Boys in Short Trousers: Sepia Saturday

This week's Sepia Saturday's prompt photograph shows a young paper boy, laden with newspapers and wearing his adult style clothes of someone much older - a flat cap and knickerbockers.   It is often the females of the family who get featured for their costume, but with my post  it is the turn of boys. 

Toward the end of the 19th century and into the early 20th century, children no longer dressed like tiny adults, but had their own  style of clothes.  But boys were often still dressed in skirts  for their early years -   as in this early photograph of my cousin's father.

 Young Arthur Smith, born in Blackpool, Lancashire in 1908

The Smith family originated from Unst inthe  Shetland Isles - the most northerly point of Britian, moving to the mainland in the mid 19th century.  Perhaps the tartan dress worn by Arthur here  is a nod to his Scottish ancestry. But I was a bit surprised that as late as 1908 in Blackpool the fashion persisted of very young boys in a dress.

In the first half of the 20th century, for boys the main characteristic was short trousers, worn whatever the weather,  with knee length socks.  Boys did not go into long trousers until the age of around 13-14 - something of a rite of passage - I remember this from my own brother.

 

  The note on the back of this photograph says:
"Arthur in his first pair  of trousers", c.1910

Harry Rawcliffe Danson, born 1912

in Poulton-le-Fylde, Lancashire

Harry's middle name came from  his grandmother Maria Danson, nee Rawcliffe.  This is a section of a larger family photograph taken in 1916 when his father  William Danson went off to war in Flanders.  24 years later Harry survived the evacuation from  Dunkirk.  He retained his good dark looks all his life.

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In the early 20th century, large hats for boys seemed to be the style for formal photographs  - wherever you might be across England  -  north east, north west  or the midlands - as illustrated in these family photographs. 

 

Joseph Prince Oldham  (1855-1921)

 founder of a carters and coal merchant business in Blackpool.

    

My husband's uncle  - Matthew Iley White, born 1915.

Photograph taken by T. W. H. Liddle, Photographer, South Shields.  

Frederick Henry Weston (my Unclle Fred), born 1905

In Wolverhampton, Staffordshire.

Surely Fred must have been dressed up for a special occasion in this fancy coat and white socks and big hat?  Unfortunately there is no longer anyone alive  from the immediate  family to ask. 

This photograph came to me via a connection of my cousin 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!   

In the 1911 census the Weston family were living in Lunt Lane, Lunt Gardens, Bilston, Wolverhampton in the heart of industrial English Midlands. A photograph in Wolverhampton Archives indicated that Lunt Lane was the location of the Bilston Sewers - so not exactly garden country!

Jesse and Bernard Pennington in a studio beach photograph, complete with spade Taken by W. J. Gregson, 82 Talbot Road, Blackpool. 


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A sailor suit is a uniform traditionally worn by enlisted seamen in the navy, characterized by its distinctive collar.  It gained popularity and  developed into a popular clothing style  as worn by the children  of Queen Victoria.

 Arthur Smith again in his sailor suit - and what a wonderful mop of curls!

Jackie Threlfall, wearing the popular sailor suit.  
Taken by ? Watson, 13 Wellington Terrace, Blackpool

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Moving onto the 1940's 

                                                         My husband and  his older brother.

                                          My husband in his winter coat -

 My husband - look at those baggy shorts, 

worn with a sports jacket and V neck pullover   

 My cousin Stuart with his sister and how angelic they look, with their blond locks obviously inherited form their father Arthur (above) 

 

 

        

My brother happy at play! 

This was taken  on holiday in Bournemouth where a  paddling stream ran through the park,  My mother \always knew to take a change of clothes with us for my brother who inevitably managed to fall in the water at some point.  Seeing he is wearing a jumper, it cannot have been that warm a  warm summer. 

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Sepia Saturday gives an opportunity for genealogy bloggers 

       to share their family history through photographs

 

            View more  tales from  other Sepia Saturday bloggers by clicking HERE

Grandfather's 42 First Cousins: 52 Ancestors - Wk. 38.

The "52 Ancestors" prompt of  "Cousins" had me stumped, until inspiration dawned (during the night of course) and I decided to look at the pattern of cousins in three generations of my family from Poulton-le-Fylde, Lancashire

• My grandfather  William Danson (1885-1965) had at least 42 first cousins. 
• My mother Kathleen Danson (1908-1999) had 6 know first  cousins.
•  I have just 4 first cousins.  
   
  My grandfather, William Danson (Billy) 

Grandad William (Billy) Danson had a bevy of aunts, uncles and cousins nearly all   living locally.  For his father James Danson was the youngest son, in a family of two  brothers and six  sisters, children of Henry Danson and Elizabeth Calvert.  His mother Maria Rawcliffe had four sisters, daughters of Robert Rawcliffe and Jane Carr.

ON HIS FATHER'S SIDE  - 26 Danson cousins,  with names in italics.
Billy's eldest Aunt Elizabeth Danson, married Thomas Bailey, with six children born to the marriage - William, Elizabeth, Henry, John, Margaret Ellen  and Mary Jane,  But their mother died at the age of 53, in 1885, followed  by her husband a year later,  leaving a young family that included daughters Margaret Ellen and Mary Jane, only aged twelve  and nine.  Margaret went to live with her  elder sister Elizabeth, now married, whist Mary Jane joined the married household of her brother Henry. 

At the age of 28, Mary Jane married in 1905 at St. John's Church Blackpool John William Oldham from a family of carters and coalmen, with   two daughters  born to the marriage - Elsie and Hilda Oldham. but tragedy continued  to mar Mary' Jane's  life, when her youngest daughter Hilda  died aged 6 in 1915.   

 

 A family photograph of Mary Ellen with her husband John Oldham, 

                            with baby Hilda Oldham  and older daughter Elsie. 
 
Seven years later, Mary Ellen was sadly hospitalised and remained there until her death in 1945.   

Mary Ellen Oldham, nee Bailey
The only photograph I have of any of the 26 Danson cousins. 

Billy's Aunt Grace Danson, named after her maternal grandmother,   married Poulton joiner  John Cookson with  four children born to the marriage - George Henry, James, Tom, and Elizabeth.   Grace died in 1891 aged 58.  John second wife Elizabeth was twenty years his junior, descried in the 1901 census as "keeper of a sweet shop, working on own account  at home". Their daughter Alice was born c.1893, but died aged only 22, with the lovely epitaph  on the family gravestone "She lived respected and died lamented".

Billy's Aunt Mary Danson  married William Henry Gaulter, but their life together was unfortunately short.  For Mary, aged 26 died following childbirth, leaving her two young sons John Robert and William Henry motherless. Their father remarried, with their first born baptised,  only ten days after her parent's marriage.

Billy's Aunt Margaret Danson  was married and widowed twice by the age of 34 and had no children as cousins for Billy. 

Billy's Aunt Ellen Danson had an illegitimate  daughter in 1866, named Mary.   Ellen married John Longshaw in 1872 and they had a son John.  But in the census returns of 1871, 1881 and 1891, young Mary was living  - not with her mother - but with first her grandparents and then her widowed aunt Margaret. 

Billy 's Aunt Jane Danson married Thomas Cardwell, one of ten children, including eight sisters. the couple  had four children  - Ellen, Emma, Cornelius and Thomas.

Billy's Uncle Henry  Danson remains a mystery with two possibilities traced but not one definitavely confirmed.

Billy's Uncle John Danson, a gardener  married Mary Ann Tattterson  and they had  family of seven children who survived infancy   - Elizabeth, Harry, Mary, John, George,  twins John  & Jane,  and William.  The family moved away from the Fylde, to  West Yorkshire and then Clitheroe.  It was John, senior who had inherited the family bible with this page recording events. 

ON HIS MOTHER'S SIDE -  16 Rawcliffe cousins.

Billy's Aunt Anne Rawcliffe  had an illegitimate daughter Jane Alice, before she married gamekeeper Robert Roskell, with four children born to the marriage John, twins Matthew & Agnes, and Maria.  However Matthew did not survive infancy and young Jane died at only 14 years of age. 

Billy's Aunt Jane Rawciffe married Thomas Riley in 1873.  The photograph below came from an internet contact descendant and shows four generations of their  family, with first cousin George  on the left. 

 Jane Riley, nee Rawcliffe with her son George (left) grandson (Jack) and Jack's baby son George Robert who did not survive infancy.

Billy's Aunt Jennet Rawcliffe, also married a Riley - Richard Riley her brother in law's brother and they had two children Jane and Thomas

Billy's Aunt Alice Rawcliffe married John Mason and had initialy six children  - Robert William, Jane Elizabeth, John Thomas, James Richard, Margaret Alice and George RAwcliffe were born.   Then In 1886-87 the they  took the momentous decision to leave the fishing port of Fleetwood for the teeming tenements of Brooklyn, New York. where they had a further five children - Arthur Valentine, Harold Arthur Victor, Lillian Eveline,Jessie Irene, Florence Adelaie, with three dying in infancy. 

 

My grandfather's American cousins, with their parents

Top - Robert, Jenny (Jane Elizabeth), Mother Alice, Father John, Harold
Bottom - Thomas (John Thomas), Alice (Margaret Alice), Florence, George and James

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My mother did not seem to know any of this large extended family of her father's, apart from having heard that  "granny had  two sisters Anne and Jane". Surprisingly my mother had only 6 known first Danson cousins, three of who I am still in contact with.   Mum's mothe,  Alice Englis,   is my major brick wall and I have never uncovered anything on on that side of the family.

As for myself I have only 2 first cousins in Australia on my mother's sid,  and 2 on my father's - and do admit to a touch of envy when I see pictures online of large happy family reunions.
 
Sources:

• My own research including parochial records, census returns and monumental inscriptions.
• Lists of Members' Interests in the magazine of the Lancashire Heraldic and Family HIstory Society  - for the Cookson, Gaulter and Caldwell families.  I made contact and we exchanged information on our Danson links. 
• An entry on the website of Genes Reunited resulted in information and photographs from a descendant of my grandfather's Uncle John Danson.
• Two third cousins discovered my blog  and were major contributors of information and photographs on their Bailey/Oldham/Danson links  and the American Mason/ Rawcliffe links. 

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Pet Pleasures in Focus ! : Sepia Saturday

A stern looking man and a rather unappealing dog feature in Sepia Saturday's latest prompt photograph.  Much happier family memories of pets are the focus of my  
 post.

 As a child, my husband had a number of china animals,  but this this little dog  is the only one that has survived the years and sits on our window sill enjoying the sun.  

Making do with a toy dog  for a studio photograph  -

 my brother-in-law with  a furry friend.

But let's move onto the real live family pets.  

Solemn expressions from my husband's grandmother  

with her granddaughter and dog Beauty.


Beauty is the star of this photogaph with my husband's aunt.
  

We move on several decades.  Our daughter was 5 years old and Crufts Dog Championships Show was on television - how could we resist that combination.  The result by the summer was that a new  Beauty a golden cocker spaniel became part of the family - as in the top photograph. 

 

It was a sad time when we lost Beauty at the age of nine, and we said we would not go through that again. Bur surreptitiously we were all looking at adverts in the local papers, and within a month we had Colleen - a 2 year old gentle blue roan cocker.

 

Taking a break - with my parents.  

 Colleen died suddenly at seven years old at a time when there were other stresses in the family. We could not imagine family life without a dog and that had to be a cocker spaniel.   So within a few months we had puppy Casmir (Cass) - an orange roan cocker - she had such a distinctive colouring, she became well known around our normal town and lived to the grand age of 13.  A pet and great friend of all the family.

Our cocker spaniel Cass

against the background of Loch Etive  in the Western Highlands. 

 Enjoying a good chew  in our garden.

The dubious pleasures of owning a dog - out in all weathers!

 Braving the elements on a windy day 


 
 A wet and windy crossing to the Isle of Mull
with all other passengers sheltering below deck. 

 
I always thought of Cass as the "princess" 
if she was to star in a Disney animated film.  



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Sepia Saturday gives an opportunity for genealogy bloggers 

       to share their family history through photographs

 

View more doggy tales from  other Sepia Saturday bloggers by clicking  HERE