Sepia Saturday gives bloggers an opportunity to share their family history through photographs. I don't have a jailbird in the family, as far as I know. So I decided to focus on the little boy- standing up straight, looking smart in his jacket and knee breeches.
It is the females of the family who usually get featured for their costume, but here from my family collection are four boys in their Sunday best.
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| Frederick Henry Weston (my Uncle Fred), born 1905. |
This photograph has only just come into my possession via a distant relative and is one of the very few early photographs I have of my father's Weston family.
The story was that photographs were thrown out following a death.
What a crime!
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| Harry Rawcliffe Danson, (my Uncle Harry), born 1912 |
Harry's middle name came from his grandmother Maria Danson, nee Rawcliffe. This is a section of a larger photograph (below) showing Harry with his mother Alice, sisters Edith and Kathleen (my mother) and baby brother Billy, taken in 1916 - the year when his father William Danson went off to war in Flanders.
24 years later Harry survived the Battle of Dunkirk. He retained his good dark looks all his life.
Below are two photographs from the large collection left by my Great Aunt Jennie (Danson), who grew up in Poulton-le-Fylde, Lancashire. She had written names on the back, but otherwise little is known about them. I suspect they are the children of friends, but I was unable to make any headway in further identification through a search of the 1911 census.
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| Jackie Threlfall |
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| Jesse and Bernard Pennington To read contributions from other bloggers on this theme, click here |
I love the children's fashions in these photos; great selection!
ReplyDeleteThere's something so charming about those little boys in sailor suits isn't there? Uncle Fred looks a little unsure to be perched so high on a chair, but the last two of Jesse and Bernard certainly bring out the mothering instinct. Gorgeous.
ReplyDeleteI love these photos and am especially glad you were able to get one of them that had been thrown out after a death. Uncle Fred is so cute - look at that expression! I bet Uncle Harry was handsome.
ReplyDeleteI notice that Harry's middle name is Rawcliffe, the surname of his grandmother. That is a custom that is forbidden in The Netherlands. It is not allowed to give children first/middle names equal to surnames. The reason is probably to avoid confusion. I like Jackie's picture best. He is giving us this who-are-you-then look. Great!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Peter, for your commwent. i had no idea using surnames as middle names was banned in the Netherlands. I like it, as it preserves maiden names down the generations and is quite a common feature where I live now in the Scottish Borders. But it can get confusing with a Scott Elliot and an Elliot Scott, where both Scott and Elliot are used as Christian names and surnames.
DeleteWell, the Netherlands is a land of rules. So there is one that says if your mum's name is the last in line, you are legally allowed to add it to your surname. Of course there is a separate procedure for that purpose... :)
DeleteWhat cute photos. Love the little sailor suits.
ReplyDeleteNancy
Cute photos. Interesting expressions on their faces, but no real smiles.
ReplyDeleteThese are great! The boys are darling, posing so quietly for the camera. I enjoyed this very much.
ReplyDeleteKathy M.
I have a photo of two boys on a bench in little sailor suits similar to Jackie.
ReplyDeleteInteresting that in the Netherlands it is illegal to give a last name for a first or middle name. It was a popular custom on both sides of my family for children in my generation. A cousin and I both have our mother's maiden name of Graham and two cousins on my father's side have Cleage for their middle name.
Thanks for your comment, Kristin. I agree - I like the fact that a mother's or grandmother's maiden name is preserved as a middle name down the generations - and is just not wiped out.
DeleteThe photos are so wonderful. The little boys all dressed up for the photograph. It is a shame, when these beautiful old photos are just thrown out. It happens all the time in families. I also think those photos become very precious, as today in the age of the digital camera we snap millions of photos of children. Then, there were just a few. Beautiful post.
ReplyDeleteYour Uncle Harry looks like a very bright young man. Thanks for sharing these!
ReplyDeleteUncle Fred was adorable and so were those unrelated boys at the seashore.
ReplyDeleteOh what cute photos, i love those early pictures of little boys especially the one holding the spade down by his side.
ReplyDeleteUncle Harry has something of the look of the child in the prompt photograph. Is there anything finer than some great old photographs served up with a delicate dressing of comment.
ReplyDeleteTimes have certainly changed we have only a few hard copy photos of our children, even fewer of our grandchildren but hundreds of digital images of them. We have no pictures that can match as far back as your Uncle Fred and Harry.
ReplyDeleteThere is something about that picture of your Uncle Fred that makes me go back and look again - the expression on his face, the oversize hat, that band around his waist with his hand tucked in it... Great pictures. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteA super collection! Children of this age are the most photogenic, I think.
ReplyDeleteWhat beautiful children! Just love their expressions, the sailor suits and the big bows in the girls hair.
ReplyDeleteGreat photos of such adorable children! Love the little outfits with the hats and all.
ReplyDeleteI can't believe the tradition of throwing away photographs after someone passed away! That' just terrible! It seems the opposite of what a grieving person would want to do.
Very creative to use this group of photos. I love them. Yes it is sad to know they were thrown away. You are so fortunate to have them.
ReplyDeleteQMM
Adorable kids on all the photos! Love it!
ReplyDeleteWhat a gorgeous array of children's photos and the fashions of the time.
ReplyDeleteYou won me with the name Bernard Pennigton. He looks and sounds like he should be a character in a book.
ReplyDeleteThere really isn't anything like the old sepia photographs is there, very nostalgic, and exciting when you find some of your own ancestors. I'm so glad I tripped over Sepia Saturday yesterday.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry you tripped but please get up and join us!
DeleteThank you to everyone for such kind comments. I was so pleased to share such lovely photographs with with a wider audience.
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