Jim has made me wonder if this chap is the original candidate after all. Silvander SIMSON (known as Samuel) was born in 1810 and died in 1860. His wife, Mary PALMER, bp 1818, died in childbirth in 1858. The baby went to the workhouse and died six months later. Perhaps the photo was taken when she was pregnant, or perhaps it was taken after Mary’s death and the woman is one of Silvander’s daughters. The deaths could explain why he looks so unhappy. He was a quay porter, though, and I wonder how he’d have managed this with a stump. There was an inquest into his death and the certificate includes the note that he ‘…rambled into said Beer House…’ where he died. Can a man with a wooden leg ramble? And could poorer people afford photos?
I’ve uploaded another photo of his youngest daughter, Mary Jane SIMSON, born 1855, married 1876. We thought this was taken before she married, perhaps for her future husband who was in the merchant navy. There’s something about her eyes and nose that look similar to the chap with the wooden leg but could be just wishful thinking.
