Victorian Couple - What's the Occasion & Restore Please...

[Jayhen6]

Hi everyone,

Just to say many thanks to everyone for your great
efforts with this one...

John

[AJ100]

An observation, for what it's worth. Obviously a studio portrait but the occasion could be anything. What struck me is that James is sitting while Priscilla is standing - not the done thing then. Also James is not wearing a wedding ring. Both are dressed in their best clothes and Priscilla's do not look cheap and if anything of better quality than those of James. It must be an occasion of note for them to have gone to that trouble.

[Jayhen6]

Yes a puzzling portrait all round.. They weren't well off as
far as I know and I even considered if the clothes were 'hired'
at that stage of their lives they had 2 children... As for the
Wedding ring I have a later studio portrait taken prior to
WW1 which I don't think James is wearing a ring then..I
Shall dig out the image to check... When I first received
The image I immediately though it was a wedding portrait
But obviously not according to the fashion... Still a puzzle


John

[chinakay]

Actually it was very common to have the gent sitting and the lady standing. Here's one:
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,644467.0.html

And another:
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,643193.msg0.html#new

And:
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,639580.msg4865918.html#msg4865918

We have seen hundreds of photos like this on the board.

Also, it was common for the man not to wear a wedding ring. Until about WWII men generally didn't wear one. Even today, some men don't...Prince Phillip and Prince William come to mind.

Cheers,
China

[Jayhen6]

Hi China,

Very interesting information and old
Images... I'd still like to know what
The occasion was.. Maybe it was priscilla's
25th... Just a thought...

Regards

John

[Gadget]

Hi John

Where did they live?  I was thinking they maybe lived in a rural area and didn't  often get to a town where there was a photographer.

He looks very young!


Gadget

[Jayhen6]

Hi gadget,

The couple lived in the Farnworth area of Bolton which was industrial. James had various jobs working for the railways, a beetler and general labourer. I agree he looks very young and that
is why i initially thought it was their wedding photograph when he would have been 24yrs of
age. The clothing suggests later and that's what's making it difficult to establish what the
occasion was. I shall post a further studio sitting taken before WW1 together with their 8 children
in which they have aged significantly...

Regards

John

[Gadget]

Were there any other family 'events' around the mid-1890s?  The reason I ask is that I have a series of studio-type photos taken on the same  day,  which I later discovered was at the time of a family wedding so they all had their photos taken!