Hannah and Fanny Lovesey photo for dating please? isle of wight

[LittleNell44]

Lol...  if they are who I think they are then they would have been hard-working women in service during their younger years, so i was wondering whether they would've made do with clothing from a few years earlier?...

...  neither got married until they were in their 30s - after 1896

Nell

[IgorStrav]

Rather than appear in a photograph with very dated clothing (10 years out of date.....gasp of horror) they would probably have altered them, especially the bustle.

if it's say 1881, could it be Hannah and a friend?

[LittleNell44]

Many thanks...  I'm almost certain that the younger one is Fanny as I have various photo's of her throughout the 1910s, 20s and 30s with my gt grandfather (she is named in some of them) and the likeness is remarkable...  but i did wonder about the clothing.

Nell

[BoslemBoy]

Would it make sense to check IOW directories to see if Long's Photographic Studio remained in business across the dates you suggest?  Just a thought.

BB

[LittleNell44]

Thanks, I'll do that

Nell

[Treetotal]

Many thanks...  I'm almost certain that the younger one is Fanny as I have various photo's of her throughout the 1910s, 20s and 30s with my gt grandfather (she is named in some of them) and the likeness is remarkable...  but i did wonder about the clothing.

Nell

Having looked at this more closely in Photoshop, the girl you believe to be Fanny looks very young and under developed, so if this was taken in the late 1880s it could well be her at 16/17 years old.
Carol

[LittleNell44]

Thank you Carol

Nell x

[gobbitt]

Hello Nell

I'd say mid- to late 1880s: certainly between 1883, when bustles came back into fashion, and 1889, when they abruptly went out again. High narrow bonnets were popular towards the end of the decade.

Sadly, the studio doesn't help to clarify the date. John Long (1855-1927) was a photographer as early as 1871 - at the age of 16 - living with his siblings and their widowed mother Charlotte (1818-1876) in Carisbrooke, Isle of Wight. He was in Newport by 1881 and still at the same address (116 St James Street) in 1891, before moving to Portsmouth.

A collection of his prints now accessible at eBay includes a couple of the same style as yours (here) but all are undated.

David

[LittleNell44]

Wow... thank you David... I'll take a look

Nell