Alaric Hawkins De’Ath operated a studio portrait at 32 Bank Street, Ashford (England), and from 1913 on partnered with Arthur James Condon. He passed in 1931. They may have taken this small vignette portrait during the Great War or after, and the sitter isn’t too shabby, is he? There is no name to aid IDing this fine English gent. We only hope he came out of those troubled years relatively unscathed.
1907 Bamforth & Co. ‘Dearie’ postcard. Private Collection.
A nice love poem on a beautiful postcard from 1907. The backdrop is worth mentioning too. It looks like a swamp with the tree roots in the water and the far off wood cabin, but it feels surreal too with the mountains in the background.
A close up to better appreciate this wonderful picture in all its details:
Close up of Dearie postcard.
Publisher: Bamforth & Co. West Yorkshire. England.
Bamforth & Co. not only published postcards but were filmmakers too. Their silent films were so successful they created a whole industry in West Yorkshire that surpassed the Hollywood of the time.
The backdrop of this postcard is so detailed I have difficulties believing it was only used for this postcard. It would be interesting to find out if it was used in an early silent.
In 2001 a businessman named Ian Wallace bought the name and rights to all 50,000+ pictures of the then defunct company’s catalog. In 2011 he relaunched the reprints of their postcards through licensing.
Source: Bamforth & Co. wiki
Banjo player and friend. CDV. Private Collection.
They have boutonniere flowers on the lapels. This was taken at a formal event sometime in the 1890s or 1900s, maybe at a wedding.
Circa 1910 British army cadet. RPPC in tintype case. Private Collection.
This circa 1910 British cadet who can’t be more than 12-13, is proudly posing in his green wool uniform with peaked cap and sword by the side.
I find this photograph quite beautiful yet sad and haunting. This boy went on to fight in the First World War at a very young age, of this there’s no doubt.
I also find interesting that his paper picture was framed in a tintype case.
So I asked myself, “is there a name or note hidden to the back of the picture?” I opened it.
Well, it wasn’t all for nothing (I think I would have kicked myself if I found nothing but something told me). It did reveal a note, the partial name of the boy and that this is a RPPC with the divided back, which dates the picture to around 1907-1914; it fits the era of the uniform.
I think his surname was either Stan or Stanley, and his given name most likely Carl or Charles.
From C. Stan to Dick.
Of course I put the case back together and wrote the name in pencil on the outside.
Those cases are fragile but this one had already been meddled with by someone who removed a tintype and replaced it with this RPPC, so I took a chance. I can imagine a family member lovingly doing this or the boy himself to give as a keepsake.
One million British soldiers and allies died during World War I. I set to research some for a match and got sidetracked reading the many individual stories of those who fell. I won’t lie, as an army wife it was particularly emotionally exhaustive, and a partial name isn’t enough to come to a definite conclusion, but I tried. I did find two soldiers by the shared name of Charles Stanley who died in 1917 and 1918 at the same age (19). No one by the name Stan Carl or Charles died during the war is all I can say for sure.
(On Netflix in the U.S you can catch Our World War, a three part BBC docu-series of particularly powerful individual stories of British soldiers who experienced those truly horrible years. If you can get past the choice of music for the soundtrack I highly recommend it. The husband says it is to relate to younger audiences.)
1890s-1900s Cabinet card. Private Collection.
The photographer set the camera at a low angle which is highly unusual, but it paid off and the portrait is gorgeous. This gentleman has very beautiful eyes drawing the viewer in. Loving the fat bowtie too.
Alas, no name or photographer logo…This one came from a dealer based in East Sussex, England. This fine sitter was most certainly British.
Plain dark green card with gold bevelled edges and plain back.
Bowlers And High Collars 