A ladies' day excursion, location unknown

I've posted this carte de visite as a comparison with the cabinet card of a mens' excursion near West Hartlepool that I used a few days ago. Unfortunately this one has no photographer's name or location on the card mount, so I have no idea where it was taken.


There are fifteen people in the photo, all female, ranging in age from two children about eight years old to a couple of middle-aged women, perhaps in their fifties. Because of the variety in ages, it is difficult to know whether it is some type of extended family group, e.g. grandmothers, mothers and grandchildren, or whether they are unrelated. There are no clear family resemblances evident.

As with the previous photograph of a excursion, little attempt has been made to arrange the members of the group in a formal pattern, and it would have been difficult anyway, considering the irregular jumble of rocks on which they are sitting. I estimate from their clothing, hairstyles and hats that the photograph was taken in the late 1870s or early 1880s, perhaps between 1878 and 1884.