Can we pin down a date and ages for these children?

[Gardengirl]

Could anyone please help me to put a date on this photo from the children's clothing and also work out the ages of the children? I know the address of the house but it is linked to two large and interconnected families so I would like to try and work out who all these children are. They may not all be siblings but some might be visiting cousins. And I feel there must have been a reason for the photograph because everyday snapshots were not a thing in those days.

Any thoughts?

[Katarzyna]

Having looked at several photos of my own and in our costume gallery I would date it about 1900. But, children didn't always have fashionable clothes . There are photos on the net showing boys dressed like that in the 1890's and early 1900's . Difficult one.

[Gardengirl]

Thanks for your thoughts, Kat. Oh, to be able to turn the clocks back and ask granny. She would have known for sure

I wonder if that was their Sunday best for some kind of occasion? Or maybe just dressed up because there was a travelling photographer in the area?

[cbcarolyn]

they looks so tiny against that huge door. They boys are sort of sailor suit style - but just googled that and were around for several decades

[Gardengirl]

The boy in the front row seems to have very obvious buttons on the front of his coat but not in a straight line. I can see a kind of oval shape?

And the girl on the left is holding her left arm awkwardly, like someone with cerebral palsy. My great aunt born in 1886 had an untreated dislocated hip which left her with one leg much shorted than the other but none of those girls look as if they have uneven legs. And if it is around 1900 she would have been about 12 so that probably rules out her family.

[PhotoFamily]

Any way to know what building it is? Any sort of history - and photos - of the building exist? Sometimes a change of facade, or painting, or just plain tearing down a building might give you a clue.

[Gardengirl]

I'm pretty sure it is this house at 25 Cumberland Street, London.

This is the current Google Street view image


My grandmother and her siblings were all listed there in the 1901 census - Frederick Caesar and family

https://www.ancestry.co.uk/imageviewer/collections/7814/images/LNDRG13_86_88-0840?pId=683287

My great grandmother died there when she fell off the first floor balcony onto the street in 1904. After I found out about her tragic death in a newspaper article I went to see the house next time I was in London and took this picture.




Sorry, I tried to put them side by side but couldn't make it work.

[cbcarolyn]

How sad that she fell off the balcony :( looks to be the same building..

[GallowayLass]

Can you see with a magnifying glass on the original what is written on the card in the lower window?

[GallowayLass]

The front door and the glass above it have been modernised in your top picture but I agree it’s the same building. If you look closely at the squares at the feet of the columns in your modern version, you can make out where those holes and the ornamentation that are in the original have been filled in and painted over.

[Gardengirl]

The front door has been moved forward and the porch space filled in to enclose it as part of the house. And the holes in the base of the pillars were boot scrapers - I wish I had one set into the wall near my back door!

I must find the original and have a closer look at that card in the window. I can’t remember where it is atm.

[GallowayLass]

The front door has been moved forward and the porch space filled in to enclose it as part of the house. And the holes in the base of the pillars were boot scrapers - I wish I had one set into the wall near my back door!

I must find the original and have a closer look at that card in the window. I can’t remember where it is atm.

I knew the holes had a name and purpose, I couldn’t for the life of me remember what it was LOL I think I learned what they were from one of those A House Through Time episodes.

[PhotoFamily]

So is there a historical society in the area that might know the history of the building? As mentioned, those columns have changed at the front door, otherwise it seems remarkably the same!

[Gardengirl]

The whole street, and others nearby, still look like this so maybe there are planning restrictions on what can be done to alter the appearance of the outsides. I'm not sure that there would be any detail about this one specifically that would get me any nearer to identifying the children.

[Gardengirl]

I must find the original and have a closer look at that card in the window. I can’t remember where it is atm.

Searching through some other photos today I came across the original of the photo. I was surprised at how poor the image is as it is printed on a postcard. Obviously not a very skilled photographer - or maybe just a cheap one if they couldn't afford better.

Anyway, I scanned it again at 600dpi and tweaked the brightness and contrast a bit. Then I scanned it again at 1200dpi just zooming in on the children and the window. I still can't read the words on the card in the window

[Gardengirl]

Yay! Another useful clue. The photo is on a postcard and the back is divided. On the left side it says 'For inland postage only, this space may be used for communication'. Last week I watched a very interesting zoom talk about old photos and I remember him saying that the way the backs were divided can give you a date but I couldn't remember what he said so I've just googled it and on the World Postcard Day website I found this....

In 1902, the British Post Office allowed messages to be written on one half of the side normally reserved for the address, paving the way for the divided back era of postcards. This left the reverse side of the card free to be completely filled with an image.

However, these postcards could not be sent abroad until other Universal Postal Union members agreed to do the same. An agreement on the matter was reached at the Sixth Postal Union Congress in Rome, in 1906.

So the date must be 1902 - 1906.

Now I can look for a set of children that fit those dates. Hhhmm.......

Website address if anyone is interested https://worldpostcardday.com/history...h%20an%20image.

[Katarzyna]

Does your original postcard have a white border around it. If so that would date it nearer 1913. I don't think it has though has it?

[Gardengirl]

No, Kat, it was just plain sepia right to the edges.

[Rachel Scand]

Could anyone please help me to put a date on this photo from the children's clothing and also work out the ages of the children? I know the address of the house but it is linked to two large and interconnected families so I would like to try and work out who all these children are. They may not all be siblings but some might be visiting cousins. And I feel there must have been a reason for the photograph because everyday snapshots were not a thing in those days.

Any thoughts?

Have messaged you re one of the names you're researching.