Comments please? No name, probably Stocksbridge WRY

[Ruskie]

Fabulous photo.

How many other photos do you have which taken in the same studio? I wonder if it might help put this into context if you posted the others as well? 

[Claire64]

Thanks everyone for your input, as soon as I have the computer on I'll look at the other photos and see what I can add to aid your sleuthing!

[Claire64]

We spotted about the flower Mckha. 
Carol, does the double corsage mean he was a groom?
The photo of a group of men was taken in Blackpool.  The man on the far right is my great grandad Thomas Marsh Crossley, born 1886.  The man in the middle is Walt Sykes senior, born 1862.  He is with his sons/future son in law.  The men all seem to have been neighbours and friends though I am not ruling out any family connection as my great grandad was illegitimate.  I thought the photo was possibly taken c1923-1924; the men were from Stocksbridge WRY but the studio was Ellis Wolstenholme, Wellington Studios, Blackpool – he had a studio at 3 Wellington Terrace in 1923/4 (he had other studios but the trade directories only mention this address for these years).
I posted this photo on a local forum and was sent the photo of the couple (attached); this is Walt Sykes senior and his wife, maybe taken on the same trip - suit looks the same, and the chair.  His wife died in March Q 1924 so it's no later than that.
I hope this can help unravel this!

Just wondering - the guy at the back in the pin stripe suit...could it be the same guy as on the original photo?  Hard to tell with the hat on, but the suit looks similar.

[mckha489]

The suit does look similar, but I think he has a finer chin than the gangster.  (Who I think is VERY) young.  18-20??

Is the man on the left astride the chair Walter Sykes son? Very similar faces.

[Claire64]

Yes, the two men on the left are Walt Sykes senior's sons. 
The one sat on the floor married Walt's daughter
My great grandad is on the right
The man back right is Herman Elliott, and I cannot find a connection to either family, apart from the fact they were probably neighbours.

[Creasegirl]

I think that in a lot of the studios they had clothes for people to wear specifically for photos not their own clothes which they might not be able to afford.  the first photo looks a bit staged as the man doesn't look.very comfortable and I would say that the woman's hat doesn't look like something a normal girl would buy. Just my thoughts

[Treetotal]

Just to be clear, photographers didn't provide outfits for sittings. They couldn't possibly cater for all shapes, sizes and tastes, although some props were often used.The sitters would be wearing their own clothes. I still am of the opinion that the first photo is a wedding photo. It must be remembered that not all photos in family collections are of family members.
The young man in the first photo would only be a boy when the second photo was taken as it would have been taken around 10-15 years earlier.
Carol

[Claire64]

Thanks.  I think the group photo with the men might have been earlier than 1923.  Doing further research into the photographer, he may well have called his other, earlier studios "Wellington Studios". 
Yes, I'm thinking wedding as her shoes are not practical and he has the corsage. 
I've been researching a lot of our "shoe box" photos, and many have turned out to be close neighbours and friends, though I did manage for work out one photo had my great-grandfather's brother on, who I'd never seen before.  A local lady recognised her mum as a bridesmaid at that wedding, so that was a lucky find.
I'm just looking into when the Sykes children wed.  Mainly before 1920.
It's addictive this!

[Treetotal]

Ellis Wolstenholme was born in Lancashire in 1861 and was listed as a Photographer's Assistant in 1901 in Blackpool. The second photo I believe was taken around 1905-1910
Carol