# When was this photo taken? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 9, 2014, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-this-photo-taken/700822 "2014-10-09T03:03:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2014, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-this-photo-taken/700822/1 "2014-10-09T03:03:46Z")
I am trying to date a postcard. Here is a [detail](https://flic.kr/p/piJW9G) from it. By the ladies’ and children’s attire when would you say this picture was taken? I am guessing it was from 1910-1920 period but I am hoping someone here with a better knowledge of fashion in the early 20th century could verify. It was taken in Kingstown (later Dún Laoghaire) in Dublin, Ireland. ---
**Author:** ![usedtobe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ec9cab/32.png) [@usedtobe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/usedtobe)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2014, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-this-photo-taken/700822/2 "2014-10-09T03:40:39Z")
Given the “hussie” in center foreground - translucent skirt with a waist-length “men’s” jacket, whlie an older woman has the huge plumed hat of the 1900’s on the bridge to the left, I’m guessing about mid 1920’s. Are those masts (sails) on the steamship? ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2014, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-this-photo-taken/700822/3 "2014-10-09T03:42:37Z")
I think the skirts are too short for that era, and too long for the 20’s (at least in the U.S., I don’t know if they had flappers in Ireland). Is it possible it could be the 30’s? ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2014, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-this-photo-taken/700822/4 "2014-10-09T03:46:12Z")
This page says Pre-1922 > **[KINGSTOWN IRELAND, Harbor and Promeade, County Dublin](https://homethoughtsfromabroad626.wordpress.com/2014/01/22/kingstown-ireland-harbor-and-promeade-county-dublin/)** > > This is pre-1922 because (now) Dun Laoghaire was still being called Kinstown. (Note that that the photo in the OP is cropped as compared to this one and the date is based on a sign not visible in the OP) ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2014, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-this-photo-taken/700822/5 "2014-10-09T03:47:29Z")
> [@usedtobe](#): > > Given the “hussie” in center foreground - translucent skirt with a waist-length “men’s” jacket, whlie an older woman has the huge plumed hat of the 1900’s on the bridge to the left, I’m guessing about mid 1920’s. > Are those masts (sails) on the steamship? Kingstown changed its name in 1920 so I was assuming the postcard was from that year at the latest. Although it is possible that a postcard created later may have included the old name. I don’t think they are masts but tbh I can’t really make them out properly. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2014, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-this-photo-taken/700822/6 "2014-10-09T03:48:41Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > I think the skirts are too short for that era, and too long for the 20’s (at least in the U.S., I don’t know if they had flappers in Ireland). Is it possible it could be the 30’s? Possible but unlikely it would have been referred to as Kingstown as its name changed in 1920 to Dún Laoghaire. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2014, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-this-photo-taken/700822/7 "2014-10-09T04:08:44Z")
> [@usedtobe](#): > > Are those masts (sails) on the steamship? Masts, but not for sails. Probably for radio communication, flags, etc. The [Titanic](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fd/RMS_Titanic_3.jpg), for example, had similar masts. ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2014, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-this-photo-taken/700822/8 "2014-10-09T04:25:34Z")
That’s the mailboat in Kingstown Harbour circa 1900 > **[The Mail boat at Kingstown harbour](http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/exhibition/dublin/emigration_migration/K_KingstownMailboat_Lroy7246.html)** > > National Archives ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2014, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-this-photo-taken/700822/9 "2014-10-09T04:34:25Z")
> [@Isamu](#): > > That’s the mailboat in Kingstown Harbour circa 1900 > > [The Mail boat at Kingstown harbour](http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/exhibition/dublin/emigration_migration/K_KingstownMailboat_Lroy7246.html) The NLI entry says this could be as late as 1914 or 1920 even. The official records are painfully vague sometimes. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2014, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-this-photo-taken/700822/10 "2014-10-09T06:38:31Z")
I’m wondering whether the baby stroller can be dated, along with the baby and clothing. ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2014, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-this-photo-taken/700822/11 "2014-10-09T06:57:24Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > I’m wondering whether the baby stroller can be dated, along with the baby and clothing. The baby stroller looks to be the old kind where it was just a vertical plank of timber, and they strapped the hapless baby to it with a belt across the middle. Ah, it was simpler times back then. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Idle\_Thoughts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@Idle\_Thoughts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idle_Thoughts)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2014, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-this-photo-taken/700822/12 "2014-10-09T07:16:15Z")
I studied the photo for about five minutes (before reading any of the replies in this thread, for fear they’d give me “suggestive” answers) and then decided on 1916 as being a close answer. I have no proof or basis or cites to back this up other than just my own guess/opinion, though. I’m usually pretty good at guessing numbers having to do with age, though. I once worked a few Summers as a “Guess Your Age” guy in a small fair. I like to think it helps with dated photos too, but it may not. ---
**Author:** ![Fuzzy\_wuzzy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a8b319/32.png) [@Fuzzy\_wuzzy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuzzy_wuzzy)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2014, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-this-photo-taken/700822/13 "2014-10-09T11:30:05Z")
I know ladies hats are relatively easy to identify by era. I did have a link at one stage but cannot now find it, sorry. ---
**Author:** ![Claverhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2014, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-this-photo-taken/700822/14 "2014-10-09T11:48:43Z")
Perhaps as early as 1912-14 if the two young women were girls. Calf-length skirts were coming in ( although better to say the ages of shorter skirts were rising as Victorian children had worn them knee-length ) for the young. Most of the internet will concentrate on the wealthy for fashions. I doubt if many Killarney — or Dorsetshire —housewives wore the garments in Wikipedia’s **[1910s in Western fashion](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1910s_in_Western_fashion)**. ---
**Author:** ![Dorjan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dorjan/32/12440_2.png) [@Dorjan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dorjan)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2014, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-this-photo-taken/700822/15 "2014-10-09T13:29:18Z")
I’m going to say during WW1. That looks like a troopship and it looks like a mass of people (troops!) boarding it in the background. It was a common enough activity in Port Kingston at the time. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2014, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-this-photo-taken/700822/16 "2014-10-09T14:31:31Z")
I think I am going to put down c1910s. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2014, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-this-photo-taken/700822/17 "2014-10-09T14:50:35Z")
Looks like a painting to me. Not a photo. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2014, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-this-photo-taken/700822/18 "2014-10-09T15:06:21Z")
It’s definitely a photograph; you can tell from the fact that it’s sepia toned - the original photo was probably developed using sodium sulfide (which would [still have been in use](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/56/Lewis_gun_world_war_I.jpg) around WWI). ---
**Author:** ![usedtobe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ec9cab/32.png) [@usedtobe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/usedtobe)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2014, 9:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-this-photo-taken/700822/19 "2014-10-10T09:16:32Z")
If the masts are for “radio” (which I agree it looks like). the original ship communication was known as “Marconi” after its inventor. It did not do voice - it just splattered Morse Code across the electro-magnetic spectrum. So the photo was taken after the Marconi system was in wide use. p.s. - sepia toning was still available into the 90’s (too lazy to check) and will still be around as long as black and white chemistry is produced. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2014, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-this-photo-taken/700822/20 "2014-10-10T14:05:52Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > Looks like a painting to me. Not a photo. I can see why you’d think that, it has a thick-lined look to it in places, especially the trees. But the composition is too awkward, and the sign frame-right would be left out, for a painting. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-this-photo-taken/700822.md?page=2)