Sepia Saturday 136: A Sporting Interlude

If the image prompt is anything to go by Sepia Saturday will be packed full of sporty antics this week. Not being much of a cricket or baseball player, or follower, I was contemplating that I might have to resort to including several quotes from my dusty copy of The British Academy of Cricket Manual for Gentlemen and Players. However, I came across a couple of postcard images which just fit the bill, and can therefore be a theme-follower as usual.

Unidentified group of hockey players, undated
Black and white postcard by W.W. Winter of Derby
This postcard-sized photograph is a silver gelatin print, with that characteristic partly reflective surface that does not scan well. It shows a group of 32 men and women, actually 15 males and 17 females. They appear to be members of a men's and a women's hockey team - nine of the men wear distinctive uniforms - with a few extras in suits who are possibly team coaches, managers, etc. I can only count nine hockey sticks, but presumably the rest are lying on the grass somewhere.

The reverse of the postcard is no help in dating whatsoever, as it is completely generic, with no printed words at all. The only clue to where it is from is W.W.Winter's usual signature blind stamp in the lower right hand corner (left on this image of the reverse).

The brow band, sported by one young slightly disheveled woman seated at far right, and really not much more than a ribbon, first appeared immediately after the end of the Great War and remained a distinctive feature of post-War fashion until about 1924. Many of the women in this image have hair styles similar to those described by Geoff Caulton on his British Photodetective web pages as the Great War Look. The white blouses and plain skirts worn by the women also fit that era.

It seems likely to me, therefore that this group portrait was taken shortly after the War, say between 1918 and 1922. Many of the young men pictured would not have been long back from the trenches, and such leisure time activities no doubt provided welcome distractions from the horrors of what they had experienced.

Unidentified group of female hockey players, undated
Black and white postcard by W.W. Winter of Derby
A second postcard depicting a group of 13 hockey players, this time all young women, is on postcard stock that is a variant of a a style that I have classified as Type B in my study of W.W. Winter's Derby studio, used in the 1910s and 1920s.

Reverse of Type B (variant) postcard by W.W. Winter of Derby
The fact that it has Winter's name printed on the reverse, and has no blind stamp, makes me think that it is earlier rather than later, and possibly before he sold the studio to W.H. King and H.B. Sheppard in 1910. The negative number (126214B), written in black pen on the negative and therefore appearing white on the print, by comparison with others from this studio, suggests to me that the group portrait was taken somewhat earlier than the previous one, say between 1905 and 1910.

Low pompadour, Side-swirl and Transitional hair styles
The hair styles and clothing, too, are more typical of the pre-War era. Geoff Caulton again has some good photos of the "low pompadour," "side swirl" and "transitional" hair styles which were popular amongst young women between 1905 and 1915, and examples of all three types are sported by the members of this fashionable hockey team.

Unfortunately the image is not quite clear enough to make out the letters on the uniform badge, although I can vaguely make out a possible T, D and C - perhaps it is something like Trent & Derwent (Hockey) Club? According to Wikipedia, the Derwent Hockey Club, established in 1897, was the oldest hockey club in Derbyshire.

Sepia Saturday 95: Working Women at Rolls-Royce in the Great War

Alan Burnett's chosen image for Sepia Saturday this week celebrates the election of Denmark's first woman prime minister. The image, from the Royal Library of Denmark's Flickr Commons Collection, appears to be a lithographed poster showing a group of women from the Socialdemokratiet (Social Democratic Party) marching with banners. I'm going to follow this with the theme of women taking on roles previously reserved for men. I have written before about women who worked in the Land Army during the Great War, but a photo sent to me recently from the studio of W.W. Winter portrays a group of women who took on a very different set of tasks while their menfolk were away fighting.


Group of women workers with a male "supervisor" from Rolls-Royce, Derby, c.1916-1917
Large format mounted print by W.W. Winter, Midland Road, Derby
Image © and courtesy of Chris Elmore
This image was sent to me by Chris Elmore, who wrote:

I believe the attached photograph was taken by W W Winter of Derby in 1916 or 17. It shows women who were recruited by the Rolls-Royce factory in Derby during the Great War. These ladies were perhaps the earliest to perform engineering tasks previously only performed by men. My grand mother Ada May Morris née Rudkin is in the photograph (seated second row from the front next to the last right) dressed in black out of respect for her husband Henry Augustus Morris D.C.M. who had died at the Battle of the Somme in July 1916.

Rolls-Royce Armoured Car, unknown date and location
Much has been written about the women who worked in the Rolls-Royce factory in Derby during the Second World War, assembling Merlin engines which powered the celebrated Spitfires, but I've not been able to find a great deal about their role there during the Great War. When war broke out and orders for luxury cars all but disappeared, the factory initially took in some small orders for the manufacture of shell casings and ambulance wagons. The chassis of the Silver Ghost was also adapted for use in the construction of armoured cars, employed by T.E. Lawrence in his desert campaigns, but this was not enough to keep the factory running.


Handley Page Type O Bomber, nr Dead Sea, Palestine, c. 1918-1920
Image courtesy of Middle East Pictures
Although the British government had intended that the Derby factory manufacture existing aero engine designs under license, Henry Royce had other ideas. First tested in early 1915, the Eagle was designed from scratch by Royce and his engineering team, and subsequently became one of the mainstays of the British war effort, used to power a number of aircraft, including the Handley Page bomber. By the end of the war, the plant was making 50 engines a week.

If anyone can shed any further light on the women who worked at the Rolls-Royce Factory during the Great War, the kind of work they did, etc., Chris Elmore will be very grateful for the information.

Here's a quiz for all you budding and practised sleuths out there. What did it take New Zealand and Australia over a century to achieve, while Great Britain and Argentina almost managed it in half a century, and yet countries like India, Sri Lanka and Israel could do it in two or three decades? By the way, the United States has yet to do it, and Saudi Arabia can't do it.

References

Rolls-Royce Eagle and Rolls-Royce Limited, Wikipedia.

Botticelli, Peter (1995) Rolls-Royce and the Rise of High-Technology Industry, in Creating Modern Capitalism: How Entrepreneurs, Companies, and Countries, Triumphed in Three Industrial Revolutions, Thomas K. McCraw (ed.), pp.96-129.

Clegg, George (1968-1970) George Clegg Reminisces, Rolls-Royce Enthusiasts' Club.

King, Peter (2003) A Woman's Place in the Factory, Derby, BBC WW2 People's War.

Sepia Saturday 90: What did you do in the war, Grandpa?

This week's Sepia Saturday photo prompt is a cutely posed studio portrait of a young Princess, taken in Spain in 1916 when she was seven years old. Of course Spain remained neutral throughout the Great War, and visits to the studio may have continued unabated, even by ordinary folk. In Britain, however, the war had been going on for two years, times were tough, and many studios experienced reduced business, or were even closed due to the lack of customers.


Corporal Robert Hollis, Machine Gun Corps
Postcard portrait by Pollard Graham, 108A Friargate, Derby, c.1917-1918
Image © and Courtesy of Fran Powles
Derby photographers were no exception, and it is informative to note that Pollard Graham shut eight of their branches in the Midlands - from Northampton to Burslem to Lincoln - between 1913 and 1916, leaving only the headquarters studio serving customers. Even after the war, it would be some time before business picked up sufficiently for the firms to contemplate expansion again, with their first post-war branch opening in 1920. Understandably, their clientele had changed too, with the majority of clients being uniformed soldiers about to head off to war. Postcards tended to be the predominantly used format. For most people there wasn't much spare cash around for the fancier mounts and frames.

Corporal Hollis of the Machine Gun Corps probably had this portrait taken on a visit home from the front, perhaps even after a period of recuperation, since he is sporting a wound stripe on his left sleeve.


The Brown family, Postcard portrait by Pollard Graham,
108A Friargate, Derby, 13 July 1917
Image © and Collection of Brett Payne
While most portraits tended to be a single figure, or perhaps couple, I am fortunate enough to have a group portrait of my grandmother's family, the Browns, taken in the summer of 1917. The older two of her three brothers are dressed in uniform. Arthur was a Corporal/Sergeant Dispenser, RAMC, and served with the 57th North Midlands Field Ambulance Unit. He became a chemist after the war. I'm not sure what unit Frank served in, and the insignia on his lapels are not clear enough for me to make out. Ethel worked as an apprentice milliner before the war, but during the war both she and her mother Edith served in some medical capacity, probably at a hospital in Derby. Edith has what appears to be an RAMC badge pinned to the front of her dress, Ethel some other type which I've been unable to identify. Percy was still at school, while Fred Brown, at 47, was presumably too old to be called for active service.


Unidentified Royal Navy man, perhaps with his father
Postcard portrait by Pollard Graham, 108A Friargate, Derby, c.1917-1918
Image © and Courtesy of Grace-Ellen Capier
This rather nice vignetted portrait shows an unidentified Royal Navy man seated with an older bearded gentleman who may be his father. I can't decide whether the single stripe on his left arm signifies that he holds the rank of "Able Seaman, Higher Grade," or whether it is a "Good Conduct" badge. Also just visible on his right sleeve is part of another badge. By comparison with Royal Navy Badges used during the First World War, it may be something like an Armourer's badge.


Thomas Frederick (Fred) Green, Royal Garrison Artillery
Postcard portrait by Pollard Graham, 108A Friargate, Derby, c.1917-1918
Image © and Courtesy of Betty Bowler
A very young Fred who also visited Pollard Graham's studio, probably on the eve of his departure for the front, is wearing standard Great War issue uniform with an RGA (Royal Garrison Artillery) shoulder title. The Medal Index Cards show a Thomas F. Green, 189835, Gunner in the Royal Garrison Artillery, entitled to the Victory and British War Medals.


Unidentified young man, Army Ordnance Corps, c.1914-1918
Postcard portrait by F.J. Boyes, 22 & 24 Osmaston Road, Derby
Image © and Collection of Brett Payne
Frederick J. Boyes was another Derby photographer who attended to portrait requirements of those dutiful young men during the Great War. The AOC shoulder title of this unidentified young man with his very neatly combed hair show that he served with the Army Ordnance Corps, which dealt "with the supply and maintenance of weaponry, munitions and other military equipment."


Uncle Bill (Notts & Derby Regiment) and Auntie Hilda, c.1914-1918
Postcard portrait by F.J. Boyes, 22 & 24 Osmaston Road, Derby
Image © and Collection of Brett Payne
This young man and his new bride (I presume from the prominently displayed wedding ring) are identified on the reverse only as Uncle Bill and Auntie Hilda, but he wears the shoulder titles of the Notts and Derbys Regiment, as well as a circular badge containing a red cross, similar to that of Arthur Brown, above, which may signify that he is some sort of medical orderly.


Charlotte and Alfred Horobin with their nieces, c.1915-1916
Postcard portrait by F.J. Boyes, 22 & 24 Osmaston Road, Derby
Image © and Courtesy of Sally Jackson
Sally Jackson sent me this portrait of her grandparents Alfred Irvin Horobin and his wife Charlotte Louisa née Brady with their nieces, daughters of his half brother, Arthur Swinfield Newton and his wife Lillia née Tomlinson. Alfred is dressed in uniform, wears shoulder titles of the RFA (Royal Field Artillery), and has a crown on his sleeve, suggesting he was a warrant officer. His finely waxed moustache, not clearly visible in this image, is certainly in keeping with that rank - all he needs is a swagger stick - but I've been unable to find an appropriate Medal Index Card for him.


Frederick William Lomas of Derby, c.1914-1916
Postcard portrait by R. & R. Bull, Ashbourne
Image © and Courtesy of Derek Smith
Unfortunately this portrait of a fresh-faced Frederick William Lomas, taken by the Ashbourne firm of R. & R. Bull early during the war, is not clear enough for me to read his shoulder titles.


Unidentified man and woman, c.1914-1918
Postcard portrait by H. Hinge, Ashbourne
Image © and Courtesy of Ellen Oakley
Henry Hinge, also of Ashbourne, took this rather wooden - and now pretty battered - portrait of a non-commissioned officer, identified on the reverse only as "Gran's brother," and his presumed wife. He has sergeant's stripes on his lower sleeve, as well as two wound stripes, and is also holding a swagger stick, which makes me wonder whether he is a drill or staff sergeant. His shoulder titles are not visible, and I'm not familiar enough with regimental badges to recognise the one on his cap.


Louisa and Doris McAuslan at Green Hall Hospital
Postcard portraits by Frederick Holbrook, George St Studios, Belper
Images © and Courtesy of Robert Silverwood
Louisa McAuslan and her daughter Doris were working for the Red Cross at Green Hall Hospital in Belper during the war, when Belper photographer Frederick Holbrook visited and took these two fine portraits.


Frank Tomlinson, c.1914-1918
Panel print portrait by Seaman & Sons, Chesterfield
Image © and Courtesy of Phil Gregory
This less common format by Seaman & Sons of Chesterfield is often known as a panel print, although it is not too different from a postcard cut into three, and I have often seen them constructed in that manner. Phil Gregory's relative Frank Tomlinson obviously served in a Scots Regiment during the war, as evidenced by his Glengarry hat, but I have no further information about him.


Sergeant George Manning, Royal Field Artillery, c.1917
Mounted print by W.W. Winter, Derby
Image © and Courtesy of Christine Hibbert
Sergeant George Manning of the Royal Field Artillery paid a visit to the studio of W.W. Winter in Midland Road Derby "whilst at home on leave from the battlefields of Europe." The single bar on his lower left sleeve is a wound stripe, indicating that he had already been wounded in the line of duty.

Geoff Caulton's PhotoDetective web pages have some excellent descriptions and images of uniforms, badges, shoulder titles and other tips for identifying subjects on portraits from the Great War.

Roger Capewell has an extensive web site devoted to Military Images, including a comprehensive list of badges with images.

For questions about the Great War, both of a specific and more general nature, the Great War Forum is well worth trying. Chris Baker's The Long, Long Trail gives valuable advice on how track a particular soldier's service during the war, including an excellent article on how to interpret Medal Index Cards.

Cartes de Visite as Celebrity Portraits

Earlier this week I posted a portrait of Derby clergyman Roseingrave Macklin, taken at the studio of James Brennen in 1862. This carte de visite was from a family photograph album belonginging to fellow photo-sleuth Nigel Aspdin, but Reverend Macklin was not, as far as Nigel is aware, even a distant relative. So what, one might ask, is his portrait doing in an album which probably belonged to Nigel's great-grandmother Mary Ann Aspdin née Dyche (c1833-1913)?


A clue to answering this question lies in the collection of carte de visite and cabinet portraits held by the Derby Local Studies Library. In October 2007 I was kindly permitted to scan a selection of these for reproduction on my Derbyshire Photographers web site. One of those that I scanned is an almost exact copy of Nigel's portrait by Brennen and, in fact, is how I was able to identify the subject, since it is annotated on the reverse. Dated 1862, it was probably taken shortly before Macklin's retirement due to ill health early in 1863.


Macklin appears to have visited another Derby studio - that of E.N. Charles - probably in late 1863, not long after his retirement. Instead of being attired in his clercial vestments, he is pictured leaning on a pedestal, perhaps admiring the large campana-shaped vase, in the style produced by the Royal Crown Derby China Works in the late 18th and early 19th Centuries.


Although by far the majority of the portraits in Nigel's album are unidentified, it is clear that there are more subjects who are not family members. For example, two later portraits depict men wearing what appear to be mayoral chains, and there is at least one other clergyman. Nigel suspects that a good proportion of the photographs are of acquaintances of the album's presumed owner Mary Ann Aspdin or her husband Richard Wilkinson Aspdin (1822-1885).


Carte de visite portrait of Napoleon III
by Disdéri
The carte de visite was not simply a standard card size. In 1854, Paris daguerreotypist André Adolphe Disdéri patented a method by which four, six, or even eight photographs could be exposed on a single glass plate, making the process of printing a great deal easier, and therefore cheaper. The popularised card mount size of 2½ x 4 inches was roughly the same as a visiting card, hence the name. A story of Emperor Napoleon III stopping at Disderi's studio to have his portrait taken en route to fight the Austrians in May 1859 is probably apocryphal, but it was around that time that the format started to become much more popular.


Morning Post (London, England), 7 March 1860
Although often referred to only in fairly general terms in the photohistory texts that I have read, I get the impression that the establishment of the carte de visite as a standard photographic portrait for the ordinary person happened slightly after cdv portraits of well known people had become collectable items. From advertisements placed in newspapers, it is clear that English studios began offering portraits in the carte de visite format at least as early as March 1860, when Mayer Brothers of Regent Street, London referred to it as "this new style."


Morning Post (London, England), 11 August 1860
The craze for carte de visites, both as collectibles and as a cheap method of portraiture, was given a substantial boost by royal patronage, Queen Victoria herself owning dozens of albums. Clearly those who would consider purchasing a hundred copies of a portrait of themselves, must have been expecting some considerable demand for said likenesses amongst their acquaintances.


The Derby Mercury, 16 July 1862
Although The Derby Mercury newspaper reveals no advertisements for cartes de visite as early as these, it is clear from several dated examples that Derby was not long behind the larger centres in adopting the new format for personal portraits. Nor do they appear to have been reticent about indulging in the new craze. In July 1862 stationer T.A. Johnson of 33 Victoria Street announced the recent arrival "from the leading English, German and French Houses, a very large assortment of the newest and most elegant Carte de Visite Albums."


The Derby Mercury, 12 November 1862
In November that year, E. Clulow and Son of 36 Victoria Street advertised a stock of carte de visite albums for sale, to hold 20, 30 or 50 portraits, and in December J.A. Rowbottom of Iron Gate offered "carte de visite albums and portraits in great variety."


The Derby Mercury, 28 January 1863
The first to advertise actual carte de visite portrait sittings in The Derby Mercury was the new Derby branch of the Leicester photographic firm John Burton and Sons, with a studio above Clulow's bookshop. As well as a hefty list of notable patrons including, supposedly, His Royal Highness the Late Prince Consort, "their carte de visite portraits, of which they have already taken many thousands, are universally admired ..."


A detailed analysis of early photographers operating in Derby shows that there were already seven resident practitioners at the advent of the carte de visite but, within a couple of years of its appearance, this number had doubled. Obviously portrait sittings were in great demand.

The fashion for collecting albums full of photographs of royalty and the famous is reported to have been on the wane by the late 1860s. Albums compiled in the 1870s and 1880s that I have seen are indeed characterised by a somewhat lower celebrity content, and the nature of newspaper advertisements by stationers and photographers tends to reflect that trend. They are still present to some degree in some albums, even those dating as late as the 1900s, but I suspect many have been culled to satisfy the demands of collectors in more recent years.

References

Coe, Brian (1976) The Birth of Photography: The story of the formative years 1800-1900, London: Spring Books, 144p.

Pols, Robert (2002) Family Photographs, 1860-1945: A Guide to Researching, Dating and Contextualising Family Photographs, Surrey, England: Public Record Office, 166p.

Rosenblum, Naomi (1981) A World History of Photography, New York: Abbeville Press, 671p.

Derby Photographers: Monsieur Emmanuel Nicolas Charles (1827-1863)

This photograph of an unidentified elderly man, seated in the studio E.N. Charles at 2 Midland Road, Derby, looking slightly weary, perhaps after a strenous walk to the studio, and with his top hat on the floor beside him, may be one of the first carte de visite portraits taken in that town.  Although undated, I believe it is earlier than any of the three other examples from this photographer that I have seen.  I’ve come to this conclusion partly from the seated pose, which is much closer to that typically used by photographers in the mid- to late 1850s, the era of the collodion positive or ambrotype.  Sadly, the reverse does not display a negative number, such as the No. 774 shown on the back of what I think must be a slightly later portrait from the same studio.

The design on the reverse, printed in gold ink, shows two cherubs holding flags, a seated lion, a phoenix standing atop a laurel wreath, and a book with the following text: “Album Photo. by Mons. Charles Midland Road Derby.”  I believe the use of the term “Album Photo” may be a reflection of the main use of the carte de visite at that time, in other words intended to be placed in a purpose-designed album, side-by-side with portraits of royalty and other celebrities of the day.

The Derby Mercury, 12 November 1862 

A newspaper advertisement from Derby stationers E. Clulow & Sons in November 1862 offers “carte de visite albums, a large stock of new and beautiful patterns just received.”

Emmanuel Nicolas Charles arrived in Derby in 1855 and set up a studio in Station Street with a partner,  possibly chemist James Morris.  Although born in France, he had married a young woman from Leicestershire in 1850, and lived briefly in both Nottingham – where he worked as a journeyman machinist - and Leicester, before settling in Derby.  By late 1856, he was working alone, with premises at 2 Midland Road, as shown by trade directory and census entries from 1857 until 1862.  He died on 29 March 1863, at the young age of 35, leaving his widow Sarah with two young sons.

Sarah Charles reputedly then operated the studio with the help of her husband’s assistant Walter William Winter, but it must have been only briefly, because she married him in the second quarter of 1864.  W.W. Winter took over the photographic studio, and built it up into a successful business which still thrives today.

E.N. Charles could only have been offering carte de visite portraits for a very limited period, perhaps from late 1860 at the earliest until March 1863.  Sarah Charles and W.W.Winter probably continued to use card mounts printed with her late husband’s name until stocks were exhausted, or new designs could be ordered.

In fact, a portrait in the collection of the Derby Local Studies Library taken before November 1865 (shown above) is mounted on a card with Mons. Charles’ name  and a coat of arms on the reverse, but “W.W. Winter, late M. Charles, Photo. Derby” printed on the front.  It seems likely that Winter may have had the remaining stock of cards overprinted not long after taking over the business.  This also provides us with the latest date of commencement of the Winter reign.

Winter continued to use the “late E.N. Charles” on his card mounts until the late 1860s or early 1870s, when a completely new design featuring an engraving of his new studio on the opposite side of Midland Road was introduced.

Sepia Saturday 71: The difference a well chosen hat makes

A hat is a shameless flatterer, calling attention to an escaping curl, a tawny braid, a sprinkling of freckles over a pert nose, directing the eye to what is most unique about a face. Its curves emphasize a shining pair of eyes, a lofty forehead; its deep brim accentuates the pale tint of a cheek, creates an aura of prettiness, suggests a mystery that awakens curiosity in the onlooker.

by Jeanine Larmoth, author , one time copy editor of Harpers Bazaar and a contributing editor at Town & Country, courtesy of The Hat Ladies of Charleston, whose annual Easter Promenade looks like a lot of fun. If you happen to be in Charleston, South Carolina this Saturday between 11:00 and 11:30, be sure to go well armed with both hat and camera.


Unfortunately there are slim pickings relating to millinery in my small library, so for dating I must rely to a large extent on an analysis of the card mount. This study of card mounts from the studio of Derby photographer W.W. Winter suggests that these two designs (Type XX - nine medals, gold; Type XXI - sixteen medals) were used with some degree of overlap from 1886 (latest medal depicted on Type XX), through 1888 (latest medal on XXI) to 1890. The negative number 69304 is written clearly in pencil on the reverse of the bonnet portrait, and this appears to correlate with other portraits in my Winter portfolio taken around 1889-1890. The identities of these two patient sisters who obediently struck a pose for the photographer, either several times on the same occasion, or on subsequent visits, was sadly not recorded. It would be nice to think that at least one of the visits was part of a sunny Easter outing.

My contribution to this week's edition of the Sepia Saturday series, "a potential Easter parade of rabbits, bonnets, and eggs."