Each week, Sepia Saturday, provides an opportunity for genealogy bloggers to share their family history through photographs.
This week's photograph almost defeated me, as I have already featured in the past year Men in Hats, and Threesomes. But inspiration struck and I remembered these photographs from my mother's Danson family - and they fit the bill so well.
Suits, hats and threesomes come together in the first three photographs in my great aunt Jennie's collection. Unfortunately only the first one is identified - as "George's Friends in Manchester" where he worked on a W.H. Smith station bookstall.
George, my great uncle, is on the back row on the right. He was the youngest son of James Danson and Maria Rawcliffe of Poulton-le-Fylde, near Blackpool Lancashire and has featured before on my blog. It must be the hat, as here he looks older than his age. Born in 1894, he could only be 20-21 years old, as in 1916 he joined the Royal Army Medical Corps and served as a stretcher bearer. He was killed on the Somme in the September, a week after his 22nd birthday.
I believe from my great aunt that the photographs below were also George's friends. The group on the left seems very formal and serious. Is that the same threesome in the second photograph having a bit of fun? Two are wearing pocket watches which are not visible in the first photograph and I was also trying to match the partings in the haircuts. I am not convinced they are the same group - what do other bloggers think?
All three photographs were taken at Gale's Studios who had branches in both Blackpool and Manchester.
Below is George, about 10 years earlier, standing on the left with his teacher and a group of school friends - caps on this occasion but still formal wear with collar, tie, waistcoat and pocket watches.
The photograph below looks like it is an informal occasion (out for a drink, perhaps?), but it still is the time to wear a formal suit,waistcoat, collar & tie.
My grandfather William Danson is in the middle of the group, with his brother Robert (and dog) on the left plus an unknown friend. Robert was the third son of the family, and William the fifth out of ten sons (eight surviving infancy), with George above the youngest, followed by the only daughter Jennie, to whom I owe a great debt for being "the keeper of the family archives".
Click HERE to see how other men dress for the occasion.
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© 2014 · Susan Donaldson. All Rights
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I think the two side by side photos have entirely different men in them. Not sure but they might be some of the same from those hatted in the first photo. Just a guess, of course. As you said, looking at hair styles, very different.
ReplyDeleteThe man on the left in the right photo isn't in the left photo--not sure about the others.
ReplyDeleteRe: the duo photos, I think they're the same 3 but the photos were taken at different times. The fellows on the right seem a bit younger than the ones on the left, but that may be due to the difference in expressions between the two - frivolity making the group on the right look younger? The unk. friend in the last photo appears to be one of the 3 in the duo photos? Nice post!
ReplyDeleteNice collection of hats from your sepia archives Sue; not bad for one who was struggling :) I’m not sure they are the same trio - but what do I know?
ReplyDelete(Your Sepia Sat link goes to SS, not here.)
ReplyDeleteI say the 2 photos are not the same guys. One guy on the left has a cleft in his chin but no clefts in the right photo. One guy in the right photo has a widow's peak hairline that no one has in the left photo. At best, one guy might be in both photos but years apart. That's my vote!
Wow. Those are some amazing photographs. Thank you for sharing them.
ReplyDeleteOh those hats ! They are great. It is also interesting to see such an affectionate photo of three men, the way they are posed. I haven't seen one like that before. They are usually so formal like the other photos,
ReplyDeleteWell you found men in both suits and hats, so well done you. I couldn't match up the men in the two photos - I'd have to stretch it a bit to say one did.
ReplyDeleteI don't think they're the same three men, but they all have that same "look" about them, don't they?
ReplyDeleteQuite poignant to see the picture of George, full of life, and then to read that he was killed in the Somme.
ReplyDeletea great hat collection. It struck me as poignant that you thought George looked older than 20-21, as I think all men did back then, probably due to their formal clothing and hats, and that then sadly he never got to look much older. Forever young, as the song goes!
ReplyDeleteI think the men could be the same three in both photos but ages away, kind of then and now? Hard to say without the dates on each...yes the men all wore suits at least for photos in that era.
ReplyDeleteThis is better than a crossword puzzle. The man seated center in the right trio photo is the man in the bowler standing left in the quintet photo. The older man standing center of the left trio is the man seated right in the hat photo. The man standing right in the right trio may be the left seated man in the hat photo. The dog has spotted a squirrel.
ReplyDeleteMaybe the man in the middle on the first photo, and he's on right in the second photo, are the same. But otherwise, different folks it seems. Nice photos and post.
ReplyDeleteThank you to everyone for their thoughts on the first three photographs! The puzzle of who is who, I think, remains an open question.
ReplyDeleteAfter going back and forth and back and forth between the two threesomes, I don't think they are the same.
ReplyDeleteI too suspect the men might be the same. The hats seem to give the men gravitas - and if nothing else they keep your head dry.
ReplyDeleteI love the one where they're grouped and smiling. I hope that proved to be the family favorite.
ReplyDelete