Victorian photographs
QI would like some help in dating these two photographs please. We were told that the first one (photo 1) represents Charles Hunter Ryley, his wife and his son James Hunter Ryley. Charles was born in Louth, Lincolnshire c.1790 and died in 1861. His son James was born in 1813 and died in 1867. Charles’ wife Mary Ann Ryley died in 1845. I think that the dates for this photo would not fit with it being of these people? Unfortunately, I do not have the original for this photo. The second photo (photo 2) of a baby in a pram was taken in Sheffield. This is possibly my great-grandmother, or one of her sisters born between 1871 and 1881.
Josephine Pegg
Photo 1
ALike the vast majority of Victorian photographs, this group scene is a formal studio portrait taken by a professional photographer. We do not have a view of the photographic card mount or its reverse side, but we can determine an accurate time frame from the visual image – especially the appearance of the subjects of the picture. Wearing their best quality, most up-to-date clothes for their visit to the photographer, your ancestors are dressed in the modes of the end of the 1860s or early-1870s, that is between 1868 and 1874.
The key fashion dating features indicating the above time frame include the lady’s distinctive appearance in a feminine layered bustle costume featuring full drapery, an ornate ensemble that, along with her elaborate plaited chignon, is most characteristic of those few years. The man and boy may not be dated quite so precisely, but their appearance is characteristic of the 1860s/ early-1870s. We may reasonably assume that the couple are married and that the boy is their son (perhaps their last-born boy) or – just possibly – their grandson.
I’m afraid that the clear date range completely rules out Charles, Mary and James Ryley, although you already had your doubts. Indeed, Mary died in 1845 (very early in terms of the history of photography) and was probably never photographed at all; her husband, Charles, who died in 1861, is also fairly unlikely to have ever been photographed. Rather these are adult ancestors who were aged in their 40s, or thereabouts, between 1868 and 1874, with a boy aged about 9-12 years old: he may well hold the key to identifying this family group.
Photo 2
Your second photograph is a rare Victorian photograph of a baby in a pram. In fact very few baby photographs were taken at all during the 19th century, when it was difficult to photograph young babies in the studio. However this is a good example, the impressive bassinet pram of late-victorian style, while the infant wears a white baby frock typical of the late-1800s. The baby could be a girl or a boy as both were dressed alike in their early years. It can also be very difficult to pin down the date of baby photographs precisely but, helpfully, a scan of the back of the card mount has been provided too.
This distinctive printed design, displaying a large ornate capital letter P, delicate scrolling filigree ornamentation and several different fonts, the photographer’s name slanting across the card, dates this photograph firmly to the 1880s. Therefore you seem to be on the right track with the correct generation: this baby was born at the end of the 1870s or during the 1880s. Hopefully you will be able to work out from this whether the infant is most likely to be your great-grandmother or one of her siblings. JS