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Old Photographs, Recognition, Handwriting Deciphering => Free Photo Restoration & Date Old Photographs => Topic started by: lesleyhannah on Thursday 14 December 06 10:31 GMT (UK)
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Hi
I'm not very good at attaching photos etc, so I hope this works. This picture was found in my grandmother's belongings after she died. The only clue is the photographer's address, Scarborough, where some of my grandmother's relatives lived. I'd like to put a date on the photo, to see if I could work out who the woman could be.
Could anyone make a guess at the sort of date, and age of the lady?
Thank you.
Lesley
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Hi Lesley :)
At first glance it looks like it's from the 1880s - is there anything written on the back? Photographer's address perhaps?
Prue
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Hi Lesley
As a starter, Thomas Boxell was listed as a photographer based at 44 Victoria Rd in an 1890 Scarborough directory (per Genuki).
Anna
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Thomas Boxell is also down on the 1881 census as living at Falsgrove (although it should read as Falsgrave) Yorkshire. Falsgrave is just on the outskirts of Scarbourgh and his occupation is given as photographer.
old rowley
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Quick cleaup
Mudge
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From the rounded corners on the card and the caligraphy, I would venture mid- to late 1880's. Before the early 1880s the photographer's name would normally be plain text.
Sutton Rog
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Quick clean up from me with a twist.
Cazza
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And another version.
Caz
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2 versions with left eye!
Mudge
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Thank you all, for your help. I'd be really grateful for your opinions, as you obviously have much more experience of dating photos than I have.
It's actually opened up more possibilities. I thought I knew who the lady probably was - my grandmother's paternal grandmother, Jane Tindall, who lived in Scarborough. However, the mention of Falsgrave reminded me that was where her maternal grandmother, Ellen Maltby, came from. Although Ellen later moved to Hull, there were obviously still connections with that area.
So, I'd be really grateful to learn how old you think the lady in the picture is. Ellen was born 1839 and Jane was born 1817, so if I take sutton Rog's dating of late 1880s, then the age of the lady could be the decider.
And now we can see her clothes more clearly (thanks everyone for that), do you think she is in mourning? That would be another clue.
Thanks again everyone. I'm very grateful for all this help.
Lesley
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Lesley, I certainly think she is in mourning - and it looks like fairly deep mourning (almost completely unadorned with jewellery and completely black outfit) which may suggest that she is recently widowed. Given that she's holding something which mught be a Bible or prayer-book I wondered whether the photograph might actually have been taken on a funeral day, but I just don't know whether there was ever a custom for funeral photography.
Her complexion is actually rather smooth, though lines in the mouth area may suggest she no longer has a full set of teeth. I would have hazarded a guess she was in her 60s, but that doesn't get you to either Ellen or Jane! Do you know what state of health either of those ladies would have been in at the relevant time, or whether either of them was widowed at about then?
Anna
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Don't forget her face could have been retouched on the negative, to give a smoother appearance - it's the hands that are good indicators of age. In this lady's case, they look fairly well aged, so I am going for an age in the 70s. Certainly not her mid-late 40s, which probably rules out Ellen :)
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Jane was my first guess, though of course it could be another relative. Jane's 3rd husband, Isaac Tindall, died in 1887, when Jane would have been about 70. She lived till she was 84, so if it is her she probably would have been in good health at that point (despite a very hard life). I've looked again at her hands, and I agree they are the hands of an old lady.
Thanks again everyone for your help - at least I've narrowed the search down. Given that my nan kept so few photos I guess this probably was her grandmother.
I think I recognise the photographer's address in victoria Road (so thanks anna) so I'm going to trawl the censuses to see if it was anywhere near Long Westgate where Jane was living when Isaac died. I reckon that might nail it!!
Lesley
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This may be of use , both streets you are looking for are on the map
http://www.imaginativeicing.demon.co.uk/ScarboroughMapE4.html
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Thanks, Jan. I don't know Scarborough, and that's very interesting.
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Have to agree with Prue on the age, definitely not 40s but 70s as Prue said, going by the hands.
Cazza
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Interesting thread and one I stumbled across while researching my own family tree (the photographer I think was an ancestor of mine and one I had no idea about until a few weeks ago.
I think people did not travel much and the census lists their address as Falsgrave in 1881 and Victoria Road in 1891 - I am guessing this is where the business was as well but would love to narrow it down more precisely!
Thomas Boxell (and his sons) were photographers in Scarborough as other people have said. Dates I have are late 1870s to 1880s
https://newsfromnowhere1948.blogspot.com/2018/08/thomas-boxell-of-brighton-and-halifax.html