YOUR Q&A
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Photo-dating costume clues
Q I wonder if it would be possible to date these pictures, please. Note the reverse of one of the photos (facing page), which says that the picture can be enlarged to ‘life size’!
An accurate date would help me to place these ancestors on the family tree. My forebears lived in the Great Driffield area of Yorkshire, including Foxholes and Beverley, some being members of the Scruton family, agricultural implement makers of Foxholes. My grandmother used to spend her holidays there, as her mother (Hannah Rebecca Scruton) had been widowed when young. Hannah Rebecca was the daughter of Thomas Scruton, 1841-1918 and Jane (née Holiday), 1839- 1922), my 2x great-grandparents. Elizabeth Wiggins wiggins.a.e@gmail.com
A These two card-mounted studio portraits (photos 1 and 2) are cartes de visite (cdvs), representing the most popular photographic format of the 19th century. As we see from the printed details, they were taken by professional photographer Matthew Boak. His main studio was in Driffield, although he also ran other branches at various times, including Pickering, Bridlington and Malton.
Well-known in the region and prolific in his work, there is even an illustration of his residence and studio at George Street House, Driffield on the useful website ‘Photographers of Great Britain and Ireland, 1840-1940’: www.cartedevisite.co.uk/studios/studios-illustrated/boak-m/
PHOTO 1
Not often do we get to see an image of the building where our ancestors had their photographs taken! The group photograph is rather unusual as it appears to be a mid- Victorian marriage scene comprising several people gathered together inside the studio. During the 1860s and 1870s if newlyweds wanted a wedding photograph, usually the couple visited their local studio following the church ceremony and posed together in a double portrait wearing their ‘Sunday best’ clothes: indoor group scenes including bride, groom and relatives only became common from the 1890s; otherwise pictures of the whole bridal party were taken outdoors.
However, here is a bride, seated, holding a posy, and the groom with his hand on her shoulder, posing alongside an older lady and man, who may be parents, and three younger folk, including a young boy, who could be siblings of either bride or groom.
Photo 1 The bride wears a pale-coloured or white gown and a white headdress in honour of the occasion. Indoor group scenes including bride, groom and relatives only became common from the 1890s – yes, this photo dates from two decades earlie
The style of the bride’s frontbuttoning costume with ornate skirt dates this scene to about 1871-1877. A datespan such as this can be very helpful in matching a photo to a wedding that occurred at that time in the family, and thus identifying those depicted
Your questions answered
Photo 2 The dull material of this ancestor’s gown – probably black – along with her black day cap may well indicate that she is in mourning, so when considering her likely identity expert Jayne Shrimpton suggests a search for an elderly ancestor who lost her husband or another close relative in the late 1860s or early to mid-1870s, to help pinpoint which ancestor is photographed here
Positively a collodian positive
Q Are you able to date these two photos please, which my mother said were family members on my father’s side, although my father did not know who they were?
The photos are on glass. I am guessing they were husband and wife. Many thanks for your help. Janet Robinson janfred1997@gmail.com
A Judging from your description of these pictures as photographs on glass and from what I can see of their appearance in these scans, these are collodion positives or ambrotypes.
UNDERSTANDING E AR LY P HOTO FORMATS
In early 1851, while photography was still evolving and not yet available to a mass market, the new wet collodion photographic process using transparent glass plates was introduced.
The glass plate negative could be used to create positive prints, but most professional portrait photographers adopted a method devised in 1852, which entailed converting the original negative into an apparently positive photograph, by bleaching the image and blacking one side of the glass with black shellac (varnish) or velvet. The resulting glass photographs were often cased or framed for protection: called collodion positives in Britain, they were patented in the United States as ambrotypes and this is the name by which they are now best known.
Reverse of photo 2 When analysing old photos be sure to check the back of the photos. The designs on the back evolved over time – the colours, patterns, motifs etc were all popular in different periods, so help to provide a date around which the photo was printed
Details at the top of the card mention that life-size reproductions of photographs might be made!
Tracing the photographer in trade directories, for instance, can help to deduct when they were in business, and so narrow the time frame in which your ancestor’s photo was taken