Sepia Saturday 164 : Wedding group protocols

Once again I'm straying somewhat from the theme of this week's Sepia Saturday image, in that only my first image has anything in common, a military uniform with moustache accessory dating from the Second World War. It gives me an excuse, if I ever needed one, to use scans of a couple of recent purchases by Derbyshire photographers, as well as to dip once again into the archives of Gail Durbin's Flickr photostream (aka lovedaylemon).


Unidentified newly married couple and flower girl, c. early 1940s
Postcard portrait by H.I. Hawkes of 19, Chestnut Ave., Derby
Image © and collection of Brett Payne
The happy couple in this postcard portrait are unidentified, but they also appear in a group wedding portrait, below, that was part of the same eBay purchase, taken by Derby photographer H.I. Hawkes.


Unidentified wedding group, Derbyshire, c. early 1940s
Postcard portrait by H.I. Hawkes of 19, Chestnut Ave., Derby
Image © and collection of Brett Payne
Judging by the groom's uniform and the clothing styles of the other attendees, this was probably taken during the Second World War. From a brief researching of his cap badge and collar dogs, I think he must have been serving with the Royal Engineers.


Postcard portrait from H.I. Hawkes of 19, Chestnut Ave., Derby
Image © and collection of Brett Payne
The back of the postcard is of an unusual, but generic, "K" Kodak design dating from the late 1930s (Playle's list has a similar example from 1936) with Hawke's stamp at upper left indicating that he was operating from 19 Chestnut Avenue, Derby. Since this is, and was then, a residential address of terraced houses, it is likely that he did not have a studio on the premises, perhaps only a processing dark room.


Double wedding of Dorothy Hirst and her brother George, Derbyshire
Postcard portrait by H.I. Hawkes of 19, Chestnut Ave., Derby, early 1944
Image © and courtesy of Marilyn McMillan
Another example of this photographer's work sent to me by Marilyn McMillan also depicts a wedding party, that of the double marriage of sister and brother Dorothy and George Hirst in early 1944. A third Hawke wedding portrait taken at St James' Church, Dairyhouse Road, Derby in early 1951 is shown in a 2008 Derbyshire Telegraph article (This is Derbyshire).

But is not the photographer as much as the subjects of these wedding group portraits that interest me this week. I have spent some time looking at the members of the Royal Engineer's Derby wedding party, trying to decide who was related to whom, and that led to further thoughts on what protocols are prevalent around the positioning of family members in formal wedding group portraits. I suspect that fellow Sepians will have a far better idea of such conventions in their own necks of the woods than I do, so I would welcome any contributions, either by email or as comments at the end of this article.


Unidentified possible wedding group, c. 1864-1866
Carte de visite by John Burton & Sons of Derby
Image © and courtesy of Nigel Aspdin
Photography was used as a technique to capture wedding parties from as early as the 1850s, in the form of daguerreotypes. This format, however, was expensive, and the much cheaper cartes de visite introduced in the 1860s were not really large enough to display large wedding groups effectively. One such portrait by John Burton & Sons shows a large group at Derby in the mid-1860s, but the faces are hardly identifiable, and it's even difficult to pick out the bridal couple with any certainty.


Wedding group at Upper Blakenhall Farm, c.1868-1870
Carte de visite by William Farmer of Barton-under-Needwood
Image © and collection of Brett Payne
Long time devotees of Photo-Sleuth will recognise this portrait of an wedding group as a carte de visite which I discussed almost four years ago in the "Mystery marriage" series. My identification of the couple being married is now under some doubt, the marriage of a younger sister of the suggested bride having been offered as an alternative possibility by a reader and potential family member. However, the location of the portrait - as co-sleuth Nigel Aspdin will be pleased to hear - is probably not, and it is an nice early example of the white bridal gowns popularised by the Queen Victoria and her daughters from the 1840s onwards.


Wedding of William Hodgkiss & Charlotte Stirland, 16 August 1904
Large format mounted print by J.N. Perks of Swadlincote
Image © and courtesy of Ben Hodgkiss
The introduction of the larger cabinet card in the late 1860s helped, but it wasn't until the popularisation of larger format mounted prints in the 1890s and early 1900s that studios commonly produced decent sized prints of large groups, such as this 1904 example by Joseph Perks of Swadlincote, in which people could easily recognise themselves.


Wedding of Louisa Rice and George Storr, 1 July 1914
Postcard portrait by Harold Burkinshaw of New Road, Belper
Image © and courtesy of Robert Silverwood
The postcard format was first used for photographic portraits around the turn of the century, after which it rapidly superseded the carte de visite as the cheapest option available. The increase in size meant that large groups could be accommodated quite comfortably, although the difficulties in coping with lighting conditions indoors meant that formal portraits were taken usually on the steps of the church, or in the garden of the ensuing reception.


Unidentified wedding group, 1925
Postcard portrait by F. Clark of Belper
Image © and courtesy of Adrian Farmer
Even in the slightly less formal garden portraits, there appear to be very definite conventions on the arrangement of people within the group. I conducted a survey of one hundred group portraits from Gail Durbin's huge Vintage weddings Flickr set in which the bride and groom are clearly identifiable, in a wide variety of settings. The groom is placed to the right of the bride (facing the photographer) in 87% of them - in other words, only 1 or 2 out of every 10 arrangements has the groom standing or seated to the bride's left. A similar ratio emerges from an analysis of fifty portraits showing only the wedding couple: 81% have the groom standing to the right of the bride.

An 1893 description of wedding etiquette includes the following:

When the ceremony is performed in church, the bride enters at the left, with her father, mother, and bridesmaids; or, at all events, with a bridesmaid. The groom enters at the right, followed by his attendants. The parents stand behind, the attendants at either side.

My guess is that photographs taken after the ceremony tended to follow the same conventions as those observed inside the church.


Wedding of Charles Leslie Lionel Payne and Ethel Brown, Derby, 1926
Loose amateur 116 (2½" x 4¼") film print
Image © and collection of Brett Payne
This amateur portrait of my grandparents' wedding party, taken in the bride's parents' garden (probably with something like the No 1A Folding Pocket Kodak camera), shows the typical standard convention for small family group wedding shots: the groom's parents are immediately to his right, while the bride's parents are to her left. As is often the case, both mothers are seated.


Wedding of Leslie Falconer and Edith Smith, 1934
Postcard portrait by W.W. Winter of Derby
Image © and courtesy of Kevin Rhodes
This wedding photo and that displayed below, both from the Derby studio of W.W. Winter, were taken indoors. By the mid-20th Century lighting technology was sufficiently advanced such that being indoors no longer presented much difficulty to photographers. Winters in particular had a large, well appointed studio in Midland Road, Derby with modern lighting apparatus and all of their studio portraits were of excellent quality.


Wedding of Fred Garner and Gertrude Trueman, Chaddesden, 1944
Postcard portrait by W.W. Winter of Derby
Image © and courtesy of Kathleen Garner
It may be, however, that the Garner-Trueman portrait was taken in Chaddesden. Winter's photographer Hubert King describes taking wedding portraits "on location" using a hand-held 5" x 4" glass plate Press camera in the 1940s and 1950s (Winter, 1996).


Arrangement of guests in Garner-Trueman wedding group portrait
This photograph is particularly useful as the contributer supplied me with IDs of the entire group, including their relationships to the bride and groom. The recently married couple, with the groom (bright blue) conventionally standing to the right of the bride (bright red), are immediately flanked by a couple who were friends of the bride (pale pink), and presumably acted as best man and maid of honour during the ceremony. Surrounding them are the immediate members of the groom's family, comprising his father and four sisters (light blue), while the bride's parents (pink) have been relegated to the far right of the photograph. More distant members of the grooms family (pale blue) then complete the picture.


Wedding of Arthur Durbin to Hilda Scott, 10 July 1937, Stoke Newington
Unknown format and photographer
Image © and courtesy of Gail Durbin
Gail Durbin has kindly identified several family members in this 1937 photograph of her parents' wedding party.


Arrangement of guests in Durbin-Scott wedding group portrait
The happy couple (bright blue/red) are seated in front of this large group, with the best man and maid of honour (light purple), both friends of the couple, standing immediately behind them. The front row is dominated by the immediate family of the bride (pink), perhaps because both parents of the groom were deceased by this time, although his sister-in-law (light blue) and her children (pale blue) were present.

I should note that it is not unusual to see one spouse's family over-represented in a wedding group. This might have several reasons:

• a subsequent portrait in the series may have included more members of the other spouse's family,
• the under-represented spouse may have come from further afield, making it difficult for family members to attend the wedding, or
• an under-represented family may have been smaller to begin with, or some could have died.

Absence of a particular family member from any group portrait should not, however, be taken to mean that person is deceased. In the double Hirst wedding group by Hawkes above, it would be easy to assume from the absence of the siblings' mother that she was deceased, but this would be incorrect, as Thirza only died in 1951, seven years after the wedding.


Horace Watts Woolley and Phyllis M. Woolley née Hirst, 21 Sep 1942
Postcard portrait by Jerome studio, 26 Victoria Street, Derby
Image © and collection of Marilyn McMillan
After a week of perusing several hundred wedding photos, and dredging up memories of the weddings I've attended in the past, I've come up with some broad guidelines on the conventions around wedding group arrangements. I hope these may assist some researchers in the identification of family members in old wedding photos in their collections. I should note that these conclusions are largely taken from shots of English ceremonies, and may not hold elsewhere. I'd be keen to hear feedback from readers concerning similarities or differences in other parts of the world.

• The first thing to emphasize is that there are no hard and fast rules. As quick as I list a guideline, I find several examples showing something quite different. Quite a few less formal group portraits can be found, in which many or all of the guidelines are ignored.
• The bridge and groom are usually together and central to the group, but may be slightly displaced or even, in some groups, at one side of the group. In 8-9 out of 10 cases, the groom is seated or standing on the bride's right, but a significant number of cases show the reverse. It may be that the latter are mostly among less formal group photos.
• The best man and maid of honour, often friends of either or both the bride and groom, if present in the photo, are usually standing immediately adjacent to or behind them.
• Bridesmaids and flower girls are often standing or seated in the front row, particularly if they are carrying flower bouquets, presumably so that the arrangements are in full view.
• The next closest to the bride and groom, usually in the front row, are their immediate family, including siblings and their spouses, parents and nephews/nieces. Each branch of the family are not necessarily restricted to a single side of the group.
• Children generally stand in front of the adults or are seated on the ground.
• One person's hands on the shoulders of another usually indicates a close relationship.

WOOLLEY-HIRST. - On September 15, 1942, at Alvaston Parish Church, Derby. L/Bdr. Horace Watts Woolley, son of Mr. and Mrs. S. Woolley, of 138, Raynesway, Alvaston, to Phyllis M. Hirst, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. G. Hirst, of 176, Brighton-road, Crewton, Derby.

A final cautionary note concerning dates on portraits which appear to be celebrating weddings: as demonstrated by the example above, the photograph may not have been taken on the day of the wedding. The portrait of Horace and Phyllis Woolley by Jerome studios of Derby is marked on the back with Jerome's usual purple date stamp, in this case Monday 21st September 1942. However, a newspaper cutting also affixed to the back of the portrait shown in the image sent to me by Marilyn McMillan demonstrates that the wedding actually took place at the parish church, Alvaston, near Derby, on Tuesday 15th September, six days earlier. Presumably they didn't have an opportunity for photographs on the day, and paid a visit to the studio a few days later to record their nuptials.

While clothing fashions changed continually, the conventions surrounding seating arrangements appear to have remained much the same over time and, from my own limited experience of weddings, survive largely intact to the present day. I'd be interested in hearing what your impressions are.

References

A Bride and Her Bridesmaids, 1851, by Albert Sands Southworth and Josiah Johnson Hawes, Whole plate daguerreotype, Smithsonian American Art Museum, in The Wedding Story, by Merry Foresta, 2009, The Smithsonian Institution Archives.

Rutherford B. Hayes and his wife on their wedding day, 30 December 1852, b&w film copy neg. of daguerreotype by unidentified photographer, Ref. LC-USZ61-900, Library of Congress.

Wells, Richard A. (1893) Manners, Culture and Dress of the Best American Society in Chapter: Courtship and Marriage, Springfield, Mass.: King, Richardson & Co.

Winter, W.W. Ltd. (1996) The Winter's Collection of Derby, Volume Two, Derby: Breedon Books.

Sepia Saturday 140: Two weddings and a funeral

For my contribution to the Sepia Saturday scrapbook this week, I have delved into my collection of specimens from Derbyshire's longest lived studio, that of W.W. Winter. This group of wedding photos - slavishly following Alan's matrimonial photo prompt - was a recent purchase on eBay and is probably the most recent example that I have from this studio.


Unidentified wedding group, c.1950s
Paper print (156 x 114mm) by W.W. Winter, Derby
The listing naturally caught my eye, or rather eBay's search tool, because of the studio's location, but it also turned out to be an interesting research problem. On the face of it, the wedding portraits offered relatively few clues as to the identities of the subjects. The bride could be in her mid- to late thirties, the groom - with an incipient receding hairline - perhaps a little older, and he is wearing a cassock and dog collar, so presumably an Anglican priest.


Photographic "Wedding" card folder
W.W. Winter Ltd. Midland Road Derby
The series of three 6⅛" x 4½" prints, one showing the wedding party standing outside the church in landscape format, the other two of the bride in portrait format, have their corners inserted in diagonal slits in pre-printed and embossed pale blue card folders (177 x 133mm or 7" x 5¼") with white decorated edging.


Reverse of paper print
Negative number "59165 A," surname "Edwards"
The prints have the standard W.W. Winter signature logo blind stamped in the bottom right, while a negative number and the surname "Edwards" are written in pencil on the reverse.


Reverse of card folder
Inscribed with negative number "59165 A" & surname "Edwards"
The same negative number and surname are inscribed in pencil, albeit apparently a different hand, on the back of the blue card folder.


Unidentified bride, c.1950s
Paper print (114 x 156mm) by W.W. Winter, Derby
The portraits of the bride show her holding the bouquet in a similar position outside the church.


Photographic "Wedding" card folder
Inscribed with surname "Edwards" & Negative number "59167B"
W.W. Winter Ltd. Derby
One of the folders has the pre-printed studio name in a different font, although it is otherwise identical.


Unidentified bride, c.1950s
Paper print (114 x 156mm) by W.W. Winter, Derby

Unidentified bride, possibly "Dordy," c. 2 February 1959
Paper print in embossed card folder
W.W. Winter, Derby
But it is an inscription on the inside cover of the folder housing the third portrait which provided the only clue left by the presumed original owners.

To Lily
with Love
Dordy +
Peter
2.2.1959

I can't be absolutely sure about the name "Dordy," but that's my best guess, based on a comparison with the remainder of the text, e.g. see how the "o" is written in the word "Love."


If I were to have any chance of identifying the subjects, it was clear that I would have to make some deductions, assume they were correct, and test the theory by seeing where that led. So perhaps ...

- the wedding took place on 2 February 1959,
- since it was captured by W.W. Winter, it was most likely taken somewhere near Derby
- "Dordy" was the bride, Peter the groom,
- their married name was Edwards,
- "Dordy" was a pet name, perhaps short for Dorothy or Doreen, and
- she gave the wedding photos to a close friend or relation named Lily.


Unidentified wedding group, c.1950s
Paper print (167 x 119mm) by unknown photographer
The last of these seemed plausible since accompanying the W.W. Winter wedding portraits in the same eBay lot were three further wedding portraits, similar in size and shape, but in plain card folders (with no photographer shown) and obviously a different wedding. However, the bride in these three portraits (above and below) is clearly the same woman who appeared as a bridesmaid in Dordy's group wedding photo.


Unidentified wedding group, c.1950s
Paper print (167 x 119mm) by unknown photographer

In order to find a suitable marriage record for Dordy I turned to FreeBMD, which has to be one of the most useful, and used, free UK genealogical research tools currently available on the net. Although this unofficial database of the GRO Birth, Marriage and Death Index, compiled by voluntary indexers, is not yet complete, the coverage for the 19th Century and first half of the 20th Century is very good, and growing. A quick check of the graphs (or charts if you prefer) for marriages shows that both transcription and validation for 1959 are estimated as complete, which will give us a good degree of confidence that we are likely to be searching a full set of records.


The basic FreeBMD search page has a very simple, and versatile, interface where I inserted the following details of the presumed wedding:

Type: Marriage
(Groom's) Surname: Edwards
(Groom's) First name: Peter
Spouse's First name: Do
Date range: Mar (Qtr) 1959 - Mar (Qtr) 1959
Counties: Derbyshire

N.B. Since I wasn't sure about the bride's first name, I decided to specify only the first two letters. This search engine matches all first names in the database with start with these letters and fit the other specified criteria, i.e. a wildcard after the specified letters is assumed. All other details were left blank.


Searching using these parameters produced a single hit, a marriage entry for one Peter A. Edwards, spouse's surname Sewell, in the Shardlow Registration District (near Derby).


Clicking the GRO Reference Page number gave a list of all the names listed on that page of the register, including that of Peter's bride Doreen N. Sewell.


I then used the FeeBMD Index of birth registrations to look for a Doreen N. Sewell born somewhere in Derbyshire between 1910 and 1930 (assuming that she was in her 30s or early 40s at the time of her marriage. Finding one whose birth was registered in the Belper R.D. in the September Quarter of 1919 (Dordy would have been thirty-nine years old when whe was married), and whose mother's maiden name was NEALE, I was able to search for potential siblings. Indeed there were at least five Sewell sisters (shown above) including, conveniently, the youngest named Lily V.


Unfortunately, searching the FreeBMD marriage index for marriages for a Lily V. Sewell, even without any constraining dates or location, produced not a single hit. However, bearing in mind that her wedding would probably also have taken place in the 1950s (or thereabouts), we already known the coverage for that decade is patchy (we hit lucky with 1959).


I therefore turned to the comprehensive subscriber-only Ancestry database, which was far more successful, turning up a marriage for Lily V. Sewell and Albert H. Young in the Woolwich R.D. (Kent) from the September Quarter of 1952. Lily was apparently married six or seven years earlier than her older sister, when she was thirty-two years old.


The photograph of the happy couple signing the register was of fairly decent quality, so I tried some digital manipulation of a detailed scan (click image above for a more detailed version), in an attempt to decipher the handwriting in the register. Unfortunately, while I think I can make out the name, Lily Victoria Sewell, that's about the extent of it. I sadly haven't been able to determine the name of the parish church, but it is likely to be in one of the parishes of Charlton, Kidbrooke, Plumstead or Woolwich.


So, you might well ask, we've had the two weddings, but where is the funeral? When I was trying to identify as many people as possible who appeared in both wedding parties - can you see Dordy and her husband to be, Peter, in Lily's wedding photo? - there was one man who, although he appears to have taken the place often reserved for the father of the bride, looks too young for that role. Perhaps he's an uncle, or other member of the family? There is an older woman, also present on both occasions, who looks old enough to be Dordy and Lily's mother.

As shown by the above entry in the National Probate Calendar, Walter Edward Sewell of 298 Boulton Lane, Alvaston, Derbyshire (a pig iron carrier by trade) died on 12 July 1948, and was sadly not able to attend either of these two daughters' weddings.

For more weddings, and possibly a funeral or two, try Sepia Saturday's other offerings this week - I can guarantee you'll not be disappointed.

Fearless femmes: great-grandmother Amy

1894-1895 at Derby [1]

She is as impenitent and self-possessed a young lady as one would desire to see among the best behaved of her sex. Her small head and tiny resolute mouth and chin; her haughty crispness of speech and trimness of carriage; the ruthless elegance of her equipment, which includes a very smart hat with a dead bird in it, mark a personality which is as formidable as it is exquisitely pretty. She is not a siren, like Ann: admiration comes to her without any compulsion or even interest on her part; besides, there is some fun in Ann, but in this woman none, perhaps no mercy either: if anything restrains her, it is intelligence and pride, not compassion. Her voice might be the voice of a school-mistress addressing a class of girls who had disgraced themselves, as she proceeds with complete composure and some disgust to say what she has come to say.

Man and Superman, George Bernard Shaw, 1903 [2]

These words could only have written by a man, I suppose, and the language and sentiment are clearly a product of the late Victorian times, but when I read them I thought immediately of this photograph of my great-grandmother Amy Payne née Robinson (1867-1932). The cabinet portrait shown above, pictures her with husband and son (my grandfather Leslie), probably in the garden of their home at 83 St James' Road, Normanton in late 1894 or early 1895.

The historical record, particularly prior to the 20th Century, often left far fewer clues to the details of our female ancestors' lives than for their menfolk, and this is certainly the case with Amy. I've written previously of my great-grandfather Charles Vincent Payne (1868-1941) on Photo-Sleuth, including a piece about his musical abilities, but I've hardly mentioned his wife Amy and should remedy that.

In the United States, March is National Women's History Month, and to celebrate this, Lisa Alzo (The Accidental Genealogist) has reprised her month's worth of blogging prompts, Fearless Females. It's a good opportunity not only to write about female ancestors, fearless or not, but to think about what records, memories and, in particular, photographs remain to provide the clues which can tell us something about their lives.


1926 at Derby [3]
In my family photos there are at least a dozen images which include Charles Vincent, but only four in which his wife Amy appear, and I suspect this three-to-one male to female imbalance would not be unusual in other collections from that era. The small print shown above (109 x 69 mm or 4¼" x 2¾") is the only one showing her as an older woman, pictured seated at front left on the occasion of my grandparents' wedding in 1926. She died only six years later, at the age of sixty-five, when my Dad and his sister were four years and eight months old, respectively. As a result, neither of them had or have any memory of her at all. However, my Dad did tell me that his father was very fond of his mother Amy and, after her second son Harold Victor died in May 1921, he abandoned his job as a clerk at Eaton's Department store in Winnipeg, returning home from Canada to be a comfort to her [4].


9 Lower Forester Street, Derby [5]
Amy Robinson was born at 42 William Street, in the parish of St Alkmund, Derby, on 28 February 1867, where her father Daniel was a police constable [6]. She was baptised at the parish church a few weeks later on 7 April [7]. By 1871 they had moved to 9 Lower Forester Street, in St Werburgh's parish [8], and between 1876 and 1879 they moved again to 74 Fleet Street, Litchurch [9].


c.1885-1888 at Derby [10]
I don't know where Amy went to school, but she must have been bright. By the time of the census in April 1891, she was 24 years old and working as a commercial clerk [11]. I believe she must have been the first female member of her family to work in a profession heretofore normally reserved for men.


c.1887-1889 at Skegness [12]
She certainly looked a self assured young woman when she was in her late teens and early twenties, whether visiting a Derby photographic studio [10] or promenading with a stylish parasol and high velvet round hat with a huge bow in Skegness [12].


On the ocean steamship landing, Liverpool [13]
On the 18th May she married Charles Vincent Payne at the parish church of St Thomas [14], and a week later they departed from Liverpool aboard the S.S. Nova Scotian for Baltimore [15]. With her predilection for headgear, she would not have been out of place amongst these fashionable ladies on the Landing Stage at Liverpool. Accompanying the newly married couple were Charles' younger brother Frank who, although only 17, had been working as a junior clerk at the Derby Union Poor Law Offices. Their intention was to join another brother Charles Hallam in Chicago. He had been working for the Pullman Car Company for some months and presumably Charles Vincent hoped to take advantage of his experience as a joiner [16] and carriage finisher [17]. Things did not quite go according to plan, and it may be that Mr. Pullman was not quite the employer Hallam had thought he was ... the story that Uncle Hallam told about their escapades is recounted in a previous Photo-Sleuth article, Whistling Bird, the Arizona Cowboy & the Disappearing Lady [18].


East 111th Street & Curtis Avenue, Roseland, Chicago [19]
Amy is hardly mentioned and I have no idea whether she managed to find a job, although it seems unlikely. Not long after their arrival she, as might be expected, fell pregnant, and on 9th April 1892 gave birth to my grandfather Charles Leslie Lionel at 10810 Curtis Avenue, Roseland, Chicago [20]. Curtis Avenue subsequently became South Edbrooke Avenue, and Google Maps' Street View shows a neighbourhood that has, sadly, seen better days (check out this boy doing a handstand for the Street View camera) [21]. In the 1890s and early 1900s, however, with the jobs and affluence created by the nearby Pullman works, it was a good deal more salubrious, as the view by Roseland photographer H.R. Koopman above demonstrates [19]. All three of the men eventually found jobs as carpenters at the site of the Chicago World's Fair, or to give it it's proper name, The World's Columbian Exposition, where they worked in the construction of the dome of the Horticultural Building [22,23].


Charles Leslie Lionel Payne, c. October 1892, Chicago [24]
It seems likely that Amy took the infant Leslie to Koopman's studio, situated only a few blocks away at 11104 Michigan Avenue (corner of 11th) [25], for this tintype portrait, shortly before they left Chicago in mid-November. Why did they go home after being there only eighteen months? It could have been a paucity of work. Perhaps the bulding work was over, and more jobs were hard to come by? It is possible that there was already some intimation amongst employers of the Panic of 1893 [26], with resulting layoffs. On the other hand, it may be that Amy'd had enough of the big, unfriendly, windy city, and couldn't face another harsh Chicago winter with a small child to look after, and little spare money for the small comforts.


Payne family grocery/off-licence, 83 St James' Road, Normanton [27]
Whatever the reason for their return, they arrived home in England on 30th November 1892 [28]. For the first couple of years they lived at the house where the Payne boys had grown up (Charles Vincent's parents and younger siblings moving into a much large property further up the road), and where they took over the running of the family grocery and off-licence [9,29]. By 1896 Hallam had taken over the grocery, they had moved into a house across the road, and Amy's husband described himself as an estate agent [9,30]. Amy gave birth to her second son Harold Victor at this house (17 Hastings Street) on 4th January 1898.


139 St James' Road, Normanton [31]
Around 1903, with their two boys growing, they moved again to the big house (number 139, also known as "The Hollies") at the end of the road, recently vacated by the Paynes senior, who had semi-retired to Sunny Hill [32]. After Henry Payne died in 1907, however, the Sunny Hill residence was left to Charles Vincent's sister Lucy Mary and her husband, then recently married, while their mother Henrietta moved back into The Hollies [33].


154 Almond Street, Normanton [34]
Amy, her husband and the two boys moved into what must then have been a newly built house nearby at 154 Almond Street, where they were shown living in April 1911 [35] and where they would remain for twenty years. In early September 1912, Amy's elder son Leslie left home for a new life in Canada, intending to work as a storekeeper in Wolseley, Saskatchewan [36,37].


Note of marriage date, Amy's handwriting, c.1914-15 [38]
Two years later, after war had broken out, in November 1914 Leslie enlisted in the Canadian Expeditionary Force, and around that time Amy made some notes regarding marriage and birthdates at her brother-in-law Hallam's request. This scrap of paper may be the only example left of Amy's handwriting [38].


Constance May Hogg, Christmas 1913 [39]
Leslie was at the Front in France by late 1915, and spent most of the war with the Canadian Machine Gun Corps, returning to marry a neighbourhood girl Connie Hogg in November 1917 [40]. By mid-1918 Harold had joined up too with the British Tank Corps [41], but in early September came the news that Leslie had been seriously wounded, with a machine gun bullet lodged in his left shoulder [42]. After an operation to remove the bullet was successful [43], he spent the rest of September and the early part of November recuperating, before being discharged on the 14th October [44]. Leslie arrived at his parents' home during the peak of the Spanish Flu epidemic only to find Connie ill, and a few days later she died [45,46].


Postcard written by Harold Victor Payne to Amy [47]
Leslie returned to Canada where he was discharged in February 1919. Harold, even though the war was over, was serving in the British Army of the Rhine (B.A.O.R.) and wrote the following on a postcard sent home to his mother in late November 1919:

Dear Mam,
I am at present in Cologne awaiting demob guess I shan't be long now. I am quite well & hope both you and dad are the same. Must catch this post. Best love & Xs from Harold.

Harold Victor Payne, wounded soldiers, c.1919 [48]
This photograph, also sent by Harold to his mother, must have caused some worry. It bears the following caption on the reverse: "Woulded soldiers. Ive met 'em, Yes sir." while another in the same sequence states, "I look pretty thin Eh!"

Harold died in May 1921 and, as stated previously, my grandfather returned to Derby shortly after, marrying and producing two grandchildren for Amy before she died on 22nd March 1932.

The course of most of my female ancestors' lives, apart from bare bones of "vital statistics" dates (birth-baptism-census-marriage-children-death), appear from the documentary records to consist largely of what their menfolk were doing. To a great extent, this may be a fairly accurate representation of what their lives were like. In other words, their day-to-day activities were full of the usual household- and child/family-related activities, but the overall course was largely dictated by the careers, movements and interests of their husbands. Sadly, though, this tells me very little of their personalities and, without first hand accounts, writing about them properly remains a very difficult task.


Perhaps there's a hoard of personal ephemera of Amy's somewhere which has yet to be revealed, but I think it's very unlikely. The members of my family who've taken on the reponsibility of collecting, preserving and handing down family documents, photographs and ephemera have often been male and, perhaps as a result, the subject matter has been reflected by their views on what was important to keep. For the moment she will remain, at least to me, the "self-possessed young lady ... [wearing] a very smart hat with a dead bird in it."

References

[1] Photographic portrait of Payne family group (Amy Payne née Robinson, Leslie Payne and Charles Vincent Payne), Cabinet card (109 x 165 mm)) by A. & G. Taylor of 63 London Road, Derby, probably taken c. late 1894-early 1895 at 83 St James' Road, Normanton, Derby, Collection of Brett Payne.

[2] Excerpt from "Man and Superman," by Bernard Shaw, Penguin Books, 1946, p.85-86.

[3] Photographic portrait of wedding party (Charles Leslie Lionel Payne, Ethel Brown, and parents), by unknown photographer, Silver gelatin print (109 x 69 mm) on Velox paper, dated (on the reverse) Sept. 20. 1926 and taken in the garden at 121 Crewe Street, Normanton, Derby, Collection of Brett Payne.

[4] Payne, Brett (2003) Fifty Years of Payne Journeys to North America, 1919-1921 : Final Years in Winnipeg.

[5] View of 9 Lower Forester Street, Derby, Courtesy of Google Maps Street View

[6] Certified copy of an Entry of Birth for Amy Robinson, 28 Feb 1867, Extracted 22 May 1914, [Photocopy] Collection of Brett Payne.

[7] Baptism of Amy Robinson, St Alkmund, Derby, 7 April 1867, International Genealogical Index (IGI), Batch No. K055374, LDS Family Search.

[8] 1871 Census of 9 Lower Forester Street, Derby St Werburgh, Derbyshire, England, 2 April 1871, The National Archives Ref. RG10-3572-26-10-57, UK Census Collection, Ancestry.co.uk

[9] Derby Electoral Registers, 1868-1900, Derbyshire County Record Office, Matlock, Derbyshire, Microfilmed by LDS Church, FHL Film Nos. 2081839-41, 2081818-22, 2081961.

[10] Photographic portrait of Amy Payne née Robinson, Carte de visite (presumed, size not recorded) by A. & G. Taylor of 57 London Road, Derby, probably taken c.1885-1888 in the Derby studio, Collection of Brett Payne.

[11] 1891 Census of 74 Fleet Street, Litchurch, Derby, Derbyshire, England, 5 April 1891, The National Archives Ref. RG12-2733-127-18-112, UK Census Collection, Ancestry.com.

[12] Photographic portrait of Amy Payne née Robinson, Carte de visite (presumed, size not recorded) by Charles Smyth, Lumley Studio, Skegness, probably taken c.1887-1890 in the Skegness studio, Collection of Brett Payne.

[13] On the ocean steamship landing, Liverpool, England, Stereocard photograph by Underwood & Underwood, No. 193, Collection of Brett Payne.

[14] Copy of marriage certificate for Charles Vincent Payne & Amy Robinson, 18 May 1891, St Thomas, Derby, [Photocopy] Collection of Brett Payne.

[15] Passenger list for the S.S. Nova Scotian, Departing from Liverpool for Baltimore, 26 May 1891, Passenger Lists Leaving UK 1890-1960, FindMyPast.co.uk

[16] 1891 Census of 1 Pear Tree Street, Litchurch, Derby, Derbyshire, England, 5 April 1891, The National Archives Ref. RG12-2735-67-25-157, UK Census Collection, Ancestry.com.

[17] Passenger list for the S.S. Nova Scotian, Arriving at Baltimore from Liverpool, 10 June 1891, Baltimore Passenger Lists 1820-1948, Ancestry.com

[18] Payne, Brett (2009) Whistling Bird, the Arizona Cowboy & the Disappearing Lady, Photo-Sleuth blog.

[19] East 111th Street & Curtis Avenue, Roseland, Chicago, Postcard by H.R. Koopman, 1906, Collection of Illinois Digital Archives.

[20] Report of Birth for Charles Leslie Lionel Payne, Vital Statistics Department, County Clerk's Office, Cook County, 17 November 1931, Copy taken from microfilm of original record, Family History Library, Salt Lake City (Courtesy of Frank Wattleworth), Collection of Brett Payne.

[21] View of 10810 South Edbrooke Avenue, Roseland, Chicago, Courtesy of Google Maps Street View

[22] Payne, Brett (2003) Fifty Years of Payne Journeys to North America, 1890-1892 : Chicago, Pullman & the Worlds Fair.

[23] World's Columbian Exposition, Wikipedia.

[24] Portrait of Charles Leslie Lionel Payne, c. October 1892, Chicago, Sixthr-plate tintype (64.5 x 90 mm), by unidentified photographer (possibly Henry Ralph Koopman of 11104 Michigan Avenue, Roseland, Chicago)

[25] Chicago Photographers, 1847 through 1900, Chicago Historical Society, 1958.

[26] Panic of 1893, Wikipedia.

[27] Photograph of Payne family grocery/off-licence, 83 St James' Road, Normanton, Paper print (138 x 87.5 mm), taken c.1910 by unknown photographer, Collection of Barbara Ellison.

[28] Passenger list for the S.S. Circassian, Arriving at Liverpool from Montreal, 30 November 1892, UK Incoming Passenger Passenger Lists 1878-1960, Ancestry.co.uk

[29] Kelly's 1895 Directory of Derbyshire, [microfiche] Derbyshire Family History Society.

[30] Kelly's 1899 Directory of Derbyshire, Historical Directories, University of Leicester.

[31] View of 139 St James' Road, Normanton, Derby, Courtesy of Google Maps Street View

[32] Cook's 1903/4 Derby and District Directory, Derby Local Studies Library, Courtesy of Paul Slater.

[33] 1911 Census of The Hollies, 139 St James' Road, Normanton, Derby, Derbyshire, England, 2 April 1891, The National Archives Ref. RG14-20-9-35-20935_0001_03, England & Wales Census Records 1841-1911, FindMyPast.co.uk

[34] View of 154 Almond Street, Normanton, Derby, Courtesy of Google Maps Street View

[35] 1911 Census of 154 Almond Street, Normanton, Derby, Derbyshire, England, 2 April 1891, The National Archives Ref. RG14-20-9-32-20932_0373_03, England & Wales Census Records 1841-1911, FindMyPast.co.uk

[36] Passenger list for the S.S. Virginian, Departing from Liverpool for Quebec, 12 September 1912, Passenger Lists Leaving UK 1890-1960, FindMyPast.co.uk

[37] Passenger list for the S.S. Virginian, Arriving at Quebec from Liverpool, 23 September 1912, Canadian Passenger Lists 1865-1935, Ancestry.ca

[38] Handwritten notes made by Charles Hallam Payne and Amy Payne, c.1914-15, Collection of Brett Payne.

[39] Photograph of Constance May Hogg, Christmas 1913, Postcard format (89 x 140 mm), unidentified photographer, Collection of Barbara Ellison.

[40] Copy of marriage certificate for Charles Leslie Lionel Payne and Constance May Hogg, St Paul, Boughton, Cheshire, 30 November 1917, Collection of Brett Payne.

[41] Medal Roll Index Card for Harold V. Payne 315778, British Army WWI Medal Rolls Index Cards, 1914-1920, Ancestry.co.uk

[42] Casualty Form - Active Service for Sgt Leslie Payne, 1989 (Army Form B.103), CEF Service Records, Library & Archives of Canada.

[43] Medical Case Sheet for Sgt Leslie Payne, 1989 (Army Form I.1237), CEF Service Records, Library & Archives of Canada.

[44] Casualty Report Card for Sgt Leslie Payne, 1989, CEF Service Records, Library & Archives of Canada.

[45] 1918 Flu Pandemic, Wikipedia

[46] Copy of death certificate for Constance May Hogg, 154 Almond Street, New Normanton, Derby, 20 October 1918, Collection of Brett Payne.

[47] Commercial Real Photo Postcard (of two young girls, publisher unknown, 85.5 x 135 mm) sent by Harold Payne (Cologne) to Amy Payne (Derby), dated 22-11-19 & postmarked 23 Nov 19, Collection of Brett Payne.

[48] Photograph of wounded soldiers, including Harold Victor Payne, c.1919, by unidentified photographer (81.5 x 55.5 mm, roughly trimmed), Collection of Barbara Ellison.