Is my grandfather in this Victorian photograph?

QWhich of my ancestors appear in this photograph? I think the boy at the front holding the hoop is my grandfather, born in 1887. If so, the little girl leaning on the table would be his sister, two years older than him. This would be very poignant, as she died May 1896 aged 11. If the toddler holding the whip is a boy, then the figure in the front must be older, as he has been breeched. Pauline Moffat, by email

AIt is very difficult to be precise about the date of this charming studio portrait, children’s clothing not following fashion to such a degree as female dress. James Fletcher, the photographer, seems to have moved to his Lichfield Road address sometime in the mid-1880s, to work on his own, rather than with his family as before. In a trade directory of 1888, he is listed at this address as in the 1891 census. The back of the photograph is also in typical 1880s style, although there is an earlier similar version dating from when James first moved to this address.

Breeching could occur at any age between three and six years old, depending on personal preference and family tradition, but by this period unbreeched boys, unless very young, tended to wear skirted versions of boys’ dress such as the sailor suit.

From the photographic evidence and the dress of the children, this portrait would appear to date to around 1890, with a range of a couple of years either side of this date. Alison Toplis