An Act Of Remembrance

Crowds fill the streets of London to commemorate those lost in the First World War, 11 November 1925

The First World War finally came to an end with the signing of an armistice between the Allies and Germany in a railway carriage at Le Francport near Compiègne in northern France at 11am on 11 November 1918. An estimated 17 million people lost their lives during the four-year conflict, including civilian casualties. The first official Armistice Day events took place on 11 November the following year, complete with a two-minute silence at 11am as a mark of respect for the fallen. That tradition continues to this day, although many of the UK’s offices will already be silent this year thanks to the increased use of homeworking to combat the spread of Covid-19.

From the earliest days of portraiture, paintings representing betrothal and marriage predominated. So when commercial photography developed in the 1840s, these important events continued as favoured pictorial themes. Most of us have old family wedding photographs in our collections, from paired or double Victorian studio portraits, to extended outdoor group scenes. Early studio marriage photos may go unnoticed, for newlyweds generally posed in their fashionable ‘Sunday best’, without flowers or other distinguishing attributes.

Wedding photographs are heirlooms to treasure, and to learn from. They provide an exact visual representation of the official marriage records on which we all depend to construct our family tree. Many portray groups of relatives all in one place, which is very helpful when making meaningful connections between various individuals. Some include the only known depiction of an otherwise camera-shy ancestor, or, conversely, portray forebears seen in other photographs, confirming suspected identities and forming a firm point on our ancestral visual timeline.

Photographs of weddings, whether economical and simple or grand and impressive, are also sentimental pictures that have been carefully preserved and retain a strong emotional value today. They often record the best times in our forebears’ lives, and sometimes details in wedding pictures demonstrate tangible links down the generations, like a beloved wedding dress or veil worn by successive brides over the years.

Some wedding photographs are firmly identified, while others survive without names or dates. This guide helps with successfully dating and contextualising some of our most beautiful, interesting and important family heirlooms.

James Morley

The earliest wedding photos are solid plate-based pictures, cased or framed. These are typical mid-century ‘companion’ betrothal/marriage images, and hand-coloured. They follow the artistic tradition for separate portraits of bride and groom.

1

Ambrotype photographs set in the studio invariably date to c1855– 1864. These ornate chased brass surrounds (mats/mattes) confirm a date of at least the late 1850s.

2

The groom’s tall ‘stove-pipe’ top hat, new lounging jacket halffastened, gold watch-chain and bold patterned tie with a stick-pin were natty fashions for the 1850s ‘gent’.

3

Most Victorian brides wore their best coloured daywear when they married, and during the 1850s often posed in outdoor dress: bonnet, cloak/shawl and parasol.

4

Her centrally parted, low-draped hairstyle, white bridal cap, bonnet with wide ribbon ties and open ‘pagoda’ sleeves edged with broderie anglaise were all fashionable in the late 1850s and 1860.

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Advances in outdoor photography during the late 1800s encouraged wedding group scenes. Special bridal wear and costly ‘white weddings’ weren’t yet common, but ordinary brides often wore a veil and other white accessories.

This photograph can be firmly dated to the mid-1890s from the fashion clues, especially the women’s ‘leg-of-mutton’ sleeves, at their widest in 1895/1896.

Typically this bride wears a fashionable pastel-coloured day dress, accessorised with a special white veil, striking lace collar, white gloves and bodice corsage.

The bridesmaid wears clothes and accessories similar or possibly identical to the bride, but, as usual around the century’s turn, a fashionable hat not a veil.

The men’s stiff bowler hats, starched winged shirt collars, white neckties, gloves and boutonnières are all typical of ordinary weddings of the era.