I’ve recently been sent some family photos from a long second cousin of my mother’s. Two of them present a mystery, knowing the approximate dates they were taken might go some way identifying the people in them.
The first of these shows a young woman and a little girl and was labelled "Kitty and Winnie. However the only Kitty and Winnie we know of were around the same age. Winnie was my Nana and Kitty her sister in law. The young woman does bear a striking resemblance the one picture I have of Nana at around that age, but it may not be that simple. If the older girl *is *Winnie then the little girl may have been one of her nieces. If the little girl is Winnie then the older girl could be one of her older sisters -the one who most closely resembled Winnie. Can anyone make a guess at the date from what they are wearing? They would have been living in Southern England.
In The second picture simply labelled “policeman” a uniformed policeman poses with an imposing lady. This could be my Great Grandfather a policeman of Chichester. Again can anyone guess the date from their costume?
The first shot–the woman and child–look to me like they date around 1905-1910 or so period. Is this a postcard, may I ask? It was very common to have personal snaps printed as postcards in this period. The reverse of the card may help in dating it.
The second shot is older to my mind; it appears to be a cabinet photo, mounted on a card matte. It could be anywhere from the 1880s to 1900 or so, based on the general look of the matte. If you can get a better scan showing the helmet badge (or the belt buckle), I might be able to date it to pre- or post- 1902 (Queen Victoria period crown versus the King’s Crown). If you can make out his collar numbers, you may even be able to put a name to the man through Chichester archives. The dress that the seated woman wears would seem to me to be circa 1880-1890s.
This 1896 photograph resembles the white skirt and blouses as well, though my first thought was also first decade 20th century. Agree with Rodd Hill that the second is probably older but very difficult to date as the lady appears to be dressed in black skirt/black blouse, which was a basic fashion for many years, and the policeman’s uniform did not change that much during the same period as black skirts/blouses were fashionable.
Bit of followup: the Chichester Town Police wore top hats until 1857 (perhaps related to the fact that the Superintendent was also a hatter); in 1872 they changed to the blue cloth helmet. In 1889 the eight members of the Town Police were amalgamated into the West Sussex Constabulary.
So this would tend to support a post-1872 (at minimum) date for the policeman (assuming that Chichester is a correct locus).
Source is the Chichester Museum (and they might be able to narrow down the time period–or, given his collar numbers, even name the bloke):
Thanks for the replies. 1905 fits very well with the notion that this is Nana Winnie and big sister Beechie (Blanche). Here are a couple more pictures, tell me if you can see a resemblance: This is my Greatgrandfather Job Duck and his four daughters, Winnie is seated right. A date estimate on this one would be nice too. This is Winnieaged around 50 at my parents wedding (I must say the outfit suggests to me that she didn’t spend a shilling or use a clothing coupon on herself for years). Is that her smile on the little girl’s face?
Rod Hull thanks for the comments on the types of photograph. I’m pretty certain that the first one wasn’t a postcard, I was told it just has the names "Kitty and Winnie scrawled on the back. On the second: most of the policeman’s number is clear, hopefully that will be enough to identify him. If the photo is of Greatgrandad then it would have to have been taken post 1886 when he married.
