Any ideas/info about this photo please?

[chinakay]

I have a decent candidate in the 1901...a William Wilkinson age 15 living at the York Infantry Barracks. Place of birth, London. He is single, and in the column that seems to be used for rank, he is listed as "Boy".

Are there any witnesses named on the marriage certificate?

[chinakay]

1871 census....the only reasonable candidate I can find...Henry R Wilkinson, age 15 (ages not always correct, as birthplaces) living in St Michael le Belfy, Yorks, birthplace London.

His mother Matilda is widowed, age 50 birthplace London, also brother Joseph age 17.

There is a marriage in the IGI, member-submitted, between a William Wilkinson and a Matilda Marsh, 1851. It looks flaky, though....however, there is a marriage in FBMD for the same people in Dec 1851 in Mansfield.

[chinakay]

Well....enough of this protracted conversation with myself for now....I'm off to bed

Cheers,
China

[ogohogoh]

Thanks so much, your efforts are really appreciated. 

The only other information I have is a suggestion, part of our family mythology, that my grandfather William Wilkinson may have squandered the family fortune...but I guess that’s a part of everyone’s ancestral history!
 
It’s just possible that he was born in Lambeth as both my mother and father’s parents had homes in Brixton.

Returning to the image a minute, it really is a curious photo, and I am now wondering if it is an old copy of a photo-montage – with the cut-out of the boy and possibly the dog as separate images.  The cutting-out of the figure is fairly crude (some of his right cheek appear to be missing) so it may even have been done by the child himself...but then who would bother to retake the photo?

Can anyone shed any light on the combined symbolism of mortar board, the gloves, and the rather tatty whip (I don’t think it’s a dog lead)?  Was this typical of the period and what impression were they meant to convey?

[ogohogoh]

Wow!  I've just read the latests posts...amazing!  Thank you so much. Fred

[ogohogoh]

Hi China,

The witnesses on William's marriage certificate are Rose Walters and F. A. Chapman. William's father Harry Richard Wilkinson is marked as deceased on the certificate (5.8.1913).  Regards, Fred

[chinakay]

Okay, just a thought...I'll get back to it later.

Meanwhile, if William is really William H. E. Wilkinson, the 4-year-old son of Henry R Wilkinson manager of an off-license in 1891....then he was born in the March quarter of 1887 in the registration district of Lambeth. There's only one William H E born that year.

Your next big move is to send for the birth certificate. It's very likely to be him...that second initial narrowed it down from about a hundred WIlliams to just one. And he's born in just the right place.

Later,
China

[ogohogoh]

Just a thought China - William's father is named as Harry Richard in his marriage certificate, not Henry.

[IgorStrav]

Hi Fred

Very interesting photo, and some great work from China!

Re the name on the marriage certificate being Harry Richard, vs Henry Richard in the 1891 census as manager of the off license - Harry is a well known shortening of Henry.

But as China says, you may well have to invest in the birth certificate, reference as found, to see what turns up.  Very likely to be him, and it will give you his mother's name and maiden name too, so you can follow them back and see if the marriage between Henry Richard Wilkinson and Clara J Mostran is the right one.

I think the photo itself may be cut out from another picture, as suggested, perhaps of other boys at the school?  If William's father was in trade, and doing reasonably well during William's youth, perhaps he did go to a private school with an Eton-type uniform.

Perhaps something happened to Harry Richard's business - we all need to have another look for him in the 1901, and also in the 1911.

With regard to the photo, what's William got in his left hand - right hand is the dog's lead, in the left?