Sepia Saturday 208: An early call for Father Christmas

Among the same set of lantern slides which I have featured previously in two previous Sepia Saturday posts (A Return Trip to Dovedale and Ready with the Bulls-Eye) is this pair of group images. I estimated the other photographs in the collection to have been taken c.1900 to 1910, and identified at least one, and possibly two, of them as having been taken in Derbyshire.



The first is a semi-formal group portrait of 17 women who appear to be dressed as maids or house servants. However something about the uniformity of their mob caps suggests to me that they may be dressed for some kind of play, pantomime or variety performance, rather than being employees in a very grand house. I guess that the house would have to be a lot bigger than Downton Abbey to have that number of youngish female servants in residence.



Whether these 34 children and their teacher (top right) have just attended a pantomime performance or a party is not clear, but the presence of a visitor from the North Pole (top left) places the event very firmly in December. The development of Santa's image as a plump, jovial, white-haired and bearded elderly man dressed in red with white fur trim largely happened in North America in the late 1800s (with the not inconsiderable help of caricaturist Thomas Nast), and then underwent a reverse migration back to Europe. Given that this image was probably taken in the United Kingdom in the first decade of the twentieth century, I think it must be a very early representation of Father Christmas. He wears a mob cap, rather than the now standard long, floppy pointed cap, but is otherwise much as we see him today.


"Merry Old Santa Claus," by Thomas Nast
from Harper's Weekly, 1 Jan 1881
That's all I have for Saturday Sepians this week. Have a great Christmas holiday and we'll see you again in the New Year. In the interim, if you're in need of some light entertainment, check out the other sepian contributions.

Sepia Saturday 174: Village Meeting, 10 am, under the Horse Chestnut tree

I'll admit right at the start that my photograph this week has little in common with the Sepia Saturday prompt, except that it shows a number of figures seated in a line, from top left to bottom right of the image, ostensibly facing towards the left of the camera. I hope you'll excuse this ill-disciplined straying from topic, but I'd like to attempt a deconstruction of a somewhat unusual image which has no obvious clues as to who the subjects are, or what event is illustrated.


Unidentified group photograph
Postcard format photograph by unidentified photographer
Image © and collection of Brett Payne
Another recent eBay find, this unused standard postcard format photograph came without any documentation as to location or provenance. The almost vertical, slightly curved black line in the middle of the photograph slightly displaces vertically the two halves of the image. This suggests that it was printed from a cracked glass plate negative, the printer not having been very careful about aligning the two pieces of glass.


Reverse of postcard format photograph by unidentified photographer
Image © and collection of Brett Payne
The back of the postcard has no photographer's imprint, and the stamp box is of an unusual stylised design that I can't recall coming across before. It's not listed on Ron Playle's Real Photo Stamp Boxes pages either. The use of glass plate camera of this format/size suggests that the event was important enough to warrant having a photographer on hand to make a record, but the fact that he didn't use postcard stock with his name printed on it suggests that he may not have had en established studio.


The figures are seated on chairs arranged on a well clipped lawn in front of a large tree shading some shrubbery to the right. The shape of the leaves and texture of the bark are very suggestive of the horse chestnut tree, as shown below, according to Wikipedia "widely cultivated in streets and parks throughout the temperate world," presumably as a feature and for the deep shade it produces. Of course it was also the friend of many a schoolboy, at least in my father's time, as the producer of conkers.


Horse chestnut tree Aesculus hippocastanum
Image courtesy of Alvesgaspar/Wikipedia
Nigel Aspdin, who also had a look over this photograph, thinks the leaves look fairly fresh; in the English Midlands, by September they tend to become rather tatty, so this was probably taken in mid-summer.


Behind and to the right of the tree trunk is a pillar or plinth of some kind. It may be for a sundial, although it seems a little high for that, and I can't make out any sign of the characteristic shape of a gnomon. There is also a T-shaped item set at a roughly 45 degree angle in the middle ground, but I've not been able to come up with any ideas as to what that might be.


To the left of the tree trunk, and roughly at the same distance from the camera as the pillar, is a multiple strand wire fence, with two Union Jacks on poles affixed to it, say about 5 paces apart. Although it cannot be seen in the photograph, there is probably a road or country lane on the other side of the fence. The flags appear to have been placed there to mark the venue.


To the far left, and apparently reversed right up to the fence, is a commercial van, possibly a Morris 1929 light van or similar make/model, as shown in in the slightly inappropriately named Austin7nut's Flickr photostream here and here. Seated in the open back of the van is a man in more casual attire - waistcoat and shirt sleeves - seated on a stool, with his elbows on his knees and his face in his hands. I think he's waiting for the talking to be over, and have speculated that he may be a caterer. When the talk is over perhaps he will, with the aid of others on the near side of the fence, off-load the food and transport it onto tables somewhere behind or to the left of the camera.


There are six men and three women, all fairly well-dressed, and probably well-heeled. The men have hats off, the women leave theirs on, as convention dictates for an outdoors gathering. The women's clothing and bar-strap shoes are distinctively late 1920s, with the high-crowned cloche (right) giving way to the deeper brimmed coal scuttle hat (centre). The older woman's brimless hat (left) may be a modified cloche, also typical of the 1920s.


The group seated on the chairs appear to be facing an unseen group of people off to the left of the postcard view, the toe of one man's shoe just visible in the extreme lower left corner of the image.


The woman standing in the centre of the seated group appears to be either addressing the gathering or answering questions. The man seated at far left, whose jacket and trousers are not quite as well-fitting as those of the others, also faces the crowd. It's perhaps also worth noting that few of the chairs match.


The remaining subjects are studiously avoiding eye contact with the gathering in front of them. Both of the men at the right, one with a nicely waxed moustache and a hat on the ground next to his chair, the other adjusting his pince nez, avert their gazes to their left. The latter, however, has considered the occasion important enough to wear a rose in his buttonhole. The rest either look down to the ground or pointedly off into the distance, perhaps towards where tables are being set up for lunch. Five of the men - all except the more relaxed gent on the far left - have their legs crossed, which may or may not have any significance.


Are they feeling uncomfortable with what the older of the three women is saying? Alternatively, perhaps she is answering some awkward questions from members of the audience. Perhaps they are just bored, and looking forward to lunch.

Who are they? Nigel suggests they might be engineers, professionals, management, etc. However with the women present, and given the pre-Second World War time frame, I'm inclined to think it far less likely to be a commercial occasion than a meeting of a village committee or the Board of Governors of a local school, perhaps comprising several landowners.


I feel they key to who they are probably lies in the rather odd-looking apparatus under the tree, behind the line of people. It appears to be a sloping board made from rather thick planks, on which several blocks of varying sizes and shapes are arranged. I think I can see some drawing pins, and possibly something like a tap handle. One of the shapes seems very irregular, and is perhaps a mineralogical specimen. What are they, samples, models, prizes? No means of support for the platform is visible, which is a pity, as this might have helped in its identification. If it had been held up by a centrally placed post, for example, I might have suggested something like a rudimentary lectern.

It's position at the time the photograph was taken suggests it may have been used or displayed earlier during the event, but had subsequently been moved out of the way during subsequent discussions.


There are also the remnants of what may be a negative number or title. Such an inscription would have been inscribed on the glass plate negative with black indian ink, thus appearing white on a print, and may have been partly removed prior to the making of this particular print.

Where are they? Is it a private garden or public park? Bearing in mind the fence bordering the lawn, I'm leaning towards the former. Perhaps illustrious Photo-Sleuth readers, including our regular Sepians, will be able to offer further ideas and suggestions. They'll be most welcome. For the moment I'm stumped, and the occasion must remain something of a mystery.

Post Script (4 May 2013)


Thanks to Paul Godfrey, the postcard printer's logo has been identified.

The logo seems to be a stylised W and W, used by the UK paper manufacturer Wellington and Ward of Elstree. I have a few walkies by Barker's Studio of Lowestoft that have this logo. W and W became part of the Ilford Group. I believe the Elstree site was later occupied by Dufay.

Sepia Saturday 168: V-J Day in Church Gresley

Some years ago M.B. Venning sent me an unattributed image which I was unable to use at the time, but which fits this weeks Sepia Saturday theme very well, being a direct result of the Potsdam Conference and Declaration.


V-J celebrations in Regent Street, Church Gresley, 15 August 1945
Postcard photograph by unidentified photographer
Image © and courtesy of M.B. Venning
15 August 1945 was V-J (Victory over Japan) Day, marking the end of hostilities in the Second World War, and commemmorated in this part of the world as V-P (Victory in the Pacific) Day.

Most of the children and some of the adults have found time to dress up, and it's an interesting variety of costumes. Church Gresley was a mining and pottery town, and the men on the pavement to the right have perhaps just been given time off work. There are the usual nurses, maids, sailor suits and nursery rhyme characters (I think I see Mary, Mary, quite contrary in the back row, at left, there are a couple of potential Little Bo Peeps, and the Knave of Hearts is carrying a tart right in the centre).

Towards the front there are two boys dressed in costumes of more topical interest: the young lad on the left is a miner, complete with pit helmet (presumably like his Dad), while the one on the right wears a hastily constructed "V" for Victory costume (with the rank of corporal, perhaps like his Dad), and brandishes a Union Jack. Perhaps readers can spot some other characters in the crowd.

By the way, the large vehicle in the background is a Trent bus, a couple of which appeared in a previous Photo-Sleuth article.


Crowds on VJ day, Auckland, 15 August 1945
B&W Still from Weekly Review 208. National Film Unit, 1945
(click image to see the full video)
Image courtesy of Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand
By way of contrast, these celebrations seem rather restrained compared with those that took place in countries surrounding the Pacific Ocean.

News of Japan's surrender following the dropping of two atom bombs was received in New Zealand at 11 a.m. on 15 August 1945. Sirens sounded immediately, and before long streamers were unfurled, and there were bands playing and people dancing in the streets.

Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand

Crowds on VJ day, Willis Street, Wellington, 15 August 1945
B&W film negative by John Pascoe
Image courtesy of Alexander Turnbull Library

There were parades, bands playing, thanksgiving services, bonfires, dances and community sports. Once more the beer flowed, and there were streamers, whistles and dancing in the streets. Again there were two days' public holiday ... In Auckland, where there were few organised events, the city went out to enjoy itself the moment the factory whistle sounded. At first it was simply people drinking, dancing and scattering confetti. Then some rowdy people began throwing bottles. Windows were smashed, and people were hurt. By the evening, 51 people had been taken to hospital and 15 tons of glass lay in the roads.

New Zealand History online

"The Kiss," Times Square, New York, 15 August 1945
B&W photograph by Alfred Eisenstaedt
Image © Alfred Eisenstaedt—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
And of course there was plenty of kissing.

References

McGibbon, Ian (2012) Second World War - Final victory, from Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand

Crowds on VJ day, Willis Street, Wellington, Pascoe, John Dobree, 1908-1972 :Photographic albums, prints and negatives, Ref: 1/4-001830-F, Alexander Turnbull Library.

Victory over Japan (VJ) Day, from New Zealand History online

V-J Day, 1945 - A Nation lets Loose, from Life.Time.com

Sailor, nurse from iconic VJ Day photo reunited, from CBS

Sepia Saturday 145: Who was Percy Bird?

Another spell working in Guadalcanal has sadly kept me from contributing regularly to Sepia Saturday. I'll just make this one because I have an image that I "prepared earlier" but, for some forgotten reason, failed to post at the time.

My offering to you this week is a large format print, mounted on card measuring roughly 6" x 4" (107 x 150mm), although the original size might have been slightly larger since it has been, as Spike Milligan might have put it, "ruefully" trimmed. The informal group portrait depicts a football team (albeit one player is missing), complete with referee, coach and a couple of hangers on in overcoats, who obviously have more managerial or proprietary roles. They are arranged against what appears to be the wooden back wall of a shed with a corrugated iron roof, of rather rough construction.

The referee at far right has a whistle in his right hand, and his left hand is placed in his hip pocket, pulling aside his jacket to reveal fob chains, no doubt holding the all important time piece.

The main in light coloured shirt who I assume is the coach appears to have a piece of paper in his right hand, and something else in his left, although I cannot make out the latter (my wife suggests it may be a cigarette). He's the only one of the fourteen who appears even remotely pleased with the team's performance ...

... so perhaps the diminutive size of the silver cup balanced on top of the football is an indication that they came second.

The back of the card mount is inscribed in pencil:

DURHAM
Percy Bird
BROW 3RD FROM LEFT

but I fancy this is not in a hand contemporary with the photograph, which I estimate - from the style of clothing - to have been taken shortly before the Great War, say around 1905-1915.

Percy Bird seems to have had a little more style than the other members of his team, with a fancy spotted tie, but otherwise does not seem particularly remarkable. I've been spectacularly unsuccessful in unearthing anything about a Durham football player named Percy Bird, so perhaps his appearances were limited to the amateur field.

Purchased on eBay at roughly the same time, and possibly - although not necessarily - from the same original collection, was another card-mounted print (95 x 140mm on 113 x 152mm) of a football player. His striped shirt very closely matches that of the team pictured above, but it may well have been a common design. He is standing against a brick-and-stone wall, but there are no clues as to who he might have been or where he was from. I can't match his face to any of the players in the group photograph.

Perhaps some kind reader who is a soccer fan will be able to deduce more in due course, but for the moment I'm going to call it a day and suggest that, for further sporting antics and guaranteed entertainment, you head over to Sepia Saturday.

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 128: The Mikado

This week's Sepia Saturday theme gives me an opportunity to show off another eBay purchase, one which would have had a lot more relevance to my great-grandfather Charles Vincent Payne (1868-1941) than to myself.


This silver gelatin print mounted on thick white card with an embossed rectangular frame was an unusual purchase for me, as I know nothing about operatic musicals and, to be honest, am not particularly partial to them either. However, I am intrigued by the late Victorian fascination with all things Oriental, including The Mikado written by Gilbert and Sullivan and first produced at the Savoy Theatre by the D'Oyly Carte Company in March 1885.


I believe this group of nine young ladies dressed to the oriental nines, bedecked with fans and a multitude of hair ornaments, must be participating in the chorus for a performance, possibly amateur rather than professional, of "The Mikado." The group portrait appears to have been taken by photographer Henry Spink of Brighton on a visit to the performance venue, since the background includes appropriately painted oriental scenes.


The Mikado, Three Little Maids from School
Publicity poster for New York production, 1885
Image courtesy of Wikipedia
Their costumes are very similar to those shown in a poster for one of the professional D'Oyly Carte productions, depicting the "Three Little Maids from School."


Three Little Maids, London 1885
Image courtesy of Wikipedia
The Three Little Maids - in this case, the actresses Sybil Grey, Leonora Braham and Jessie Bond - are also shown in this photograph from the first D'Oyly Carte performance at the Savoy Theatre. Whether the painted scene is a theatre prop from the actual performance or a specially prepared studio backdrop is unknown.


Three Little Maids, c.1885
Tintype by unidentified U.S. photographer (5.7 x 8.4 mm)
Image courtesy of The American Museum of Photography
The instant success of the opera, even across the Atlantic, is demonstrated by this tintype from the mid- to late 1880s (courtesy of The American Museum of Photography), also showing the "Three Little Maids" in a pose which was widely emulated for advertising purposes. In this case, the painted backdrop seems to be a generic, rather then specifically oriental scene.


Advertising Card for the Tricora Corset, c.1885
Chromolithograph, by unidentified artist
Image courtesy of The American Museum of Photography
A delightful card for The Tricora Corset is a typical example of the advertising produced with this theme.


Geraldine Ulmar as "Yum-Yum," The Mikado, 1886
Cabinet card by B.J. Falk of New York
Image courtesy of the New York Public Library
Photographers also made full use of the commercial possibilities, such is in this "paper moon" style of cabinet card portrait by celebrity hunter B.J. Falk picturing Geraldine Ulmar, one of the cast in the original 5th Avenue D'Oyly Carte production which ran from August 1885 to April 1886. She also appears as the central figure in the "Three Little Maids from School" poster.


David Simkin's thoroughly researched work on the Spink family of photographers from Brighton very usefully includes a dated list of studio addresses. This suggests that Henry Spink Junior operated from 109 Western Road, Brighton from 1896 to 1934, but that his portraits show the name "Henry Spink" - as opposed to "Henry Spink (junior)" or "Spink (Brighton) Limited" - only from 1911 to 1921. It seems likely to me that this group portrait is from the early, pre-War part of that period, say between 1911 and 1914.


The Mikado 1904 by the Leicester Amateur Music & Dramatic Society
Image © and courtesy of Alan Craxford
By the turn of the century - perhaps even earlier - The Mikado was being performed by amateur dramatic societies. Alan Craxford has written about his grandfather's involvement with local amateur dramatic society in Leicester in the 1920s and early 1930s, and includes a programme for a performance of The Mikado in April 1904 which he surmises that his grandfather may have attended.

It seems likely that after the Second Savoy repertory season from April 1908 to March 1909, a revival of interest may have led to increased amateur performance of the opera throughout the United Kingdom. I haven't yet found documentation of such a performance in Brighton, but I'm sure that if there was one, the records will appear on the net eventually. In fact, Brighton hosted the first provincial production of The Mikado in July 1884, a little more than a year after its original debut.


Charles Vincent Payne in costume, c.1894
Cabinet card by Pollard Graham, Derby
Image © and collection of Brett Payne
My great-grandfather, shown here in what I assume was one of his theatrical get-ups, might have had quite a different life had he chosen to take up a reputed offer of a contract with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company. As it was, he worked as a coach builder, a builder and a grocer, then was in business as an estate agent for much of his working life in Derby, but many of his leisure hours were taken up with amateur singing and dramatics (see Whistling Bird, the Arizona Cowboy and the Disappearing Lady).

Join Sophie Tucker with her "I Can't Get Enough Of Your Love," and other such entertaining stories - head over to Sepia Saturday for this week's smorgasbord.