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Old Photographs, Recognition, Handwriting Deciphering => Free Photo Restoration & Date Old Photographs => Topic started by: Cazza54 on Thursday 14 September 23 12:49 BST (UK)

Title: M Potts written on back of photo. Boy or Girl? Date?
Post by: Cazza54 on Thursday 14 September 23 12:49 BST (UK)
Hi

This photo has M Potts written on the back.

I am wondering if this is my great great grandfather who was born in 1831 in Northumberland.
Or might it be a great great aunt?
I have various relatives with assorted dates of birth who were M Potts!

I am hoping to attach front and back of the picture.

Many thanks,
Cazza54
Title: Re: M Potts written on back of photo. Boy or Girl? Date?
Post by: Treetotal on Thursday 14 September 23 20:05 BST (UK)
I would suggest a date of early 1890s and I think it is most likely to be a boy as they have a more prominent brow than girls at this age.
Carol
Title: Re: M Potts written on back of photo. Boy or Girl? Date?
Post by: mckha489 on Thursday 14 September 23 20:28 BST (UK)
I can only see mention of “Leonard C Rudd” in 1893 & 1894, and “Leonard Rudd” in 1891 & 1892  in the newspapers.
That fits with Treetotal’s date
Title: Re: M Potts written on back of photo. Boy or Girl? Date?
Post by: Erato on Thursday 14 September 23 20:33 BST (UK)
Hard to say since the proportions of the photo are out of whack.
Title: Re: M Potts written on back of photo. Boy or Girl? Date?
Post by: Cazza54 on Thursday 14 September 23 21:28 BST (UK)
I know…not sure what I did wrong uploading them or probably resizing them. I tried twice but both times they came out distorted. The reduced size looks ok here on my computer but definitely not happy transferring to RootsChat. Apologies.
Many thanks for your suggestions - will investigate 1890s M Potts…
Title: Re: M Potts written on back of photo. Boy or Girl? Date?
Post by: McGroger on Friday 15 September 23 00:03 BST (UK)
Just adjusting the proportions.
Peter
Title: Re: M Potts written on back of photo. Boy or Girl? Date?
Post by: PatBot on Friday 15 September 23 00:14 BST (UK)
Cleaned up
Title: Re: M Potts written on back of photo. Boy or Girl? Date?
Post by: jmagarac on Friday 15 September 23 02:31 BST (UK)
That looks great Patbot. Peter (McGroger) I think your proportions look spot on!
Title: Re: M Potts written on back of photo. Boy or Girl? Date?
Post by: jmagarac on Friday 15 September 23 02:54 BST (UK)
There is a picture of a 2 year old girl on flickr named Susie Belle (Paterson) Nasmith that is wearing almost the same exact outfit. Also seated on the same fur covered seat, although that may have been common. Says it is public domain, but I woudn't post a copy here. Google it or Bing and you'll likely find it.
Title: Re: M Potts written on back of photo. Boy or Girl? Date?
Post by: Erato on Friday 15 September 23 03:09 BST (UK)
Amazingly similar outfit except for the shoes.  I wonder if that huge sash was a restraining device used to keep squirming children from slipping off the bearskin?
Title: Re: M Potts written on back of photo. Boy or Girl? Date?
Post by: Cazza54 on Friday 15 September 23 11:40 BST (UK)
Peter (McGroger) Thank you so much! That looks exactly like the photo I have here!
Patbot Thank you so much too… lovely to see the photo unspotted and fresh.
Jmagarac - amazing - Susie Belle looks equally bizarre perched on her furry throne and Erato, I agree, the sash does look like a restraint - it doesn’t quite go with the white frills!
There is a fantastic amount of expertise on here - Only recently came across this website and it’s fab!
I am now thinking my photo must be my great uncle, Matthew Potts, who was born in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne in 1894.
Title: Re: M Potts written on back of photo. Boy or Girl? Date?
Post by: jim1 on Friday 15 September 23 12:03 BST (UK)
The hip sash wasn't a restraining device it was the
style for children's wear at the time.
Title: Re: M Potts written on back of photo. Boy or Girl? Date?
Post by: BumbleB on Friday 15 September 23 14:33 BST (UK)
My thoughts are that this is a little girl - frilly petticoat and hair tied on top of her head.  I know that boys also wore dresses, but did they wear fancy petticoats?
Title: Re: M Potts written on back of photo. Boy or Girl? Date?
Post by: jim1 on Friday 15 September 23 14:59 BST (UK)
Quote
but did they wear fancy petticoats?
Yes.
Title: Re: M Potts written on back of photo. Boy or Girl? Date?
Post by: BumbleB on Friday 15 September 23 15:10 BST (UK)
Thanks for that.
Title: Re: M Potts written on back of photo. Boy or Girl? Date?
Post by: Erato on Friday 15 September 23 16:52 BST (UK)
One thing you can say for our ancestors, they sure weren't hung up on practicality, at least not the ones who had servants to do the laundry.
Title: Re: M Potts written on back of photo. Boy or Girl? Date?
Post by: japeflakes on Friday 15 September 23 17:40 BST (UK)
I would have "guessed" a girl but...
Title: Re: M Potts written on back of photo. Boy or Girl? Date?
Post by: Treetotal on Friday 15 September 23 18:29 BST (UK)
I still think it's a boy, he has a "Topknot" hairstyle.
Carol
Title: Re: M Potts written on back of photo. Boy or Girl? Date?
Post by: Cazza54 on Friday 15 September 23 18:40 BST (UK)
All very intriguing!
Thanks for all your thoughts...
The pic, which I hope will attach in a recognisable way, is Matthew and his younger sister a few years later... I think there is a definite similarity!

Aagh... it's all skewed again - do not understand why this is not working... Sorry...
Title: Re: M Potts written on back of photo. Boy or Girl? Date?
Post by: Cazza54 on Friday 15 September 23 18:45 BST (UK)
Peter (McGroger)... I'm really hoping you'll spot this equally distorted image and work your magic again!
Title: Re: M Potts written on back of photo. Boy or Girl? Date?
Post by: Jebber on Friday 15 September 23 19:21 BST (UK)
I agree with Treetotal, as soon as I looked at  the picture I thought a boy. The eyes in the later photo would seem to confirm it.
Title: Re: M Potts written on back of photo. Boy or Girl? Date?
Post by: japeflakes on Friday 15 September 23 19:58 BST (UK)
..
Title: Re: M Potts written on back of photo. Boy or Girl? Date?
Post by: Cazza54 on Friday 15 September 23 20:06 BST (UK)
Oh lovely… just how it should be! Thank you very much indeed 🤗
Title: Re: M Potts written on back of photo. Boy or Girl? Date?
Post by: Treetotal on Monday 18 September 23 15:27 BST (UK)
Hi Cazza, I gave your lovely photo a light clean and recolour for you.
Carol
Title: Re: M Potts written on back of photo. Boy or Girl? Date?
Post by: Cazza54 on Monday 18 September 23 17:06 BST (UK)
Thank you very much Carol… it looks great! 🥰
Title: Re: M Potts written on back of photo. Boy or Girl? Date?
Post by: BumbleB on Monday 18 September 23 17:08 BST (UK)
What a lovely picture  :) :)
Title: Re: M Potts written on back of photo. Boy or Girl? Date?
Post by: jmagarac on Monday 18 September 23 17:30 BST (UK)
Hi Cazza, I gave your lovely photo a light clean and recolour for you.
Carol

Looks quite nice Carol.
Title: Re: M Potts written on back of photo. Boy or Girl? Date?
Post by: jmagarac on Monday 18 September 23 17:44 BST (UK)
All very intriguing!
Thanks for all your thoughts...
The pic, which I hope will attach in a recognisable way, is Matthew and his younger sister a few years later... I think there is a definite similarity!

Aagh... it's all skewed again - do not understand why this is not working... Sorry...

Agree with you - and others. The eyes really seem to be a giveaway. You know.. this photo downloads exactly proportionate. Not sure what you are doing which is causing the image distortion. Also... the pixel height and width are quite high for an image that is meeting the 500KB max. Are you applying very high levels of compression to make this limit? Perhaps that is causing the distortion.
Title: Re: M Potts written on back of photo. Boy or Girl? Date?
Post by: Erato on Monday 18 September 23 18:03 BST (UK)
A long time ago I had this sort of problem, and I wasn't the only one.  We didn't discover what caused it but it stopped happening.  See:

https://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=833250.msg6982617#msg6982617
Title: Re: M Potts written on back of photo. Boy or Girl? Date?
Post by: Cazza54 on Monday 18 September 23 18:29 BST (UK)
Are you applying very high levels of compression to make this limit? Perhaps that is causing the distortion.

Hi Jmagarac… not that I know of! Although I did need to reduce the size to 500 kb from about 4 to 5 mb so quite a big reduction - could that be the problem I wonder?
Thanks for your assistance.
Title: Re: M Potts written on back of photo. Boy or Girl? Date?
Post by: Treetotal on Monday 18 September 23 18:55 BST (UK)
Thanks Jmagarac and Cazza for your feedback, it's much appreciated.  ;)
Carol
Title: Re: M Potts written on back of photo. Boy or Girl? Date?
Post by: Cazza54 on Tuesday 26 September 23 17:21 BST (UK)
This is off topic but I wondered if any of you could advise me… I put up another photo on 15th September and it still says ‘awaiting approval’. It was concerning the age and possible date of a woman from Northumberland who I’m sure is related to me but I don’t know who she is… so having an idea of the date would help me identify her.
Does the fact that it is still awaiting approval mean that it’s not suitable? I am not sure what the situation is.
Many thanks.