Sepia Saturday 183: A Return Trip to Dovedale

This week's Sepia Saturday photo of a group of intrepid adventurers posing at the entrance to a limestone cave system in New South Wales gives me an opportunity to make a return visit to Dovedale in the English Peak District, which I have featured a couple of years ago: Donkey Rides at Dovedale and The Compleat Angler, a Derbyshire Fishing Trip.


Views of Ashbourne and Dove Dale
Published by Louis B. Twells, Ashbourne
This time I can use a couple of more recent acquisitions, purchased for very modest sums on eBay. The first, a large envelope made of green paper with a shiny, faux crocodile skin finish and gold print, contains 32 black-and-white and blue-tinted lithographic prints, each measuring approximately 205 x 151mm (8" x 6"). The title on the envelope simply states, "Views of Ashbourne and Dove Dale" - which indeed they are - published by Louis B. Twells of Ashbourne.

Louis Bosworth Twells (1829-1885) settled in Ashbourne (Derbyshire) around 1855, and over the next three decades conducted a variety of trades: hair cutter/dresser, perfumer, jeweller, silversmith, watch maker, importer of general fancy goods, sponges, &c., and proprietor of "large show rooms for glass, china, and earthenware." I have seen a single example of a carte de visite portrait which he also "published." There is no direct evidence that he took any photographs himself, but he may well have done. After his death in 1885 his widow and son, also named Louis B. Twells, continued to operate the business until 1903.


View from the Doveholes, Dovedale (Ref. W. 1424)
Original photograph publ. by James Valentine & Co.
Lithographic print publ. by Louis B. Twells, Ashbourne
This view of Dovedale from the mouth of the limestone cave known as Dove Holes is one of 16 prints of excellent quality which don't carry the name of either photographer or publisher. A detailed examination of the prints reveals artefacts suggesting that they were reproduced from carefully retouched photographic prints.


After some deliberation I've decided that the text so carefully pencilled out in this image included a negative number and the original publisher's initials:

1424 JV + Co. Ltd

in the characteristic cursive script used by famous postcard publisher James Valentine & Co. of Dundee. However, I've yet to find an example of the original photograph published by Valentine.


Thorpe Cloud, Dovedale (Ref. 3921)
Original photograph publ. by George Washington Wilson
A second group of 16 prints show similar landscapes. Although of slightly poorer reproduction quality, these views are still very professionally composed, and are annotated with the initials "G.W.W." This indicates that they were originally published by George Washington Wilson & Co. of Aberdeen, another Scottish photographer who became one of the largest publishers of photographic prints in the world, rivalling the business of Valentine and Sons.


In Dovedale Looking Up Entrance to Dale, (Ref. 3923)
Glass plate negative 220 x 170mm by G.W. Wilson & Co. of Aberdeen
Image © and courtesy of University of Aberdeen Library, Special Collections and Museums
The University of Aberdeen Library has an enormous collection of 45,000 of George Washington Wilson's glass plate negatives, the original photographs taken between 1853 and 1908, with digitized images online. There are 488 views of Derbyshire alone and the web site is well worth a visit. I wasn't able to find the same view, but I did find a similar one, with a negative number (3923) suggesting that it was probably taken on the same occasion.


Views of Ashbourne and Dovedale
Images © and collection of Brett Payne
The remaining views from the Ashbourne & Dovedale collection can be seen in this slideshow created with Picasa. It's difficult to know now if all 32 of the prints were originally sold in this wallet, or whether the G.W. Wilson prints were added later by a previous owner. However, from what I can tell, they appear to have been taken over roughly a decade from the mid-1880s through to the mid-1890s. Photographs mounted on glossy card of the particular shade of dark green used for the envelope were very popular in the 1890s, and I suspect that Louis Twells Junior was selling this collection at this time.


Unidentified group at Twelve Apostles' Rock, Dovedale, c.1900-1910
Lantern slide (83 x 83mm) by unknown photographer
Images © and collection of Brett Payne
My other purchase was a small group of lantern slides, almost certainly taken by an amateur, two of which depict an outdoor excursion by a small group of young men and women. Although not annotated, the view above is identifiable as the River Dove in the vicinity of Twelve Apostles' Rock, also shown in one of the prints by G.W. Wilson in the slideshow above.


Unidentified group, probably at Dovedale, c.1900-1910
Lantern slide (83 x 83mm) by unknown photographer
Images © and collection of Brett Payne
A second image shows three men and four women seated on a hillside, judging by the nature of the scree, probably the lower slopes of Thorpe Cloud or one of the adjacent hills flanking the entrance to Dovedale. If, as seems likely, the group consisted of four young couples, a fourth man is probably taking the photograph. One of the other slides in this small collection is dated 1906, and the clothing fashions of the women in the photo suggest that these are from a similar time period.


Magic Lantern Projector
Image © and courtesy of the Tauranga Heritage Collection
The second half of the nineteenth century saw a huge expansion in the number of people taking trips to the seaside and day excursions into the country. Pictorial mementos available to the everyday tourist included scenic images in the form of stereoscopic cards, carte de visites and unmounted prints published by both local firms and by larger enterprises such as Valentines and G.W. Wilson.

During the 1890s and early twentieth century advances in camera design and technology made them considerably cheaper and more portable. As a result, excursionists were able to create their own mementos as they enjoyed their holiday. These lantern slides were most likely produced by direct printing on thin glass slides from original glass-plate negatives, and would have been displayed with a magic lantern projector similar to that shown above.

References

Postcard Publishers, Printers, and Distributors of Note by the Metropolitan Postcard Club of New York City.

The George Washington Wilson and Co. Photographic Collection, University of Aberdeen Photographic Archive.

George Washington Wilson Collection online.

Sepia Saturday 139: Uncle Farquhar and his faithful hound

I have a little catching up to do with reading the previous two editions of Sepia Saturday, so my effort for this week's hasn't been given the attention to detail that I would have preferred. Nevertheless, I hope readers will appreciate the contribution, which I think bears at least a passing similarity to Alan Burnett's image prompt, in the form of a Great War era poster exhorting people to recycle.

Portrait of man and dog by unidentified photographer
Plain paper print (65.5 x 107mm)
Collection of Brett Payne
Judging by the size of this plain paper print (2½” x 4¼”), probably a contact print, it was taken with Kodak 116 film or an equivalent in another brand. The casual pose of the subjects in the informal garden setting suggests this was a portrait by an amateur photographer, using one of the many cheap cameras that became available in the first couple of decades of the 20th Century, such as the 1A Folding Pocket Kodak.

A smartly dressed man, complete with a Homburg hat (popularised by Edward VII) and pipe in hand, stands on the luxurious lawn, facing the camera and with his body angled to the right. His is quietly attended by a largish dog which may be a border collie, but I'll leave the identification of breed to those more qualified. In the background are flower beds with a glass-topped cold frame, and some plants growing up a wire trellis, against a wooden paling fence. The latter probably separates the subject's garden from that of the neighbour, whose glass-panelled greenhouse with an open skylight forms a backdrop to the portrait. A three to four metre high tree - perhaps some kind of fruit tree - with a supporting stake, is sited to the left of the cold frame, while some much larger trees are just visible in the background. Since the branches of one of the larger trees are bare, and yet there are still leaves on the young, presumably deciduous tree, I would tentatively deduce that the photograph was taken some time in the autumn.

"Uncle Farquhar Nov 1914"
Reverse of plain paper print
Collection of Brett Payne
The reverse of the print reveals that it was once pasted into one of the black-paged albums that became very popular in the first few decades of the 20th Century. A good portion of the album page from which it was torn has remained firmly affixed to the back of the print, and it is on this remnant that a later hand has inscribed "Uncle Farquhar Nov 1914" in pencil, a convenient confirmation of my autumnal guess.

George & Mary Bloye's Photo Album
1860s/1870s style carte de visite album with brass clasps, publisher unknown Collection of Brett Payne
I must at this stage hasten to point out that I was not the vandal, and should also reveal that I found the snapshot amongst a collection of twenty-seven cartes de visite, generally from a much earlier period, inserted within a standard leatherette-covered mid-Victorian carte de visite album that I purchased some years ago - pictured above.

Portraits of Emma Jane Farquhar and Joseph Kent Farquhar
from George & Mary Bloye's Photo Album
Collection of Brett Payne
The album contains a number of annotations in the same pencilled hand that is seen above, both on the backs of card mounts and occasionally on the album pages themselves. There is also a small, slightly damaged label stuck at the top right hand corner of the flyleaf, inscribed "George Bloye Birmingham 1858," although this replaces an earlier, but now erased, inscription which reads, in past, "... Bloye ...ptember 1922," all in the same hand. Also written in pencil on the flyleaf in the by now familiar handwriting, then messily crossed out, is the following: "It was Grandpa's in 1858."

Inscription on flyleaf of George & Mary Bloye's Photo Album
Collection of Brett Payne
I won't go into too much detail about either the annotations or the individuals mentioned, but wanted to point out that clues like these are vital in determining the integrity and provenance of a photograph album, whether it is from a family collection or purchased, as this one was, on eBay. One must always treat annotations with some suspicion since, as appears to be the case with this album, they are often written a good time after the album was purchased and compiled. However, having done some genealogical research into the names mentioned and marrying up these individuals with the subjects of the photographs, I am satisfied that the collection is largely intact, and not merely compiled by some latter day collector or eBay hopeful.

Notwithstanding the overall apparent authenticity of the collection, it is clear that the album could not have belonged to George Bloye in 1858 - apart from his being only 13 years old at the time, carte de visite portraits - and by extension the albums in which they were accommodated - did not become available to the general populace until 1860-1861. The album was probably produced and sold in the late 1860s or 1870s, when George Bloye would have been in his 20s or early 30s. Indeed it it is quite possible that it was a wedding gift to George and his wife in 1869.

Genealogical investigations have revealed that the subject of this portrait is Joseph Kent Farquhar (1849-1925), brother-in-law to the probable original album owners George Bloye (1845-1922) and his wife Mary née Moore (1844-1922). Joseph's wife Emma Jane née Moore (1849-1933) is the subject of the somewhat earlier portrait on the page opposite to that of Joseph.

So ... the question now arises: What is this portrait of Joseph Farquhar, probably taken in November 1914, and originally pasted into a contemporary album during or soon after the Great War, doing in a mid-Victorian family album? The truth is that very few albums remain in the exact state that they were originally compiled when they are handed down through the generations. George and Emma Bloye both died in 1922, and the album - perhaps together with other photos and/or albums - is likely to have been inherited by one of their two children George Herbert Bloye (1870-1931), a Wesleyan minister, and Ethel Mary Harmer (1873-1952), wife of a Wesleyan schoolmaster.

Ethel died in 1952 without any surviving issue, while George Herbert and his wife had two daughters, Joyce Ethel (1902-) and Winifred Mary (1906-). Being the only grandchildren of George Bloye senior, Joyce and Winfred would have been next in line to receive the albums, and one of the two was almost certainly the author of the pencilled captions. Given that most of the subjects of the photos in the album would still have been alive when the girls were in their youth, they would have been familiar with most of the faces, and probably also inserted some of the newer loose portraits into any empty spaces.


View Larger Map Home of Joseph K. & Emma J. Farquhar in 1911
22 Beresford Road, Rusholme, Manchester
What of Joseph Farquhar himself? The 1911 Census shows him and his wife living with three unmarried daughters in a Victorian terraced house in Rusholme, a southern suburb of Manchester, and it seems likely that this was where the snapshot was taken of him in the garden some three years or so later.


View Larger Map
Home & Garden of Joseph K. & Emma J. Farquhar in 1911
22 Beresford Road, Rusholme, Manchester
A bird's eye view of the present day address reveals what appears to be a paved or concreted back garden, but the cold frame of yesteryear was probably placed against the south-facing northern wall of the property, so as to make the most of the sun.

Dunrossness Methodist Chapel
© Copyright Robbie and courtesy of Geograph.co.uk
Joseph Farquhar was born in the village of Dunrossness in the Shetland Islands where his father was a Wesleyan minister, but moved with his family to England when he was a young lad. He married Emma Jane Moore, daughter of a carpenter, at Birmingham in 1876, and spent all of his working life employed by a hardware manufacturer, initially as a clerk, then later as a manager and agent.

This post turned out a bit longer than I expected. If you've persevered for this long, I hope you've found the journey of interest, and still have some time left to read the other Sepia Saturday contributions.

Patrick Colbert (c1845-1901) of Bunmahon & Whiterigg

A few days ago I discussed a photographic portrait coloured in oils of a middle-aged man. Diana Burns has sent me the rather harrowing tale from her husband's family history and, rather than summarise it, I've decided to present it here in full, in her words and partly illustrated with some of her own photographs.


Mahon River and Bunmahon, Co. Waterford, 2006
Image © Copyright Hector Davie and courtesy of Geograph.co.uk
Licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence
Bunmahon is a quiet village in Co. Waterford, Ireland, lying in an area still called the Copper Coast. Copper was discovered there in the 1820s, transforming the former holiday resort into a major industrial region for much of the nineteenth century. However, a series of crises – deterioration in the quality of the ore and its increasing inaccessibility, famine, transatlantic migration and strikes – led to the decline and ultimate closure of the mine in 1877.


Patrick Colbert (c1845-1901) of Bunmahon & Whiterigg
Image © and courtesy of Diana Burns
Against this backdrop were two families, the Colberts and the Hurleys. Patrick Colbert was born to James Colbert, foreman at the mine, and his wife, Catherine Flynn, around 1854. Mary Hurley was born to Timothy Hurley, the mine’s paymaster, and his wife, Julia O’Sullivan, around 1856. Patrick and Mary married in 1875 and their first child, Bridget Mary, was born in Bunmahon in 1877.


Tankardstown Mine, Bunmahon, Co. Waterford, 2007
Image © Copyright Philip Halling and courtesy of Geograph.co.uk
Licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence
The conditions in Bunmahon following the mine closure had become appalling. At the 1877 half year AGM of the Mining Company of Ireland, it was reported, “It was as if an angel of death had swept over Bunmahon… [The mining area is] now deserted and the misery and wretchedness of the people who survived painful almost beyond description… They are in a state of destitution to amount almost to starvation.”

The Colberts were one of the last families to leave, along with the Wheatley family whose eldest son, John, went on to become Minister for Health in the first Labour Government in 1924. Both families headed for industrial Lanarkshire in Scotland. Although the reason behind their choice of destination is not clear, it is likely that recruiting agents for the Scottish coal and ironstone companies had come over to Ireland.


The Road to Whiterigg, January 2010
Image © and courtesy of Diana Burns
The Colberts moved into Airdriehill Square, Whiterigg, a custom-built village erected in 1874 by United Collieries Ltd. 49 single storey, brick houses were laid out in rows to form a square. The walls were damp, there were no sinks in the homes and sanitation took the form of open privy middens in front of the rows. The Colberts had seven more children. Their only son, James, died aged seven after a building had collapsed on his leg and necrosis developed.


Whiterigg Moorland, January 2010
Image © and courtesy of Diana Burns
The remaining children grew to adulthood, and Bridget Mary married William Burns, my husband’s grandfather. William reportedly served in the Black Watch. He was a Pioneer Socialist and ambivalent about WW1. In 1915, he obtained compassionate leave to go the funeral of Keir Hardie where he was an honorary pall-bearer. When he returned, his colonel sent for him and said that “Keir Hardie was a Socialist who should have been shot, and we won’t miss you!” Reputedly, this reached Ramsay McDonald, who was to become the first Labour Prime Minister in 1924. McDonald was a pacifist in WW1 and the Government was anxious to keep the Labour Party and the British trade union movement onside during the war. He intervened, with the result that William was shipped out to India instead of to the Western Front and almost certain death. William went on to become John Wheatley’s election agent in Lanarkshire East in the 1920s.


Signpost, Whiterigg, January 2010
Image © and courtesy of Diana Burns
In the spring of 1901, two of the seven girls were bringing in a wage. The family also had a boarder, in a house that probably had three rooms at the most. On 29 December 1901, Patrick Colbert died aged 47 from acute pneumonia. The conditions under which he worked almost certainly led to his death - damp, poor ventilation and the constant inhalation of coal dust. I cannot imagine how his widow managed to raise seven children aged between three and eighteen, but I have found no evidence of her applying for poor relief.


St David's School, Whiterigg, September 2009
Image © and courtesy of Diana Burns
Little remains of Whiterigg now, at least on the surface. All the houses have long been cleared from the site. Only the old school remains. I visited the area last February, a very unforgiving time of the year to view a lost village, and was left with a deep impression of the bleakness of the landscape and the bitterly cold wind blowing across the deserted moorland.

References

Cowman, Des (2006) The Making and Breaking of a Mining Community: The Copper Coast, County Waterford 1825-1875+, Grannagh, Waterford: GK Print.

Lucas, H., Devlin, E. & Reilly, J. (2001) The Lost Villages: Whiterigg, Darngavil, Arden, Ballochney, Craigmauchen, Meikle Drumgray, North Standrigg, South Standrigg, self publ., Glasgow: Craig & Stewart Printers Ltd.

Jonathan Adlington (1839-1884), Music teacher of Derby & Aberdeen

In the 1860s, after the carte de visite format was introduced, the colourisation of photographs became a little easier, and one would hope that the photographic studios would have taken heed of the "less is more" mantra. By the looks of many of these early portraits on albumen-based paper prints it may appear that the lesson was not well appreciated. However, a criticism of these early practitioners may be a little hasty, because the effect that we see now may not be that which was intended. Indeed the appearance may differ radically from how it appeared originally, either due to significant fading of the sepia-toned photographic emulsion or to changes in the original water colour dyes used, both of which effectively enhance the appearance of the added colours.


Jonathan Adlington of Derby, July 1863
Hand coloured carte de visite portrait by J. Brennen, Derby
Image © and courtesy of Derby Local Studies Library
This carte de visite portrait of young Derby music teacher Jonathan Adlington (1839-1884) by James Brennen, held by the Derby Local Studies Library (by whom permission has been kindly given for reproduction), is typical of early paper prints mounted on card and hand coloured in either water colours or oils. I think this one has been done in water colours (apart from the gold), which look pretty garish now, but the appearance is likely to be different from that originally intended. The young man is bearded, dressed in a frock coat with the top button done up, as was the fashion, dark waistcoat and light coloured peg-top trousers. He is wearing a bright blue tie with gold tie pin, a gold watch chain, and carries a light walking cane and pale blue, soft, low-crowned hat, perhaps something akin to a deerstalker without the ear flaps.



The reverse has the sitter's name "Jno Adlington" and a date "July 1863" inscribed in pencil, in what appears to be a roughly contemporary hand. Several other Brennen portraits in the DLSL collection have inscription in a similar hand, possibly written by Brennen himself. I suspect they were speculative portraits of local celebrities produced to cash in on the carte de visite craze which swept the country in the early 1860s.


Choir at Southwell Minster, Nottinghamshire
Image © 2008 Martin Beek and courtesy of Flickr
Jonathan Adlington was born in 1839 into the musically talented family of Southwell (Nottinghamshire) tailor William Adlington and his wife Keturah Pope. His father was for some years a member of the choir at Southwell Minster under the tutelage of rector chori Edward Heathcote.


Advertisement, The Derby Mercury, 19 December 1849
Image courtesy of Gale CENGAGE Learning
They moved to Derby in the late 1840s, probably shortly after the death of William's father Jonathan Adlington at Southwell on 2 June 1849. An advertisement which appeared in The Derby Mercury seeking an apprentice was a clear sign that the Adlington children were not destined to follow their father into the rag trade. The census of 30 March 1851 shows all three of the Adlington children - William (14), Jonathan (11) and Sarah Ann (10) - as music scholars, and it occurred to me that their move to Derby may have been motivated partly for musical reasons, for example to be close to a respected music teacher.


St Peter's Church, Derby, c.1880s
Lithograph published by W.W. Winter
Image © and collection of Brett Payne
Whatever the reasons for the move, it seems to have paid off. In January 1850 Master Adlington - probably Jonathan's older brother William, then twelve years old- was reported in the Mercury as "one of the youthful band of choristers belonging to [St Peter's Church Sunday School], presiding at the pianoforte, with great ability," during a church function in the large dining room of the King's Head Inn in the Cornmarket, a popular meeting place for both cultural groups and philosophical clubs.


Church of St Paul's, Chester Green, Derby
Image © 2010 Russ Hamer and courtesy of Panoramio
William junior became something of a local sensation, with regular performances in Derby, such as at the opening and consecration of the new church of St Paul's at New Chester (now Chester Green), near Derby in May that year. The Adlingtons appear to have been at the centre of a a minor renaissance of the music scene in Derby. The St Peter's Madrigal Society "gave the second performance to their subscribers and friends" in September 1850, at which "Master W. Adlington presided at the pianoforte, accompanying the glees, songs, &c., in a very efficient style."


The Athenaeum (at left), Royal Hotel & Post Office, Victoria Street/Cornmarket, Derby, c.1850s
Image © and courtesy of Nigel Aspdin
At a Christmas concert held in the Athaenaeum that same year, "Master Adlington was also encored in the song, 'Why do summer roses fade,' which he sang with considerable effect, accompanying himself on the pianoforte ... A fantasia on the piano by Master Adlington was remarkable for its brilliancy of execution."

William Adlington senior had become the choir master at St Peter's, and no doubt played a significant role in the training and advancement of his son, although by then it appears that he was shortly to study under John Cramer of Loughborough.


Lecture Hall, Mechanics’ Institution, Derby, 1839
Hand Coloured Lithograph Print, from a drawing by Samuel Rayner
Image © and courtesy of Derby Museum & Art Gallery
Numerous concerts were held throughout 1851, culminating in a "Grand Miscellaneous Concert" at the Lecture Hall, Derby:

Master W. Adlington's performance of Hummel's Rondo Brilliant, in A, opera 59, on the piano forte, was played with a spirit, taste, and cleverness which would have done credit to any player. This youth is only fourteen years of age, and from the abilities displayed in the performance of this piece, there could be but one opinion, that in all probability he is likely to become a first class performer. The subject, although long, was executed by Master Adlington in a manner which was appreciated in a high degree by his patrons, as was shown by the warmth and unanimity of their applause.

Jonathan Adlington received instruction under William Wolfgang Woodward (1821-1882), professor of music in Derby, and conductor of the Derby Choral Society, and by September 1856 had become the organist at St Peter's Church, aged only 17. That year a new vehicle for the promotion of music in the town was formed, the Derby Vocal Union, under the direction of William Adlington, and with Jonathan "presiding at the pianoforte." Unfortunately, at their inaugural concert Jonathan was taken ill, and his place had to be taken by his older brother.


Advertisement, The Derby Mercury, 5 November 1856
Image courtesy of Gale CENGAGE Learning
At this stage William Adlington senior must have grown confident enough in both his abilities and in the local demand, since he appears to have become a music teacher. His first advertisement offering vocal elementary instruction appeared in the Derby Mercury on 5 November 1856. White's trade directory for 1857 shows him still working as a draper, but by the census of 7 April 1861 he described himself only as a "professor of music, singing."

Jonathan, then 21 and still living at home, was a "professor of music, organ & pianoforte," having announced 18 months earlier "his intention of commencing a popular elementary class for singing, at the Mechanics' Institution. As a teacher of singing, Mr. Adlington is as widely known as he is highly appreciated, and possesses not only the talent required to conduct such a desirable instruction, but also aptitude and the peculiar advantages of temper and judgement." (The Derby Mercury, 14 September 1859)


Readers will perhaps not be surprised to learn that the Adlington residence in the late 1850s and early 1860s was at 14 Wilmot Street, immediately next door to the premises which studio photographer James Brennen occupied at number 12 from around 1860 until c.1865. Sadly, these buildings no longer exist, much of Wilmot Road having disappeared to make way for the new A601 ring road. Jonathan's older brother William had the previous year "received the degree of associate of the Royal Academy of Music," while Jonathan himself was widening his repertoire, with the direction of a concert for the Trinity Church Working Mens Association and instructing music to the Diocesan Institution for Training Schoolmistresses. He had also become a member of The Derbyshire Provincial Grand Lodge of Freemasons, and of The Derwent Rowing Club - clearly a young, but up and coming, man-about-town.


St Andrew's Cathedral, Aberdeen
© 2007 Colin Smith and courtesy of Geograph.co.uk
Licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence
In the early 1860s William Adlington junior had taken up an appointment as a music teacher in Aberdeen, and by August 1866 Jonathan too had moved to Aberdeen. Apart from having a large private practice offering singing, organ and pianoforte lessons, he was organist at St Andrew's Cathedral, became music master to the Normal College and pianoforte teacher at the Aberdeen Church of Scotland Training College, and was appointed Director of Music to the of the Provincial Grand Lodge at the Aberdeen Masonic Hall. He was "organist of the Choral Union under Mr Latter for a period ... frequently play[ing] at the Saturday evening entertainments," and was also a composer, publishing several songs and duets.

In late June 1877, however, he resigned his numerous positions and moved to Edinburgh where he took over an "influential" teaching practice recently vacated by his older brother William. Their parents had moved to Aberdeen in the early 1870s, perhaps after the marriage if their younger sister Sarah Ann to Alexander Gowan Gillespie at Edinburgh in July 1873, and then to Edinburgh in the early 1880s.

John Adlington, as he appears to have been known after his move to Scotland, died at his father's home in Edinburgh on 10 March 1884, at the relatively young age of 44. An obituary in the Aberdeen Journal included the following:

Mr Adlington had the winning faculty of endearing himself to his friends, and, modest of his accomplishments, he always carried his honours in such a way as to merit the esteem of those with whom he came in contact. In his professional life he well maintained the musical reputation of his family. Many in Aberdeen will grieve to hear of the early death of one who gave so much promise as a musician, and will sympathise with the relatives in the loss they have sustained ...

References

19th Century British Library Newspapers, courtesy of Gale CENGAGE Learning
The Aberdeen Weekly Journal
The Caledonian Mercury
The Derby Mercury
The Nottinghamshire Guardian & Midland Advertiser

1841-1911 UK Census Collection, The National Archives of the UK, courtesy of Ancestry

International Genealogical Index (IGI), from FamilySearch

Descendants of John Jaffray

White, Francis (1857) History, Gazetteer and Directory of the Country of Derby, Francis White & Co., Derby, transcript courtesy of Neil Wilson

Sepia Saturday 91: A Black Horse, a Black Hearse and Fast-fading Flowers

"Western funerals: black hearses, and black horses, and fast-fading flowers. Why should black be the colour of death? Why not the colours of a sunset?"

Daniele Varè, The Maker of Heavenly Trousers

Funeral group at unidentified location
Image © and courtesy of Rachel Thomson
I was sent this photograph of a funeral scene a couple of years ago by Rachel Thomson, who wrote:

I found it in my parents' estate and no one seems to know its origins. It's morbidly fascinating as it's of a child's funeral. It could quite well be taken in Scotland. What is interesting is the reflections of peoples faces in the glass hearse. I thought someone might have a theory of its origins.

I did have a good look at the photograph at the time, and did some research into horse-drawn hearses, but didn't come to any conclusions as to location, and didn't feel that I had anything useful to contribute. Then, I'm afraid the query was neglected under the usual pile in my Inbox.

The image chosen for the Sepia Saturday this week is of a quite different topic, in a generalised sense, but Alan chose to make a point of the contrasting action within. I think this photograph shows similar qualities, and it is easy to be drawn into the scene. It depicts what must be the funeral of a young child, the funeral party arranged for the photographer around a horse-drawn hearse, which is itself parked in front of a long, single-storey building.


Detail of funeral group: the central characters
The "morbidly fascinating" aspect of the image centres around the tiny open white coffin, held by two young men at a slightly alarming angle, obviously so that the well-draped deceased baby would be in full view of the camera lens. This group of five each hold a silver candlestick. I'm not familiar enough with funeral rites and accoutrements to know whether these are characteristic of any particular denomination. I found this account of Scottish Burial Customs, but it makes no mention of candlesticks.


Detail of funeral group: the grieving parents
On the left of this central group are a couple who I suspect are the parents of the deceased child. Their eyes are turned downwards, but perhaps they are primarily concerned with how their older child, shown below, is managing with her candlestick. The woman's hair and clothing style, including the wide lace collar, lead me to tentatively suggest a date of perhaps the late 1870s or early to mid-1880s.


Detail of funeral group: the big sister
The child dressed in white, with a frilly bonnet and her mouth partly hidden by a ribbon or flower posie, is perhaps two to three years old and could easily be an older sibling of the dead child. She looks cautiously at the photographer.


Detail of funeral group: the coffin bearers
The two young men holding the child's coffin - actually only one of them seems to have a good grip on it - could be uncles of the deceased. They are both holding candlesticks and while one faces directly into the camera lens, the other is more intent on something off to the left - perhaps the the child's mother is his sister. Be


Detail of funeral group: the supporting cast
To the right there is a large group of young men, two or three of who are holding candlesticks and are holding up the decorated coffin lid, and one young woman. The latter's face is partly hidden in this image, but her dress is visible in the larger image above. All face the photographer except for one on the left who looks down at the lid.


Detail of funeral group: faces through the glass
Just visible through the glass of the hearse - and therefore probably standing behind it - are the ghostly faces of at least four, possibly five, women, and potentially another man. In light of the Scottish custom of the burial at the cemetery only being attennded by the menfolk, mentioned in the previous reference, it's interesting to note that most of the men are off to the right, and the women behind the hearse.


Detail of funeral group: the undertaker and his horse
The undertaker in his spotless coat and top hat, and the horses with their shiny polished bridle and harness, are off to the right. Yes, there are two horses, although one is pretty well hidden - look at the shadows. The undertaker, no doubt doubling as driver of the hearse, has his hands behind his back, and is probably holding the reins to keep the horses still. Leaning against the wall at the left is a dustpan with a handle, which may or may not have something to do with the horses.


Detail of funeral group: Finial on hearse
I found images of several horse-drawn hearses of a similar shape to the one in the photograph, but one feature renders it a little unusual. The hearse appears to be of a design that was more or less standard during the latter half of the 19th Century, but I've not been able to find anything similar to the five carved finials attached to its roof. Finials were not always used, but when they were present they were usually turned, and thus with a circular-section, or carved into shapes resembling drapery, rather than this square-section form.

The building itself is constructed from roughly shaped and dressed stone, with a slate roof bordered at the left with lead flashing, and topped by two stone chimneys, each with two pottery chimney pipes. The three visible glazed windows each have substantial wooden shutters on iron hinges, suggesting to me that the location may be a coastal one which commonly experiences adverse weather conditions. There is an open doorway behind the hearse, only just visible over the top of it.

My commentary is therefore long on observation, and rather short on both interpretation and conclusion. I'd welcome further contributions from readers, please, because I'm a little bereft of ideas to progress the investigation at the moment. Perhaps you have a different reading of the way people are standing and interacting with each other? Please leave your comments below, and then head over to Sepia Saturday 91 to enjoy the other interpretations of this week's theme.

Twitter for Gentlefolk: A 20th Century social documetary photographer

The Forgotten Gorbals, by Bill Brandt, 1948
There is so much to be found about and by Bill Brandt on the web that there seems little point flouting my ignorance here. This image, reproduced as a postcard sent to me last week by Alan Burnett in support of the "Twitter for Gentlefolk" movement - a revolution perhaps needs to start out with slightly more modest aims - will, I hope, speak for itself. It is a thoughtful, understated illustration of how effectively Brandt, as Alan describes it, "was able to balance an image to perfection and combine the documentary and artistic requirements of photography," and a much appreciated missive.


I see much of Brandt's influence in Alan's own photographs, many of which you'll find on his Picture Post blog. I look forward each week to the glimpses into Alan's collection, as he scans prints, slides and negatives from his personal archives, and sallies forth into the English town and country in search of new inspiration.

My own contribution to the "movement" - well, my first - is up on Alan's News from Nowhere blog. If you feel the urge to exchange postcards, and further the aims of Alan's movement, please feel free to email me.

Don't argue, the lady has a gun!

The expressions on the faces of my teenage daughters when I mentioned last night that they had an Auntie Latifa was a little incredulous, for the most obvious of reasons. They'd only ever come across one Latifa before, on the television screen. Actually, it's not quite accurate - Latifa was a younger sister of their great-grandmother, and therefore their great-great aunt.


Latifa Middleton and Gamila Binnie,
standing next to the cannon Mons Meg,
Edinburgh Castle, Scotland, June-July 1932
Image © and courtesy of the extended Binnie family
When I asked them if they wanted to see a photograph of her, their eyes took on that "what-ev-a" expression so familiar to me when the topic of family history is raised, and the conversation moved on. However, a photograph of sisters Latifa and Gamila is particularly appropriate to display this week. Latifa's youngest daughter Madeleine and her husband Bill have just made their first, long planned "pilgrimage" (from California) to the country (and village) where Latifa and Gamila were born and grew up.

Courtesy of Find My Past's recent World Cup Widows temporary free access offer (presumably widowers and sundry atheists allowed too), I was able to discover more about the visits that my wife Gill's grandmother, Latifa and their sister Farida made to the United Kingdom in the 1920s and 1930s. The passenger lists that I've found give details of the family's inter-continental movements, providing a solid framework on which to arrange the anecdotal stories which have been handed down. I've written about this over at my other blog La Diaspora Continua.

According to the notes that I made from discussions with Gill's Aunt Maud when I scanned her collection of old photographs in 1998, the photograph was taken in Edinburgh in 1933. Maud's mother was then heavily pregnant with her fifth and last child John, who sadly died at the age of only two. Using the passenger lists mentioned earlier, I've been able to correct that date a little, and narrow the trip down to a six week period in June and July 1932.


Mons Meg and the view from Edinburgh Castle,
A 19th Century engraving
Image © and courtesy of Peter Stubbs & EdinPhoto
Having visited Edinburgh Castle with my sister on a rather dreary day in August 1987, I vaguely recall seeing cannons, but can't remember any details. However, Peter Stubbs on his excellent EdinPhoto web site has a Mons Meg page with several images of this particular enormous example reproduced from postcards from soon after the turn of the century, and a slightly older engraving (reproduced above).


Mons Meg, Edinburgh Castle, Scotland
Image by Yatton courtesy of Wikipedia Commons
More recent photographs, of which there are hundreds on Google images, show Mons Meg mounted on a very different wood and metal carriage, which is believed to approximate the original carriage construction. It appears that the mounting was changed some time between Latifa and Gamila's visit in the summer of 1932 and another snapshot of some children sitting on the cannon taken c. 1945.


Mons Meg, Edinburgh Castle, Scotland, c.1900-1910
Image by star1950 courtesy of East Lothian Museum
Photographs of such pilgrimages play an important part in the establishment of links between us and the lands of our forebears, as well as in the maintenance of contact with distant cousins. Sometimes they are the only tangible references that we have to pass on to our descendants. When we visited Lebanon in 1997 we took hundreds of photos, and I'm sure that Madeleine and Bill will share some of theirs too, in due course. I hope they will be appreciated by those generations to come, and will perhaps encourage our descendants to learn about the lands that shaped their ancestors, perhaps even to make their own pilgrimages.

I intend to discuss this aspect of photographs in our family collections in due course, and how they may be combined with other documentation to provide a better sense of connection with one's ancestors. I will also be illustrating several examples from my own family collection over at La Diaspora Continua.

References

Mons Meg by Wikipedia

Bombards: Mons Meg and Her Sisters (Royal Armouries Monograph)