What can you tell me about this Edwardian wedding photo?
Q Please could you help with some queries I have about this photo of my grandfather’s wedding in 1911 in Folkestone, Kent. I know the names of most of the family members but unfortunately not their positions in the photo. I can only make a rough guess of their ages, so to help me link them please could you provide more precise age estimates. For example, the man and woman next to the groom I believe may be the groom’s brother (26) and sister (22) but I am simply guessing, as he had four other brothers aged 22-32 and two sisters aged 22 and 32. As for the children, I can only speculate as to their ages. The well-dressed gentleman standing left and well-dressed lady far right seem to me to be out of place with their dress compared to everyone else.
Do you think they held some other position in the wedding and are not relatives? The lady standing next to the bride could be the bride’s mother; the other two ladies perhaps the bride’s sisters. The bride’s father died in 1910 so I guess the two in the middle row are the bride’s grandparents. I assume the lady next to the groom is his mother and the young gentleman next to her another of his brothers: the groom’s father died in 1907.
Michael Marsh
A This is a lovely wedding photograph typical of the year 1911, although in truth there was enormous variation in wedding customs and photographs at that time. That said, many early-20th century country weddings were pictured as outdoor groups, and I am guessing from the rustic-looking surroundings here that bride or groom or both hailed from a rural background.