Can anyone make it clearer please.

[genjen]

I have just been sent this photograph from a contact who thinks that it could be my 2 x great grandparents. It is very unclear but if you clever people could do anything at all to improve it and maybe give me a date for it, I'd be very grateful.

Jen

[chinakay]

Hi Jen

Have you cropped this, or is this the way it was sent?

Looks like late 1870s, with the ruffled skirt and the braided chignon hairstyle high on the head, approaching the cleaner look of the 1880s bodice with its line of buttons. Maybe about 1878-1880.

Haven't seen much of the doily thing on the ladies' heads, sort of a day cap....unusual as are the ladies' aprons. The photo looks like it's been "improved" at some time.

Would the date fit? What sort of work did this fellow do?

Cheers,
China

[Lynntony]

There's a face behind the left shoulder of the man that I couldn't pick out! Quite spooky at first when I noticed a hand on his shoulder that didn't seem to  belong to anyone! And what I thought was a table-lamp turned out to be a very faint image of a face. Also, eyes painted on the woman on the right of the pic reminded me of those post-mortem photos
Sorry, this was the best I could do with this one

Tony

[chinakay]

Oh my goodness, you're right....and you can see her bodice too.

[geniecolgan]

It's an older lady!

[genjen]

This is how it was sent to me and yes, I could make out the 'ghost' in the background.

If it is the family we think it is, then mid/late 1870s would make sense because I believe it was taken in a Middlesbrough studio and I know that they lived in there at the time of the 1871 census but had moved back to the Dales by 1881. The daughter ( the one with the post mortem eyes) married in Middlesbrough some time in the December quarter of 1875.

The man, if it is my 2 x great grandfather, was, on most censuses, a farmer or an Ag Lab but when they moved to Middlesbrough, it would seem that he was trying his luck in the iron and steel industry. Without success, it would appear, as they went back to Bedale and stayed there!

I wonder if the strange doily headwear was a regional thing from the dales. We need to ask Pels...it's her neck of the woods!

Thanks for trying, I know it is not a good photograph to work on.

Jen

[genjen]

It's an older lady!

Oh struth, Genie...I think it's me mother!!

If the seated couple are my 2x greats, maybe she is a 3 x great granny!

[geniecolgan]

Well no wonder she looks pale 
What's with the apron he's wearing?
Where is that Pels when we need her ?

[genjen]

The apron is certainly a bit strange. It seems to be either fringed or just very frayed around the edges. Apart from butchers, what sort of profession involved the man wearing an apron. Maybe it's not my g.g. grandad after all, though his wife is very like my grandmother facially and we know that the girl with the spooky eyes is part of our family.