1915??? (Date clarified please)

[-Glen-]

Hi,

This is my Great-Grandmother 'Nanny Dinah'. The photo is a scanned copy of a copy. Unfortunately, we don't have the original.

A Military expert happened to notice me carrying this photo one day and asked to see it! She explained to me that it was a 'Munitionette' uniform. We had no idea that Dinah had worked in a Munitions factory. She was born c1891 and I've read that the act was passed by Parliament in 1915, to allow women to work in these factories. She had her first child in 1918, so I'm guessing it was taken sometime between 1915-18. Would you say that's correct? Also, any other details about this photo that only your expert eyes would notice?!

Many thanks in advance, Glen.

[chinakay]

Good heavens, she's wearing pants!!

Not an easy one Glen because as she's wearing a uniform it's not likely to conform to the fashion of the day...any day. Like the pants.

But the pose and general look of the photo are not wildly out of tone, in my opinion, with WWI.

She's wearing a wedding ring though, and doesn't seem to be "indisposed" or whatever they used to say

Good to know about the uniform...might come in handy some day.

Cheers,
China

[-Glen-]

Yes, my Mum recently spotted the wedding ring! That only adds to the mystery of Nanny Dinah's first 27 years of her life! (Can't find her birth record or 1891, 1901 and 1911 censuses! And although my Great-Grandparents had children together between 1918-1934, they didn't marry until 1929! Perhaps this an engagement ring, she's wearing?)
Thanks for taking a look, Glen.

[Redroger]

Doesn't look like an engagement ring to me.However, the date seems to be clarified as between 1915 and 1917. Regarding the marriage in 1929, sight of the certificate would determine if she had been married before, and should also give details of her parents.

[-Glen-]

Thanks for that Redroger. Nanny Dinah is a bit of a mystery! I'm now wondering if she was married previously?! Although i can't find anything to suggest so and the marriage cert in 1929 records her as a Spinster. Mind you, they were married in a Registry Office, false home address was given, nobody recognises the names of the witnesses and everybody thought they were married 11/12 years earlier in a church! (I've posted all the details on the 'Kent Lookup Requests' board, under the posting of 'Birth/Baptism/Census lookup please - Dorothy 'Dinah' Staples/Shepherd/Langley')
Thanks alot, Glen.

[RedMystic]

Perhaps this an engagement ring, she's wearing?

I'm curious about the comment about the engagement ring. When did that tradition start? Was it solely a matter of dollars available to purchase one?

My only context is with my relatives. None of great grandmothers had engagement rings (though some came from / married into "comfortable" families). My grandmother married for the first time in 1927 and didn't have one either.

BTW, I loved the photo!!!

[Redroger]

Have you tried a 1911 search for Dinah with everything else  shown as a wildcard? It enabled me to find my father when a total mess had been made of his surname transcription. I would try Dinah for each year 1889 through 1893.My parents married in 1939 and Mum got her engagement ring in 1953. Yes it was a matter of economics.

[chinakay]

I've done a bit of digging into the question about engagement rings. Here's something from 1873. Apparently the right hand thing would be an American tradition and not necessarily British.

"The proposition being made and accepted, a ring, called 'the engagement ring,' usually containing a single diamond, of the highest value to which the generosity and means of the giver are capable of attaining, is presented by
the successful suitor to his betrothed, who wears it ostentatiously on the ring-finger of her right hand."

from: "The Bazar Book of Decorum.
The care of the Person, Manners, Etiquette, and Ceremonials." 1873

Cheers,
China

[RedMystic]

who wears it ostentatiously on the ring-finger of her right hand."

Hi China, TX as always for the insight. Wearing the engagement ring on the right hand isn't an American / North American thing. We wear our rings on the left too. I've heard that the right hand engagement / wedding ring tradition is European (though I have nothing to back this up other than a few conversations.)