A family group: - a distant family connection I suspect as they are far too posh for any branch of the family I know of. The first version was as the print now appears - fading into a sepia memory. The second version restores it to, what was probably, the original black and white. Version … Continue reading THREE VERSIONS OF UNREALITY
Category: Family Photographs
Sepia Pointillism
I am told that this is a photograph of my mother-in-law, Edith, with her nephew Edward. The thing that struck me about it was not so much the subjects, but the combined effect of age-related fading and the stipple paper the photo was printed on. Together they have created a kind of "sepia pointillism" which … Continue reading Sepia Pointillism
The Grocer And The Body Builder
This postcard was with a collection of photographs handed down to me from the family of my fathers' Uncle Albert (Albert Burnett 1884-1963). It is, in fact, both a photograph and a postcard - the use of "real photographs" to create postcards was common in the early year of the twentieth century. The photograph shows … Continue reading The Grocer And The Body Builder
Is That You, Uncle Albert?
You’d think in this day and age, when we can transmit pictures of our breakfast to the entire world in nanoseconds and send a drone to look in your neighbours back garden, that it would be possible to determine whether this was a photograph of my great Uncle Albert. If artificial intelligence had more than … Continue reading Is That You, Uncle Albert?
Gladys Beanland – The Prequel
Old family photographs are a little like film prequels. Take, for example, this photograph of three young girls enjoying a day out at the seaside in the late 1920s. Two of the subjects are characters we are familiar with due to their starring role in that well-known epic "My Life". The one on the left … Continue reading Gladys Beanland – The Prequel
Licence To Drive A Motor Car
Sorting through some recently acquired papers of my Great Uncle Albert, I find his driving licence from 1912. This was a time when licences were issued by local authorities (in this case, Bradford), and had to be renewed every year.
Ivy The Musician
There are the faces you can't put names to and then there are the names you don't have a face for. Yesterday, however, after a trip to meet a generous distant relative in Wales, I was finally able to put a face to my father's cousin Ivy Miriam Burnett. And not only did I get … Continue reading Ivy The Musician
Eunice And Leslie
Any box of old family photographs contains pictures of people you recognise and a few that you don’t. Those are the challenges, the pieces of the jig-saw puzzle that don’t easily fit. Who were Eunice and Leslie, and why do I have two copies of this same photograph; one dedicated to Peggy and the other … Continue reading Eunice And Leslie
Statues, Cousins And Bill Bailey
The Duke Of Wellington’s Regiment Memorial, Halifax, by Andrew Sinclair, 2019 Sculpture belongs in towns, on the streets, in the squares; not stuck away atop bronze horses in distant parks. It needs to be touched and spoken to. It needs to be a repository of thanks, of memories, and of empty coffee cups. The Empty … Continue reading Statues, Cousins And Bill Bailey
