Very Old Family History Photographs

[CharlieOneSix]

I don't know whether there will be any interest in this thread but here goes for starters. My paternal grandparents' wedding 101 years ago on 13 April 1914 at St Anne's Church, Brondesbury, London, NW. What photos have you got....?

[CharlieOneSix]

My Grand Uncle - emigrated to Australia on his own at age 18 in 1909, joined the Australian Army in 1914 at the beginning of WW1, trained in Egypt then was sent to Gallipoli and later to France. Survived both and died in 1964 in Winton, Queensland.

[om15]

This could develop into a very interesting thread, I have a couple of old photos



This is William Treadwell, my great, great Grandfather, with his daughter Lizzi and her son Percy, the two girls at the back are possibly the maids
(more than likely there to register affluence rather than a lasting memento) .
The Treadwell family were quite well off in the late 19th centaury, they owned property, land, watercress beds and the village shop in Childrey, Berkshire, however due to an agricultural slump, bad management and the First World War the fortunes disappeared and subsequent generations did not benefit from this.

William Treadwell and Family 1905.jpg (148.9 KiB) Viewed 1552 times

This is my paternal grandmother Winifred in 1916 or so, aged 15, she later went on to raise a family in the 20's and 30's in rural Berkshire. In the Second World War she had two sons and her husband in the Army and her daughter in the Navy. She lived in to her nineties and was a very eccentric and strong minded lady.

Winifred.jpg (134.52 KiB) Viewed 1552 times

[probes]

Old photos certainly have very specific fascination!
I'll have to dig a little, too. A great idea for a thread.

[CharlieOneSix]

Love Winifred's photo! She looks as though she's ready for The Mikado -"Three little maids from school are we......."

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

I think this is 1930's. Some maternal Great-Uncles were in the Fish business on the East Coast. They rented out their truck at weekends, suitably hosed down and dressed up, for weddings, and very popular it was too!
Their big breakthrough was one of them taking the trip across to America (which cost all their savings) to visit the Birds-Eye plant. He memorised the entire freezing process, then replicated it in their own works back in England. They ended up very rich indeed, though it was very hard work for much of the time. Many are unaware that deep sea fishing, even in peacetime, was more dangerous than being in the trenches in the Great War.

I have some older stuff, but not the accompanying notes - I'll try to fix that.

[Capetonian]

Unfortunately all our old family photographs, at least those that survive, show my late mother's ghastly and unspeakable barbarian relatives. My father had the wisdom and decency to spare us photos of his side of the family.

[Airborne Aircrew]

My great grandfather Walter, Great Grandmother Eliza and my Grandfather James in about 1903. Walter was in the Lancashire Fusiliers and later fought, (and survived), at Paschendaele.



Walter on the Cricket team, (front left).



Grandfather James and Grandmother Doris' wedding 0n the 24th December 1927. The stern looking lady is Great Aunt Mary, the young lad is Doris' nephew and the chap on the right is the best man A. C. North.



James with my father, Ken, (left) and Uncle Alan on holiday somewhere, probably 1941.

[Sisemen]

The first set are of my maternal grandfather - firstly taken in 1909 when he was a 15 year old apprentice joiner at the Great Northern Railway Doncaster locomotive works. The next taken in 1930 with my mother, and aunts. He fell off the perch in 1937 aged 43!! And the final photo is of my paternal grandfather taken sometime towards the end of the Great War

resized WW1.jpg (245.37 KiB) Viewed 1482 times

[CharlieOneSix]

Great photos guys! I have only one more old one which is of a family wedding very early last century. My paternal grandmother is at the front left but sadly I don't definitively know the names of others in the photo although my grandmother's sisters, Rosalind and Nellie, must be the other bridesmaids in the front row. Wish I'd had the interest in family history 40 years ago - no-one left to ask now.

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

The 3 Great Great Uncles, King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry, 1914. Tried to join the East Yorkshire Regiment but were refused as they were deep sea fishermen (reserved occupation). Went to the KOYLI depot next day, lied and were accepted. One was killed on the Somme, the rest made it through. Had plans to evacuate the family to Canada in 1940 using a trawler if the Germans had successfully invaded.



Maternal Grandfather 1942 (second from left, rear rank). Had his application to serve refused as he was a sheet metal worker(reserved occupation). Later accepted as metalworkers were needed to fix Lancasters in Yorkshire, that's why some of the chaps in this photo are somewhat older. Almost posted to Canada but swapped places 4 hours before departure with an oppo who'd got a girl pregnant and needed to disappear rapidly.

(My paternal Grandfather also had his application to serve refused for reserved occupation (electrician), wangled his way into De Havillands via his then employer (Lord Salisbury) and was an electrical foreman at the Mosquito Factory.)



My two cousins and I, 1966. We all live overseas now, two in Canada and one in Australia, a total of 15,000 miles from where this picture was taken. I had a spell in the Forces in Yorkshire too, flying F3's out of RAF Leeming.

Several common themes here!

[Airborne Aircrew]

C16:

Wish I'd had the interest in family history 40 years ago - no-one left to ask now.

... and if you don't document everything you know including memories of your parents someone in your descendants will feel the same too. It's quite easy to follow a line back with dates of birth, marriage and death but it's much harder to put meat on those bones. Personal accounts, photographs, documents etc. may not seem much to you but they can be treasured by a descendant.

While I have large gaps in the meat through the lineage we have back to 1712 we are fortunate to have an entire book written about my great ^5 uncle James and a chapter of another book devoted to my family at the time of my great ^3 Aunt. It still tickles me to think that my great ^6 grandfather was "addicted to intemperance"...

My genealogical documentation can be found here if anyone is interested. Following the characters denoted as "Primary Lineage" follow the line down to my grandfather. That line starts with Abraham (1712).

[CharlieOneSix]

Totally agree with you AA! I started investigating family history a few years ago and now have identified 186 descendants/relations of various sorts going back to my ^4 paternal grandfather Aaron who was born in 1739 and on my mother's side back to my ^5 maternal grandfather Thomas born in 1728. A new name pops up every few weeks or so. My genealogical tree is not in the public domain though. In many cases I have managed to find some 'meat on the bones' as you put it!

I've started writing my own potted history for my descendants - might get it self published for family if I ever finish it and it would have the title "A Rather Scruffy Officer" - that is from my final basic Naval training report at Dartmouth. It's just the old family photos that have me stumped.

[GrumpyOldFart]

Mr Banana - the pic of you and the cousins musta bin taken in Liverpool. Yer headlights 'ave bin stole.

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

Close!
Taken in Fleetwood; doubtless the Thievin' Scouse B@stards were on a Day Trip

[Wodrick]

This is Senior management's Great Great Grandmother Lily May Norman

And this is her dressed for work, she trod the boards. Quite well known we are given to understand. "Maisie Adair"

[Airborne Aircrew]

Wodrick:

Lily May is a bit of a cutie... On my wife's mother's side I raise you Amanda Harp from 1845... A fierce looking old dear...

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

My maternal Great Grandfather, Edward Alexander Stirk, who worked for the shipbuilding firm of CD Holmes in Hull as an Iron Moulder.
This would have been taken around 1900 at the foundry.



An update to the 1914 KOYLI photo earlier (I've found the captions now!)
The Great Great Uncle who was killed died in March 1918 on the Somme during the last German offensive. He has no known grave. The others lived to age 89 and 93 respectively.
Likewise, my paternal Great Uncle died as a Coldstream Guardsman during the crossing of the Rhine in February 1945, and my grandfather lived to age 88. I know he thought of his brother every day.

It's been fascinating tracking down these photos. I've just discovered I am a fourth Generation (at least) Engineer from both my mother's and father's families. Kinda makes sense that I got an engineering degree, my brother became a car mechanic, my eldest sister a stained glass maker and little sis reno's houses.

[Wodrick]

Great, this thread has at least shown me that my backup HDD is broken, woe, woe and thrice woe.

[John Hill]

Wodrick:

Lily May is a bit of a cutie... On my wife's mother's side I raise you Amanda Harp from 1845... A fierce looking old dear...

Amanda was from 1845 or the photograph?