What is this little girl holding?

[Gardengirl]

Could I have your thoughts please on this family photo?

unknown children.jpg

My cousin rainjain sent it to me and was wondering who they were, suggesting that it could either be our great Uncle Fred or Great Aunt Daisy but not both as Daisy was about 6 years older than Fred. To me, both the faces look familiar but I couldn't put a name to them. I started looking more closely and noticed that the little girls posture was slightly uneven, with one arm looking much longer then the other, then I realised that she appeared to be holding the arm of a chair. But no sign of the rest of the chair. Could it be a little home-made walking stick, made from a chair spindle? In which case it must be Aunt Daisy who, through some kind of mishap as a baby, had uneven legs for her whole life and had a 6" block on her shoe when I knew her as an elderly woman.

What do you think? Am I trying to convince myself? Is it a chair or a walking stick?

[herky]

Just a thought but I don't think the girl is holding onto the chair/stick but has her little fist closed. Also, at her cuff is what looks like the back of the chair. She is certainly standing on something, most likely a chair. I agree that one arm appears shorter than the other but could she just have one arm bent and the other straight to give that appearance.

[2weis]

looks like a walking stick, maybe for polio
Brian

[Gardengirl]

Just a thought but I don't think the girl is holding onto the chair/stick but has her little fist closed. Also, at her cuff is what looks like the back of the chair. She is certainly standing on something, most likely a chair. I agree that one arm appears shorter than the other but could she just have one arm bent and the other straight to give that appearance.

Do you mean the line coming down from her left cuff? I think that is a line of mortar on the brick work?

If only the photographer had 'zoomed out' a bit we would have had a fuller picture. I can't quite figure out the whole scene. It looks to be outdoors in front of a building. She must be standing on something to bring her higher than the boy. A bench? A wall? A step?

I'm thinking out loud here.... Daisy was born in 1886 so this picture would be around 1890. She appears to be wearing trousers? Would a 3-4 year old girl have been wearing trousers in those days? Hand me downs were unlikely as she was the first child in that family. In fact does the whole image looks much later than that, maybe 1900-1910? In which case it can't be Daisy or Fred.

[Gardengirl]

looks like a walking stick, maybe for polio
Brian

It wasn't polio, the family story is that she was dropped at some time when she was a baby but I wonder whether she had the not uncommon condition of dislocated hip in babies which these days is detected and treated straight after birth. In those days it may have been completely overlooked until it became apparent when she started to crawl and walk by which time repairing it was probably out of the question.

[keldon]

I think she's standing on a Windsor Fan Back Chair. You can see the type here.
https://www.cowanauctions.com/lot/fa...sworth-3927512

I've zoomed in and I can just see part of the next spindle by her left leg.

Is she leaning towards the boy with her right leg forward hence the apparent different arm lengths?

[Katarzyna]

She seems to be standing on a chair and the spindle would be the back of the chair. That's how it appears to me. I've darkened it up a bit. It looks like there is another spindle very close to her left knee.

image_21031.jpg

Snap Keldon!!

[Gardengirl]

Ah, yes, well spotted, Kat and Phil, so it is a chair which blows my theory.

What about the photo date? Any thoughts?

[Katarzyna]

1940/50's?

[Gardengirl]

Much later than I first thought then. That would make the trousers more likely on a girl, wouldn't it? I must go back to my tree and see who we might have with a boy and a girl of those ages around that date.

[Anne in Carlisle]

Yes, I think it's a chair too and the date around the 1940s. I have photos of me wearing similar things.
Anne

[Katarzyna]

This is me 1948 - the coat is very similar. ('scuse blob on face). Styles didn't change much- yours could be a bit earlier - 1930 even. Difficult to be exact.

me 1949.jpg