Monday 8 October 2012

George O. Stott of Nelson, Lancashire

Apart from this being a nicely posed portrait of an attractive young woman, with an interesting studio backdrop, I was intrigued by the surname of the photographer, and the possibility that he was related to my wife's mother's family. I wasn't able to prove a relationship, but thought I would share the portrait anyway.

Image © and collection of Brett Payne
Unidentified young woman, c.1911
Postcard portrait by G.O. Stott, Nelson

Although we can't actually see a loose bun arranged at the back of her head, just above the nape of her neck, this is probably a low bun or chignon hair style which was popular throughout the Great War. The large square collar and buttons are also typical of the early war years.

Image © and collection of Brett Payne
Reverse of postcard portrait by G.O. Stott
of Borough Studio, 4 Pendle St, Nelson, Lancashire

The reverse of the unmounted portrait shows a generic postcard with the photographer's name printed along the left hand margin. According to Jones (2004), George Ormerod Stott (1884-1958) operated a photographic studio at 4 Pendle Street, Nelson, Lancashire from 1911 to 1938, so this must have been one of his earlier portraits.

References

Jones, Gillian (2004) Lancashire Professional Photographers 1840-1940, Watford, England: PhotoResearch

3 comments:

  1. A beautifully posed portrait.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Brett, long time no speak! Someone has just posted a link to this post on one of my recent Flickr uploads - it looks like Stott had a stall on the beach in Blackpool around 1920 or so and it is shown in the background of a snapshot I have - see http://www.flickr.com/photos/whatsthatpicture/11178525716/

    All the best, James

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks James - Wonderful to have that evidence of his work as a beach photographer. Many practitioners in seaside towns did this at one time or another, but documentary evidence of their time spent plying the sands is often scarce. Now I need to find more of his work. I've published several articles about Blackpool photographers, including a couple who had studios on the piers:
    Young Burns and Charles Howell

    ReplyDelete

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