When was this family photograph taken?

QThis picture shows the Daniels family, who lived in Wales. The girl on the horse is my great grandmother, Florence. The older lady on the left is her mother, Ann, and the lady holding the baby is Mary Ann Huggett (née Daniels). I’m unsure of the date. We were told c1891: Mary Ann had her first child in 1889.

Amanda Burgwin

This open-air scene is probably the work of a professional photographer visiting your ancestors at home. By the late 1800s outdoor photography at a family property was popular, especially when large groups were to be pictured and/or if they included very young or elderly people who might struggle to travel to a studio in town.

AThe adult male’s three-piece lounge suit is characteristic of the late 1800s, while the boy on horseback wears a sporting cap, again suggesting the late 19th century. Female fashions can usually be dated more precisely, and here the girl on horseback and adult women all wear smart, sober daywear typical of the early 1890s. Key details are their tight-fitting bodices with high collars; narrow sleeves; and two women’s smooth, high-coiled and rolled hairstyles. Most distinctive are their sleeve heads, vertically puffed at the shoulder or fuller in the upper arm, together indicating c1890–1893. So I agree that the date is c1891. Clearly it represents a family gathering, but a specific event may have prompted the photo – the baby’s birth? If you can identify the location, you can find out who was living there in the 1891 census. Jayne Shrimpton