Our photo dating expert, Jayne Shrimpton, analyses your family photos.
Martin Roberts sent us his photo and asked:
‘Please could you date this photograph? It may possibly represent Bessie and Henry at Rosena and Frank Hornes’ house. An accurate timeframe would help to answer many questions about this and other photographs in my collection.’
Jayne says:
‘This photograph is set in a domestic garden, although it is well-centred and formally posed to resemble professional studio portraits of the period. This strongly suggests that it was taken by an experienced commercial photographer. Most likely this couple hired a representative from a nearby studio to visit them at home – a fairly common choice by the early 20th century. I would suggest that these ancestors were probably pictured at their own home, rather than at someone else’s house: otherwise we would usually expect to see more people in the scene.
The appearance of female forebears can almost always be dated more closely than that of men. Women’s fashions, which changed rapidly and noticeably in the past, can usually be pinpointed to within a specific timeframe. The lady depicted here wears a very distinctive style of outfit comprising a dark tailored skirt and elbow-length blouse worn over a decorative white blouse with a high choker-like neckline and long close-fitting sleeves.
This narrow layered arrangement was fashionable for just a few years, at the end of the Edwardian era. On a young fashion-conscious woman, the years of its popularity were just 1910-1913 but since the lady is no longer in the first flush of youth and may have been slightly behind the times regarding her sense of style, we should perhaps add a year or so to the latest likely year. Either way, this photograph was taken c.1910-14 or possibly 1915 at the latest.
The man in this scene is also well-dressed and wears a smart morning coat with sloping front edges and a traditional high-standing starched shirt collar. The lady wears a brooch and neck chain and her hair is carefully styled in the manner of the early 1910s. In view of their formal appearance and the likelihood that this photograph was taken by a professional photographer, they were probably marking a special occasion.
Jayne Shrimpton
They look to be aged about 40 years old, or thereabouts: could this perhaps have been taken to celebrate a landmark wedding anniversary? Another possibility is a recent move to a new home: the garden looks very bare of plants or any vegetation, so perhaps they had just arrived at this house and wished to commemorate the occasion with a special photograph, at a time when amateur photography was only just taking off and not everyone yet owned a personal camera.
There are plenty of potential clues attached to this photograph which, along with the close date range, should help you to decide whether the couple are the ancestors or more recent relatives that you suggested – ‘Bessie and Henry’ – or perhaps some other family members, photographed at home shortly before the outbreak of the First World War.’
If you’d like to send your photo to Jayne, please register or opt to receive newsletters in ‘my account’. Jayne only has time to analyse two photos each month, but if yours wasn’t chosen this time, you could be lucky next month!