Writing on the back of a portrait

[Girl Guide]

Definitely not 1839!  1920's/1930's maybe?

So maybe 1839 is the reference number for that customer with 15 being the 15th one done of a series of photos.

Is that writing on the bottom right hand corner, or scribbles of some kind?

[groom]

So maybe 1839 is the reference number for that customer with 15 being the 15th one done of a series of photos.

Is that writing on the bottom right hand corner, or scribbles of some kind?

I agree, it does look like some sort of reference number, which would only mean something to the studio.

I wondered about the marks - looks as if a child may have got hold of crayons. 

[arthurk]

Could the name be WARD?

[Chris Anderson]

Definitely not 1839!  1920's/1930's maybe?

So maybe 1839 is the reference number for that customer with 15 being the 15th one done of a series of photos.

Is that writing on the bottom right hand corner, or scribbles of some kind?

Just scribbles

Maybe the writing is just studio information. We assumed she was Ellen Hollingshead who became Ellen Anderson after marriage. But that doesn't look like the signature. None of the guesses so far ring a bell either.

[Girl Guide]

This is always a major problem with photos.  Very few people think to put any names & dates on the backs so that future generations will know who they are.

I have an old family photo album and my grandmother could name virtually all of the people in the album.  She wouldn't let me write the names down in the album so apart from a handful of photos which did have a name and others which had been noted, the majority are nameless.

So if we want our children and grandchildren to know who their ancestors were it means writing full names/dates on the backs or some other suitable method used.

[[Ray]]

Was the pic found amongst family possessions?

Why not list all of the (sur?)names in your family and then let us all see if we can make any fit?

[Chris Anderson]

Was the pic found amongst family possessions?

Why not list all of the (sur?)names in your family and then let us all see if we can make any fit?

Yes we assumed it was my Grandads mother

ANDERSON
TAYLOR
NESBITT
HOLLINGSHEAD
SNAITH
NANSON

[groom]

The name may not be that of the woman in the picture - it could be the name of the person who ordered the photo.

I can see it as 2 names - either Allard as suggested by Ray, or a word starting Mi and ending rs. 

[[Ray]]

?      Guard


Ray