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Old Photographs, Recognition, Handwriting Deciphering => Handwriting Deciphering & Recognition => Topic started by: shaw1234 on Monday 15 August 11 21:10 BST (UK)
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this photograph was taken during WW2. On the right is my grandmother Alice May Watts of hungerford Berkshire.
I am trying to find out any information about the man on the left. I cannot ask my grandmother or her friends as most of them are no longer with us. I realise that i will probably never find out the identity of the man on the left, but i was wondering if anyone could suggest a nationality? or occupation? based on the picture, what do his clothes tell us about him ? anything really I'm just clutching at straws but straws is all I have got. Many thanks in advance - Marcus
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A relative or friend?
They're sitting too close together for him to be a stranger and to be smiling at the camera ;D
Looks a bit like a travelling salesman, or an insurance seller ;D ;D ;D
dressed like that in the war years - or at least an office worker of some sort, or maybe a visiting
Yank trying to impress?? ::)
Dawn M
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Well. he's not wearing a suit of matching trousers and coat, and the coat sleeves are too short. So not too posh. (But in wartme new clothes were hard to get, so that may not mean anything) What's that in his fingers? It seems very long to be a cigarette. And he has something under his arm. He's tanned, so maybe an outdoor worker? Is Alice holding a gas mask case? Their head shapes are very different, so probably not siblings. I don't think he would be a Yank, as Dawn M suggested, as they always had to wear their uniforms, even on leave, as far as I know, but British soldiers could wear mufti when home on leave. How old would Alice have been at this tme?
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Although he is dressed up and hair is neat and tidy, his clothes still look a bit shabby/unkempt, whereas your grandmother looks very neat and tidy. As they are sitting quite close together, might be be a close friend or neighbour, or perhaps a cousin or uncle - though not likely to be a brother due to different face shape as fran says, though not a certainty? I don't think he looks American.
Frustratingly, you may never find out for sure.
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I think Alice may be holding a Brownie Box camera. :-\
Maybe he's a favourite uncle - a bit old to be same generation isn't he?
I'd love to know what he's got under his arm!
Wiggy
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Cigarette in hand, perhaps a newspaper under his arm? :-\ Um, maybe not, unless it was the folded end. It looks a bit like something made from fabric ... cap?
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Teatowel?? ;D ;D
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He's a man so defintiely not a teatowel. ;D
It looks kindof thick and stiff .... :-\
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I think Alice may be holding a Brownie Box camera.
That was my thought too :)
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many thanks to all of you who have commented, my grandmother is in her early 20's in this photo
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OK - here's my female intuition kicking in.
She looks like she is happy to be with him - he looks like he's smiling for the camera. He is obviously older than her and I would say she 'has a crush' on him.
Maybe they are friends and she would like it to be more. I can't see a ring on his finger.
He looks like he isn't comfortable in the clothes he is wearing so maybe normally in uniform.
Rishile
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Are you sure your grandmother is in early 20's? She looks awful young - not very "developed" - so I would have thought about 14? 15? maximum?
And I wonder - could he have been a boxer? Seems like he has a crooked nose - or an American Football player... nose injury? There is actually just something about him that does strike me as American - or not English anyway.
Cheers
Maggs
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He has a marked horizontal forehead crease and I would say he's a fair bit older than your gran (although I too thought your gran would have been in her teens, she looks a lot younger than 20s!)
His skin tone is certainly a lot darker than hers, and his hair looks very dark too. Maybe he's from a different ethnic background somewhere along the way? I think he has a very "Jewish looking" nose too, does a similar shaped nose crop up anywhere else in the family?
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I agree with other comments that your Gran looks younger than 20s - I would guess 15 to 17. I agree also that what she is holding looks like a box brownie. The man is wearing a tie with diagonal stripes that go from right shoulder down towards his left side, which is the way stripes go on American ties - British ones go in the opposite direction - so either he is American or has bought, or been given, an American tie.
His trousers (which look like chinos to me) have turn-ups - perhaps Jim or one of the other dating experts could give you some info as to when these were in fashion.
Chrisann
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I don't think there is any family resemblance between them. He is sitting back in the seat looking very relaxed and happy to the photographed. She is not sitting right back on the seat and is leaning slightly away from him, although she is sitting closely to him- I imagine there was little room on the seat! She has her camera, and 'good' shoes on - I think he might be a local 'hero' or minor celebrity??? Have you checked the local newspapers at the time - they may have reported this? I don't think it was common to carry your camera with you in the 1940s unless there was an 'occasion'.....
Mary
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I may be wrong of course but, that looks awfully like a demob suit to me. If so, then this may not be an actual wartime photo, perhaps 1946/47?
Alice is indeed holding a box brownie camera, I had one just like it.
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A handkerchief dangling out of top pocket?
This image suggests pre-war to me, or the earliest stages, and the girl does look very young.
I suppose the negative doesn't still exist? In my experience negatives can reveal a lot more detail than emerges from the print.
Chris
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again many thanks to all of you who have commented on this photo, unfortunately i do not think the negative exists, which is a shame.
also those of you who think it may be a pre war photo might be right, this is why i opened it up to rootschat to get some idea's (two heads are better than one and in this case twenty-two heads are better than one !!!!).
I've taken on board all your comments, i will actually see the original photo this weekend, there maybe a date or something on the back of the photo which may enlighten me further.
once again many thanks to everyone who has made a suggestion.
Marcus
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Not sure he is holding a cigarette as it looks a funny way to hold one. Initial thought is perhaps a pen or pencil but would it have been white?
Jean
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Hi Marcus
Any chance you could get a higher resolution scan? It might help to pick up some of the details
Linda
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Could the item under his arm be a concertina?
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Hi All
It could be a relative home on leave. He looks well suntanned could he have been serving in the North Africa campaign or somewhere hot and sunny. I would hazard a guess that this chap is at least ten years older than the female maybe more, could it be an uncle.
Yours Aye
BruceL
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My first thought was he was wearing creamy white cricket trousers with cricket gloves under his arm but maybe it's a fashionably draped pocket handkerchief.
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For non formal occasions men used to wear light grey slacks and either a 'sports' jacket or navy blue blazer.
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I can't make out what he's got in his hand but it must be something rigid for it to go over his middle finger like that (a cigarette holder or clay pipe?).
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He's got a lovely tan hasn't he but if he's the type with olive skin like my blue-eyed OH he could have been digging an allotment and he'd be nut brown in a good hot summer.
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He's got a lovely tan hasn't he but if he's the type with olive skin like my blue-eyed OH he could have been digging an allotment and he'd be nut brown in a good hot summer.
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Lol! My Mum always says 'Brown as a nut' :p This reminds me of some of my (few in number) family photos.
I know everyone is ruling out same generation, but there is 28 years between my mum's eldest and youngest brothers.
It looks like he's holding a cig to me, could have moved it sluightly so it became blurred/elongated in the photo.
My granddad went to India in the war, and an Uncle went to Egypt, so is very possible it's a family member with a nice tan - might be worth looking up any known relatives war records if they're available.
I have a photo similar to this, with a man holding a little girl. It was in my Nan's box of family photos, but no one knows who he is!
Hope you work it out one day :)
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True - I also have family where there is over 20 years between oldest and youngest sibling - bit further back in history than these people though! ;)
Wiggy :)
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Hehe, I often wonder how my Nan did it! First in 1933, last in 61! I come from a long line of ginormous families though, obviously good 'breeding stock' :p