There's a very narrow date for this. The shoulder seam is called a kick-up which was a pre cursor to the Gigot sleeve which dominated most of the 1890's.
First arriving in 1889 it morphed into the Gigot in 1893.
I would suggest this is early as she still has a bustle which lost favour in the 90's.
jim1, thank you. That's exactly the kind of specialist expertise I was hoping for! I would never have known to look for that sort of detail, nor known what it signified.
It was quite common for newlyweds to have a picture taken shortly after marriage, sometimes together but often by themselves so that each could carry one.
That's what I had imagined these photos might have been. They both look the right age - 20, 21 years old - for an 1889 wedding.
1889-91 is about right.
Thank you again.
To remove the final veil of mystery: this couple are
Albert POYSER (c.1868-1952), railway spring maker, born in Derby, and
Elizabeth POPE (c.1869-1902), born in Worthington, Leicestershire. They married on 19th January 1889 at St Peter's, Derby. By 1898 they had moved to Stocksbridge in Yorkshire, where my great grandmother was born. Albert remarried (after Elizabeth died in her early thirties) and lived to the age of 84.
