Please could you offer a date for this photograph?

[Neill Richard Potts]

This photograph is possibly of my 3rd great aunt Sara Ann Potts but I need a possible date for this photograph to be sure.

The lady is wearing a Suffragette belt & chain which I believe was worn circa 1840's? but this would mean the lady is possibly my 3rd great grandmother Jane Gray Potts as Sara Ann Potts was born 1839.

Both my great aunt and great grandmother lived in Beverley, East Yorkshire, England.

Many thanks in anticipation.

[rosie99]

https://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/application/files/4914/5449/8603/suffragette-city-pocket-history.pdf

Leather restraining belt, made about 1840, used by Suffragettes around 1908

Belts like these had been originally made to restrain mentally ill patients. This one was
probably adapted by a blacksmith who would have added the shackles.

[Treetotal]

I would say 1870s for this one Neill. I thought it was a chastity belt 
Carol

[Gadget]

Everything points to 1870s. Not sure what the belt was there for though.

Gadget

[jim1]

Agree 1870's. Belts were not a common feature on women's wear apart from the late 60's.
The chain is made from wood & these were given as love tokens & usually worn around the neck.
She's elected to wear it on a leather belt for whatever reason.
It appears to have something on the end which looks suspiciously like an anchor.

[Neill Richard Potts]

This photograph is continuing to intrigue my cousins who are researching the family Tree. We never noticed the anchor at the end of the chain before which may point to another member of the family .... my ancestors were mariners and ship sail, rope and canvas makers and my 3rd great grandfather married into a very prominent mariner family.

1. If the date of the photograph is 1870 would anyone be able to give an age for the young lady? I feel she would have been around 20 years of age? This would then give us a date of birth +/- 1850 which will help us track her down.

2. Does anyone know if the belt and chain was only worn as a sign of love ... and therefore she is displaying the anchor as a sign of her love/engagement to sailor? or can the wearing of the belt with chains and the anchor have also been a sign of a lost loved one at sea? I have to say that this option doesn't appear to be valid as the expression of the lady isn't one of sadness.

Many thanks.

[jim1]

This doesn't necessarily have to be 1870 just sometime during that decade.
The cardstock itself might offer a clue as to which part but as the corners have been cut off we will need to see the back.

[Neill Richard Potts]

Hi Jim

Many thanks for you kind reply.

Yes - sorry - I should have acknowledged that the date of 1870 will be approx +/- 10 years or thereabouts.

I'll see if my cousin has the original photo ... I'm in East Yorkshire, England and she's in Wellington, New Zealand so it'll be 1:30am there. I'll drop her a line and come back.

Would you know if the belt may have been worn as a sign of bareavement as well as a sign of love?

Many thanks again.

[jim1]

Not 1870 +/- 10 years that would give a date range of 1860-80.
1870's & I suspect the earlier part of that decade.
Belts were not a symbol of anything.
In the late 1860's they did become a fashion accessory but in the main were worn for carrying items such as keys, purses etc.