I decided to take a day off from the pastures of D'Oyly Carteland today, so I dipped into ebay and snatched out a handful of old cartes de visite ... I was going wandering in parages unknown ... hopefully not too often to India. Here they are, with the little I could find out about each one ...
This one I couldn't resist. Quelle grande dame!
Well, that's exactly what she was. The Baroness Congleton, third wife (m 21 February 1867) of the defunct John Vesey Parnell, Lord Congleton. She was born Margaret Ormerod (19 July 1827; d 53 Great Cumberland Place 1 November 1910), daughter of Charles Ormerod. He was the son of Sir Henry Parnell, who hanged himself by his handkerchief in a fit of depression in 1842. The various Peerage books will doubtless give all the details.
This photo was taken in 1901 when Margaret was .. hrrpmph ... exactly the age that I am now....
I couldn't resist this one either. Boys will be girls! Perhaps a school play ...
Well, I can't track down affectionate 'Wally' (who makes by far the better girl), but Raymond James Barnett Lilwall (b Linton, Herefordshire 27 May 1901; d Yeovil 1993) is no trouble. Son of James Barnett Lilwall (1868-1927), farmer, and his wife, Emily Mary; married Ann Hobby in 1931, career: schoolmaster. I hope none of his pupils got hold of this photo ...
So, what? Thirteen or so years old? That would make the photo mid-sixties. And Liverpool. There is nothing on this sweet little photo to tell us who and where this lassie may be, but the vendor tells us that it is Miss Josephine Crosfield.
I believe him, but when folk post images they need to post their proof of identification (particularly the verso of the photo) as well. So, Josephine Crosfield (b Edge Lane, Liverpool 20 January 1851; d 120 Croydon Rd, Reigate 21 December 1940), daughter of a Quaker tea dealer, Joseph Crosfield and his wife Elizabeth née Backhouse. In 1881, she married Quaker barrister, international lawyer, anti-opium crusader and pacifist, Joseph Gundry Alexander, had four children, is living in Tunbridge Wells in 1911 ...
One of those sons, Wilfred Backhouse Alexander (1885-1965) became a well-known zoologist and ornithologist, and another, Horace Gundry Alexander (1889-1981) became an Indian expert and Gandhi-man (he also wrote about birdwatching) and published a biography of his father ... I guess Josephine is in there.
Now comes a bit of a puzzle. From one dealer comes a whole heap of photos, nearly all taken in Leamington, Warwicks. Alas, almost all of them are unlabelled. But one is. 'Miss Hammond 81 Wimpole Street'. Photographed, however, in Leamington. On holiday?
No. She was not on holiday. Leamington was home. But father had briefly taken a house near Cavendish Square, and I caught him there. Major Augustus Mark (occasionally vice versa) Hammond. Gent. Son of Peter Hammond army officer'. Captain then Major in the Royal Sherwood Foresters militia. Married Sophia Frances Hobson 1864, resigned commission 1875. By which time he was father of a daughter, Louisa Mildred Bateson Hammond (b Milverton, Warwicks 30 August 1866; d Paddington 6 February 1949). Our Miss Hammond. Soon to be Mrs Hammond. She married a cousin, [Colonel] Peter Henry Hammond of the Royal Artillery, and lived the life of an officer's wife until he retired. They had three children: Peter Mark Barkly Hammmond (b 18 January 1895), Henry Mark and Mildred Louisa ...
Amongst the little Leamington bundle are what I suspect may be Louisa's extended family ....
and one which is defitely connected. This young man has dedicated the card to 'Mrs Hammond' from 'W M'.
Which Mrs Hammond? Oh! is it H M? (see next picture).
But the puzzle don't stop there. The same bundle has one more signed picture. Hugh Hole. What does he have to do with the Hammonds? And then I came on a presentation list for Buckingham Palace. Louisa Mildred making her 'debut' at court. Her sponsor is Mrs Hole. So there is a connection. Of family or of friendship.
Hugh Marshall Hole (b Tiverton 15 May 1865; d 5 Collingham Gardens 18 May 1941), son of Charles Marshall Hole, attorney, and Eliza Mary late Hillier. Balliol College, Oxford, 'company director'. 'Lieutenant Colonel'. 'Civil Commissioner and Government represenative, Bulawayo'. Married (1) Ethel Brickman (2) Olive Mary Bolus or Torin or Martin. Goodness, what's this? Two more photos of Hugh. Someone must have been fond of him!
Louisa Mildred was, I think. Hugh died in 1941. Louisa died in 1949. Mrs Olive Hole was named as one of the executors of her will.
Even more curious is the link between the Hammonds and Hilda Ernestine Galton (b Clevedon, Somerset April 1874), daughter of Herman Ernest and his second wife, Augusta Brenton née Stewart. Ah! married Warwickshire. Ah! father late Captain in the Army ...
Done pretty well, so far. But I end with two 'not sures'. This striking fellow is labelled 'G Dunkley, Brinton'.
Brington? How many G Dunkleys can there be there ...? Answer: heaps! So, date the picture? Well, Mark Dorman, bookseller, and draper, of 27 The Drapery doesn't seem to have been a photographer as well, if at all, for long. He was Mayor in 1863 and died in 1876. His sons were an engineer and a brewer. Charles Dorman was a surveyor. So, we're before 1876. Subtract, what? 50 years. Maybe 45. There's one born in Brington, to a solo mother, in 1828. Died 1904. Oh, yes! Surely that is he: in 1881 he is sub-postmaster and parish clerk! Isn't that a perfect parish clerk? In 1871 he was parish clerk and gardener. In 1861 he was all three! The other GDs are agriculural labourers. I'm settling for my parish clerk.
And lastly, Mr Clives. Yes, I thought that would be straightforward. If I can winkle out a Hammond, a Clives should be a doddle. But Mr Clives had lousy handwriting ...
I can read the sense of his calligraphy. Big flourishy capital, strong slanting letters, the name underlined ... but what is that second initial? Or is it? The vendor says A H Clive. But, is it Alf Clive? That's my guess. So that rules out the Arthurs and the Andrews and the Alberts ... So, date? No idea. And what's he doing in Breslau? Not an ag lab, then. Well, I knew that. Not with that hairdo. And wait! Is that a clerical collar .... I hope so! That rules out the Alfred Clives, leg-mania artist (1883) and Alfred Clives and his performing dog (1893) who are probably one and the same ... I really fancied the one born 1855 in Brighton. died 1904, but he is a gymnast --- oh Mr Leg-mania! His daughter was born in Rotterdam .. hey! maybe it IS he ... maybe the hairdo is a showbiz one! Ahha!
This comes from a dealer called hovebooks ... the Brighton rings nicely ...
I check out hovebooks to see if they had anymore nice folk and I found Katie Pinnock.
Pre-teen photo? Well, Katie was born Catherine Florence Pinnock (b Bloomsbury 29 December 1863; d Croydon 1901). Her father was Cornishman Reginald Heber Pinnock, her mother Emma née Neal, she apparently an only child. Father worked as an assurance clerk, and they moved first to Cheshunt, and then to 27 Ceylon Place Easbourne, where Reginald died 13 November 1876. Katie would have been thirteen. Emma took to being a boarding house lady, Katie went out as a governess, and in 1901 she was working for a clergyman in Croydon. She died there shortly after, aged 37.
And here is A F Taylor, commanding officer of the steamship Sutlej.
This was taken in 1887, and I see the Sutlej took part in the Great War. And was still running in 1930! I see, in 1882, the Sutlej (P&O line) doing the run between Melbourne and Britain. Captain A H Johnson. Johnson is still Captain in early 1887, when the ship was taken off the Australian mail run ... and put on the Eastern route. Maybe that's when Capt Taylor took over? I hope he wasn't in command in June 1893, when the Sutlej ran down a yacht at Malta and two officers were drowned.
Big day tomorrow. Have to actually unlock the farm gate and venture out ... day 50 ... so I'd better go to bed. Back to Carte-land, I think, for my next ...
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