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A late Victorian enlargement
Liverpool & Bootle Police Orphanage query My mother and her three siblings were placed in the Liverpool & Bootle Police Orphanage in the 1920s after their father died, and I would love to hear if any of readers had relatives who were there during the time it was open. Thank you.
Q This particular photo, which I think dates to c.1880-1890, does not look ‘right’! To me it looks as though the body has been ‘put on’ after the photo was taken; the line of buttons is out of perspective, to my eye, and the left and right shoulders are out of kilter with each other – her left shoulder does not even join her neck at the back and you can see the original shoulder line underneath. I feel that the ‘rose’ looks very false too. Am I reading things wrong or would you say that this photo has been tampered with? Does everything look OK to you?
Vivienne Cliff [If you are able to help Vivienne, please email helen.t@familytree.co.uk and she will forward your correspondence]
Jayne Shrimpton is a professional dress historian and ‘photo detective’, photograph consultant for TV series ‘Who Do You Think You Are?’ and her books include ‘Tracing Your Ancestors Through Family Photographs’. jayneshrimpton.co.uk
Duncan Jack
A Judging from its appearance, it is an enlarged, heavily re-touched photograph –a format that was apparently especially popular in the later 1800s, as exemplified here. Indeed, what we can see of the style of the lady’s dark costume displaying a tight-fitting, front-fastening bodice with narrow sleeves and closed neckline showing a glimpse of white collar, and her ornate day cap suggest a date in the 1880s, so your estimate was spot on.
Mike Sharpe is a professional genealogist, writer and lecturer specialising in Birmingham and the Midlands, and runs the Writing the Past research service. He is a member of the Society of Genealogists and several family history societies. His latest book, Tracing Your Birmingham Ancestors, is published by Pen & Sword. Visit Mike’s website at www.writingthepast.co.uk.