The picture with secrets ………. or what to do with Montague?

 We will all have one of these pictures.

It is undated, has no name on the back and could be anyone in our family or no one in our family.

What I do know is that it comes from a large collection of photographs which date from the early 1920s into the 50s which belonged to our dad.

They have pretty much lain undisturbed since they came north from London in the mid-1990s.  

Every so often I look through them trying to identify some of the people and the locations and others I will use for stories.

But this one has always eluded me and at the same time fascinated me.

And yet again I am drawn back to it.

I doubt that his name was Montague who was my great grandfather and belonged to my mother’s side.

It is more likely that he was connected to Dad and if so perhaps I am looking at my paternal great grandfather, which means the baby could be dad, or one of my uncles.

But dad was born in 1908 and the picture I think may be a little later.  I am pretty confident it isn’t me, so he might be my cousin Mary who was born in the 1930s.

Or it might just be a distant family member.

So, with no idea of the identity of the man or child, what do I do with the picture?

I could bin it, but that seems outrageous, and an act of betrayal on dad who felt sufficiently connected to it to have kept the picture in his collection for perhaps 60 years.

And even though Dad will never know, I will, so it will go back into the collection prompting me to ponder that I should get the entire collection in order, given that at 74 there are fewer years ahead of me than behind.

And in doing so give our kids and perhaps grandchildren a better context on what they are looking at.

Leaving me just to reflect on the scene behind the two of them with its vague view of a cut glass bowl, a fireplace and what looks like another person.

The full picture reveals that they were sitting outside, possibly under a veranda with a door to the right and a bamboo thing to the left.

And that is it.

Location; unknown

Picture; unknown man and baby, undated, from the Simpson collection

Forgotten faces … lost stories

I am looking at a set of glass negatives and staring back at me are four people of whom I know nothing.

Unknown man, unknown date

The images are undated, there is no hint of a location nor the name of a photographer.

All of which means my four people are and will remain a mystery.

They are part of a collection of glass negatives belonging to Phil Portus who acquired them a very long time ago.

Amongst the others there are four pictures of Worsely and Wardley Halls in Worsely which we can attribute to J.T. Sandell from South Norwood in London, who pioneered a new photographic process, but died in near poverty in 1906.*

Gardens, date unknown

But it is impossible to say whether these four come from Mr. Sandell.

Three might be but one I am pretty sure dates to the Great War and will postdate Mr. Sandell.

The quality is mixed, and so the two of a man woman in their gardens lack a degree of sharpness but still offer up lots of detail, from the flowers to the rain butt, watering can and hint of their houses.

The other two are better, and the image of the man in uniform prompts so many questions, about his identity, that uniform and the location.

Equally the picture of the soldier and his wife throw up a heap more questions.  

She appears to be wearing a wedding ring and he wears a red cross badge on his right arm, and carries a stick. My Wikipedia tells me that “In the British Army before World War I, swagger sticks were carried by all other ranks when off duty, as part of their walking out uniform. 

The stick took the form of a short cane of polished wood, with an ornamented metal head of regimental pattern. 

The couple, date unknown

The usual custom was for the private soldier or non-commissioned officer (NCO) to carry the stick tucked under his arm. … Until 1939 swagger sticks were still carried by peacetime regular soldiers when ‘walking out’ of barracks, but the practice ceased with the outbreak of World War II”.**

The background, date unknown

And while I can’t make out the detail on the cap badge and belt buckle so one will and suggest a regiment and a time.

Added to which there may be a clue in the background, which has escaped me.

So, all still to play for.

Picture; four glass negatives, unknown date, courtesy of Phil Portus

*In search of Worsley mysteries …….. two halls….. five old pictures and …. an enigmatic clue, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/2023/04/in-search-of-worsley-mysteries-two.html

**Swagger stick, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swagger_stick

“Wishing you were here” …. sun … sea …. a deck chair and a postcard

It is that time of year again, when most of us can expect heaps of holiday photographs from friends which pop up on our phones with a short jolly message.

And in this year of “stayvacation” they will of course feature plenty of places in the UK.

Not so long ago, Brighton, Blackpool and Clacton on Sea would have been edged out in favour of the Greek Islands, Italian cities and Spanish tourist spots.

Step back another few decades and the instant mobile photograph would have come from a picture postcard, which ranged from a “saucy” picture with its suggestive caption to views of the resort and surrounding countryside.

Most made you wish you were with uncle Eddy and auntie Flo, but some could only be described as boring.  I remember the one we got of a power station, and another of an empty field with what looked like a castle in the distance.

And so in this year of the stayvacation holiday the blog invites people to share picture postcards which at best are odd and at worst would make the sewage works out let pipe at Great Yarmouth a thing of beauty and excitement.

Now I know a car park, shopping parade or row of seaside benches, may get the hearts of some beating faster, but I doubt that they would ever be the best advert for a resort or in a normal year win over the travelled tourist to forsake Florence, Venice or a picturesque Greek Island for a week in Rhyl.

So that is it.  I took the picture of the telegraph poll earlier this year, and the postcards of Fort William and Malta are from Linda Rigby, circa, 1970s.

Location; Wales, Scotland, and Malta

Pictures; the local landmark, Menai, 2021, from the collection of Andrew Simpson, and Fort William and Malta, circa 1970s  from the collection of Linda Rigby

Pictures with no stories ……. the young woman

This is another of those pictures of an unknown woman.

There is no name, no date, no easily identifiable backdrop and no photographer’s address.

All of which means she could be from anywhere in the country, and at best all I can suggest is a date sometime between the end of the 19th and the start of the 20th centuries.

That said I am guessing someone with a much better knowledge of women’s fashions and hair styles might be able to offer up a more accurate date, but for now that is it.

There will be some who question the point of the story, when so little can be said about a picture of a woman which could be replicated thousands of times. 

But I think she deserves her time back, and who ever she was, that is enough for me.

She or her family felt that the picture was significant enough  to be made into a picture postcard, which was a common enough practice. 

My copy was never sent, so there are no names, or addresses to act as clues.

So in the absence of any more information I have been thinking about the economics of such cards.

I know that professional photographers would wander the streets taking pictures of houses which they would later sell to the residents, and no doubt photographic studios offered deals involving a set number of picture postcards carrying the subject’s image.

Just how much all of this cost is another bit of research for tomorrow.

For now, I will leave it at that.

Location; somewhere

Picture; unknown woman, date unknown, from the collection of Ron Stubley

Pictures with no names,  stories;https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search/label/Pictures%20with%20no%20stories

Pictures with no stories ……. the young married woman

I am looking at an unknown woman whose identity I guess I will never know.

She stares back at me in a studio portrait but offers little in the way of information.

I know she was married and someone will be able to help date the picture by how she is dressed.

And that seems to be that.

For now I know only that the photographic studio was Van Ralty who had premises at 35, and 92 London Road, as well as 91 Oldham Street, as well as in Liverpool, Oldham, Nottingham, Bolton and Sheffield.

The information on the reverse of the photograph proudly announces the addresses of its “Northern Branches”, but I have yet to locate any in London or the south.

Nor can I be sure just exactly which studios took the picture.  

Nether of the Manchester branches were operating in 1909, although both are listed two years later, and one source suggests that trade directories list the firm trading from 1915 through to 1929, while another cites a family photograph taken in Liverpool in 1941.

So, the jury is still out.

Someone I am sure will offer up some information, but until then our woman is pretty much a picture without a story.

Location; somewhere

Picture; unknown woman, from the Van Ralty, date unknown, from the collection of Ron Stubley