The photograph forms part of a box full of family photographs that may (or may not) feature the family of my grandfathers' brother, Albert Burnett (1884-1963). On the back of the photograph is written: "Mr Chapman, 2 Maze Street, Barton Hill". Barton Hill is part of the modern-day city of Bristol. I have absolutely no … Continue reading Chapman’s Bike

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

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

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?

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

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.