him (eg that he went by different names; that he was an army deserter) have actually proved correct, since I've been researching his past. So I do tend to view these titbits of info (such as the Christian Brothers, and being orphaned) as fairly likely.
Off to ponder! Many thanks, everyone, again.
Carmela: thank you very much for your perspective, and all the extra information. I really need to think about all this! I do remember that my aunts said that my grandfather had "run away" from ?an orphanage in Canada because he was treated very badly. Also, I should mention that he may not have been 19 (ie born in 1881) when he joined the army; I suspect he was younger than that (perhaps 17), and also he may not have arrived in England straight from Canada. Interesting to hear your impressions of the photos!
One other thing I will say is: despite all this subterfuge on my gf's behalf, most of the old family rumours about him (eg that he went by different names; that he was an army deserter) have actually proved correct, since I've been researching his past. So I do tend to view these titbits of info (such as the Christian Brothers, and being orphaned) as fairly likely.
Off to ponder! Many thanks, everyone, again.
35
The Common Room / Re: Ideas on the ethnicity of my grandfather?
« on: Tuesday 19 May 09 21:27 BST (UK) »
Thanks for the further comments!
c-side: thanks for the link - I've just checked some old info supplied by my late aunt about her father (my grandfather), and she's said that he was brought up as an Irish orphan by "either the White Fathers or the Christian Brothers" in Canada (now this was obviously what my grandfather told her, so it's not necessarily true!).
Daisy Loo: thank you for your insights. And yes, I've wondered if my grandfather was illegitimate, and perhaps didn't know his real name (which might explain why he gave different names for his father on his two marriage certificates - ie when he married his second wife, he couldn't quite remember what name he'd given the first time round!). Smith certainly has always seemed to be a bit too obviously anonymous, and also he gave the date of his birth as 1 January (1881 or 1883), which again doesn't quite ring true.
After reading everyone's thoughts and suggestions, I feel overall happier to accept that perhaps my grandfather was an Irish orphan (perhaps illegitimate and maybe from Tipperary), who was sent over to Canada as a young boy and brought up by a religious order. He ran away/left Canada and ended up in London in 1900, joining the army (he was probably penniless and it meant that it gave him an income of sorts and accommodation). He was reluctant/embarrassed to talk about his background, perhaps because it held bad memories of impoverishment and, perhaps, abandonment.
Any ideas about trying to find the birth of a James Aloysius Smith/John Arthur Shaw/? O'Connell in Tipperary?!
c-side: thanks for the link - I've just checked some old info supplied by my late aunt about her father (my grandfather), and she's said that he was brought up as an Irish orphan by "either the White Fathers or the Christian Brothers" in Canada (now this was obviously what my grandfather told her, so it's not necessarily true!).
Daisy Loo: thank you for your insights. And yes, I've wondered if my grandfather was illegitimate, and perhaps didn't know his real name (which might explain why he gave different names for his father on his two marriage certificates - ie when he married his second wife, he couldn't quite remember what name he'd given the first time round!). Smith certainly has always seemed to be a bit too obviously anonymous, and also he gave the date of his birth as 1 January (1881 or 1883), which again doesn't quite ring true.
After reading everyone's thoughts and suggestions, I feel overall happier to accept that perhaps my grandfather was an Irish orphan (perhaps illegitimate and maybe from Tipperary), who was sent over to Canada as a young boy and brought up by a religious order. He ran away/left Canada and ended up in London in 1900, joining the army (he was probably penniless and it meant that it gave him an income of sorts and accommodation). He was reluctant/embarrassed to talk about his background, perhaps because it held bad memories of impoverishment and, perhaps, abandonment.
Any ideas about trying to find the birth of a James Aloysius Smith/John Arthur Shaw/? O'Connell in Tipperary?!
36
The Common Room / Re: Ideas on the ethnicity of my grandfather?
« on: Sunday 17 May 09 15:46 BST (UK) »
ps meant to say as well: anyone still with me!!! 
