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General => The Common Room => Topic started by: cep on Monday 18 July 05 00:03 BST (UK)
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Revisiting this one:
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,41646.0.html
I have a similar group, though not as formal - no hats!
Would like opinions as to date and the lack of males.
Probably Essex, Billericay. Farming families.
Regards CP
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I should think around 1895, judging by the large fluffy sleeves worn by some of the women - these were popular towards the mid-end of the 1890s.
Can't explain the lack of fellas though...maybe the girls all wanted a snap together?? Which in turn doesn't explain why there are 2 blokes in the pic!
:-\
Prue
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A tricky one this.
The date suggested is probably about right.
I was wondering if it might in fact be a 'staff outing' from maybe a 'gentleman's' residence. No uniforms, so not taken on the premises. The two gentlemen appear to be wearing riding boots which might indicate that they had brought the party in a carriage and were grooms at the same house.
One always tends to look at the centre person seated, yet the fact that a younger girl has a hand on her shoulder doesn't indicate that she was in a senior position.
Lovely old picture anyway.
Regards
Robert
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Wonder if the cycle, just visible to the left, is anything to do with this group?
I agree it looks to me like a staff group - no obvious similarities to suggest family groups. Maybe staff from a large-ish house somewhere.
The chap on the left has an interesting half-smile. ;) Maybe he's a driver? Perhaps a bit more of a dandy than his counterpart, who may have been a gardener.
cheers
Paul
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Doesn't look to be an enjoyable occasion from the looks on the female faces.
One or even two carriages wouldn't have transported all those people, so I don't think the men are grooms. They both are wearing watch chains and the one on the right looks as if he has a flower in his buttonhole.
My guess is that it is inmates of an institution of some sort.
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Having had another look at the photo a couple of points for consideration.
I feel the bike belongs to the lady on the far right on the back row, she is the only female with a coat on, which suggests there was a reason why she was wearing an outer garment.
Also looking at the gate, it seems strange that the photo was taken in such a position even taking into account the position of the sun at that time of day.
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They are definitely all in their good clothes, not wealthy by any means but they are dressed very well, velvet and lace and brooches and all that. Special occasion I assume.
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I'd love to know what's going on behind the cameraman - a lot of the subjects are looking away from the camera, suggesting that there's something happening that's worth looking at!
Paul
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Might have been interesting, but it doesn't look like it was very entertaining, Paul!!
Gosh they are a glum lot...mind you if I had to get around in corsets, high lace collars and heavy skirts, I'd probably be grumpy too :P
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I have had another look at this picture and must say that I agree with all the comments that have been made regarding the appearance of the ladies.
There are eighteen girls, only eight of whom are looking at the camera and the ten who aren't don't seem to be looking anywhere in particular.
I get the impression that the photographer took it without telling them that he was ready.
The look of most of them seems to be complete boredom.
Naturally the men, being more technically minded, are concentrating on the camera. (Just a second while I put on my bullet proof vest).
I somehow don't think that it will ever be revealed exactly what the occasion was and from the dress, the majority must have long ago become a twig on a family tree, so they aren't going to tell.
Still a very interesting picture though.
Cheers
Robert
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Maybe because the photographer ( who by the way would most likely have been male ;D ;D) had had so many 'takes' that they didn't believe this was the real thing ;D
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Thanks all.
1895. Then younger girl, front, center, light colour dress, is probably
Jessie Catherine Bull b. 1882
Parents: William Walter Bull & Harriet Eliza Adey
Paul says "no obvious similarities to suggest family groups"
but I am trying to fit it as a "generations" picture.
Both families had many daugters - but not THAT many!
Also, two of the Adey girls married c. 1892.
Could that be the two with "husbands"?
Adey family, mostly on the right, 'frizzy' hair. ?
Bulls to the left, more 'rounded'. ?
Anyone willing to guess ages of the older ladies?
Regards CP
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I agree the date - probably around the turn of the century, but whatever the occasion it looks as if it was endured under sufferance! If it was an outing they have taken the rugs with them - there are no visible signs of a picnic but perhaps they had already eaten arsenic sandwiches washed down with strychnine, hence their happy faces!
Jill
P.S. Sorry CP - your above post appeared as I was posting this!
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Gosh they are a glum lot...mind you if I had to get around in corsets, high lace collars and heavy skirts, I'd probably be grumpy too :P
It's a family trait! Here is a (possible) Grandmother.
Many thanks for the input. CP
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It rather reminds me of the girls from Appleyard College who were driven off in the horse-drawn wagon (hence the gents in riding boots) for the fateful Picnic at Hanging Rock ...
JAP