Help identifying name of Place on back of photo

[Janet]

Noble Mary May 1920 (3).jpg


I have jus inherited an album of photographs with many interesting probable family photos, but most photos have no name so I am embarking on a long and tedious detective hunt and have managed to possibly identify some but the following one is defeating me.

I have the photograph of a nurse in full uniform against a probable hospital background which has name place and date on the back as above. I think I know who it might be but identifying the place would be a great help. I think the name is Talsin, though a google search does not throw up anything much for that name.

Any help would be greatly appreciated

Janeta

[Tilly Mint]

It looks to me like it is saying taken (the photo) in 1920, I may be wrong

[Janet]

Thanks Jacky.. Yes that had crossed my mind but what I think is an i definitely has a dot over it so...………? I think the photo is end of W War 1 and looks very barrack like for a hospital. The person concerned if it is who I think it is was born 1886 so 34 in the picture and unmarried at this point in time. Most of my folk just put place name and date on the back and to put the word taken seems too obvious but who knows??

Janet

[Chrissie Smiff]

I hate to say it Janet but it does look like taken and that dot is smaller than the one above the 1 of 1920, so I think it may just be a mark on the paper.

[Janet]

Thank you Chrissie so I may still be left with the question of where was she in 1920. If only I could recognise the building!

Janet

[Chrissie Smiff]

Do you think it's in England Janet? Perhaps you could post the photo and, you never know, someone might recognise it.

[Janet]

Noble Mary May 1920 (1).jpg

Thank yoy Chrissie. I have uploaded the picture which is not brilliant but the only one that I have . I do not know whether it is abroad or UK. I do know that she was at Guys Hospital pre 1914 .
Janet.

[Guest]

I think it says taken too

[Janet in Yorkshire]

I'm another one who things it says "Taken 1920" It could have been that aunty May sent it out to a nephew or niece - birthday/Christmas, perhaps, enclosed in a letter to the parent. Greetings cards were often hard to come by in the years 1919 - 1921.

Jay

[Janet]

Thankyou Val and Janet, pretty conclusive that it does say "Taken". The picture was most probably sent to my mother as the person I think it is was my mother's Aunt, sister to my grandmother.Somehow my sister had this photo in her photo album which I have now inherited. I have recently made some discoveries on this person so I am intrigued to find a photo. This person is the only Auntie May in the family of the right age and a nurse.

Janet

[Tilly Mint]

I must say how nice she looked. I know how times have changed but she looked like a Nurse....nowadays you can get mixed up with the public and the ward staff..... I bet she was Nurse Noble and not May......showing my age now lol.

[Janet]

I must say how nice she looked. I know how times have changed but she looked like a Nurse....nowadays you can get mixed up with the publiic and the ward staff..... I bet she was Nurse Noble and not May......showing my age now lol.

Yes, indeed how times change. Definitely surnames back then! So back to my drawing board to see if there are more of the same in the album. I am ceryainly enjoying scanning the photos to get better images, it is going to keep me busy for a while.

Janet

[Guest]

what a shame they never put taken at ???

[Cliff inNZ]

There appears to be a name on the front of the building and neon sign but I am no expert in photo enhancement and cannot find anything that I can read/guess. There are others on here that may be able to 'dig out' a name.

[Janet]

There appears to be a name on the front of the building and neon sign but I am no expert in photo enhancement and cannot find anything that I can read/guess. There are others on here that may be able to 'dig out' a name.

Thank you Cliff. That is very interesting because I was playing around with the photo last night and thought I noticed some writing on the building so I cropped in further but still cannot make it out but then my eyesight is poor these days! I have only scanned the photo in a few days but I really need something like photoshop to clean up the photo.

Val I have about 200 photos half of which are unnamed!! Some I have recognised from photos I already have, many are of my father in naval uniform which I have never seen before and many of those are group photos and copies of these should really be passed to the Navy in some way as he was on the Barham/Queen Elizabeth/Maine and Hospital Ship Vasna and other shore establishments in Hong Kong/Devonport/Malta and other places and all these group photos are unnamed so I have no idea which ships crews they might be. In time I may be able to guess by his uniform and cap and dates from his navy progression. There are postcards of all the ships including a big pull out strip of the Barham bought in the Barham store. My sister had no interest in Family History and she kept all this quiet! I never knew she had all this Family History! I am .delighted with all these photos of my father in Naval uniform as I never had any.but time is running out for me to sort it before my eyesight gives out altogether

Janet

[Janet]

Noble Mary May 1920 (7).jpg

Ihave cropped and uploaded the place where the letters are just above her head on the left. Can anyone make out any of these letters for me? Not sure I have done it correctly this time?

Janet

[Caroline]

Thank you Cliff. That is very interesting because I was playing around with the photo last night and thought I noticed some writing on the building so I cropped in further but still cannot make it out but then my eyesight is poor these days! I have only scanned the photo in a few days but I really need something like photoshop to clean up the photo.

Val I have about 200 photos half of which are unnamed!! Some I have recognised from photos I already have, many are of my father in naval uniform which I have never seen before and many of those are group photos and copies of these should really be passed to the Navy in some way as he was on the Barham/Queen Elizabeth/Maine and Hospital Ship Vasna and other shore establishments in Hong Kong/Devonport/Malta and other places and all these group photos are unnamed so I have no idea which ships crews they might be. In time I may be able to guess by his uniform and cap and dates from his navy progression. There are postcards of all the ships including a big pull out strip of the Barham bought in the Barham store. My sister had no interest in Family History and she kept all this quiet! I never knew she had all this Family History! I am .delighted with all these photos of my father in Naval uniform as I never had any.but time is running out for me to sort it before my eyesight gives out altogether

Janet

If it's any help, some of the group pictures i have seen from my father's time in the RN (1945ish to 1970ish), often have a squadron badge/ ship's crest or similar.

[vera2013]

May be not on the building. Could it be GRN (General Registered Nurse). Registration began in 1919 and those with previous nursing experience of ? 3+ years could apply to be registered

Vera

[Janet]

Oh Wow Vera I never thought of that one. That may well be worth investigating, thank you so much.

Thanks Caroline. That is something to think about pre war but during the Second W War all names were erased from cap badges and I think most of the ones I have are probably Seond W War as he was demobbed 1945 after 22 years service. I know which ship he was on from 1941/2 tp 1945 but 1939/41/2 is a grey area. He was in Hong Kong 1938 attached to a shore base hospital ship.

Janet

[Janet]

Thanks to Vera for thinking about the Nurses Registration Act of 1919.I did a google search and came across the following:

"The Nurses Registration Act of 1919 set up the General Nursing Council, which was established in 1920. The council was required to maintain a register of nurses. The register distinguished between different specialities such as mental health nursing and paediatric nursing, as well as containing a general register for all those trained in general nursing and a supplementary register for male nurses (Fenwick, 1920). The act was the culmination of a campaign led by the Matron of St Bartholomew’s Hospital, Ethel Fenwick, (who had considerable power as matron at one of the few endowed hospitals)

Thank you Cliff for seeing those letters and I think two of the letters are B and R? So is it possible that the building is St Barts? I know she was at Guys and St Thomas at different times and I think St Barts was part of this group of hospitals?

Jasnet