Tuesday 13 December 2011

The Paternal Grandparents

This first picture shows my grandmother along with my father, and his brother and sister. My father is the younger boy and was born in 1908.
My grandfather is absent from the family group because he was away serving in the Great War 1914 - 1918. He stayed in the army  until 1920. This photo shows him seated with a little dog, probably abandoned due to war, which became his companion whilst he was away. My grandfather was a Bombardier in the Royal Field Artillery and his companion a Lance-Bombardier.
This is a picture of my father as a teenager. He was a really keen sportsman playing both football and rugby. Sadly neither of his sons were keen ball players, and nor are my two sons. He does, however, have a grandson in Canada who is keen on ball sports.
This is a photo of H's grandparents with his father standing in the middle of the picture between his parents.
The interesting thing is that H's father was also born in 1908, and I suspect that in both photos my father and his father are roughly the same age.
My family are from a large town, and H's family are farmers living in the countryside. This makes for an interesting comparison particularly concerning the clothes they are wearing. My father wears a stiff collar, bow-tie, waistcoat, jacket, and trousers with long dark stocking socks and boots. H's father is casually attired in a crew necked jumper, and I am presuming ¾ stockings and boots similarly to his younger brother. The comparisons with our grandmothers too is noticeable. There is definitely a town versus country thing going on. My aunt is obviously the little darling of the family with her hair in ringlets, topped off by a bow, and wearing an embroidery-anglais dress. H's Aunt looks as if her hair hasn't seen a brush or comb for many a day, and the hair ribbons look to have been tied in by herself - however, I love her look. I think she has the look of the Pre-Raphaelites.
This is a rather poignant photo. The boy is the eldest son shown standing in the family group behind H's father. Sadly as was the way with many families pre modern surgery, immunisation, and antibiotics, his twin sister died from Meningitis shortly after this photo was taken. 

16 comments:

  1. how many differences and similarities one can find through old pictures. and how much history, although private at the same time a part of our worlds history.... the last picture is so cute and the story behind it heartbreaking ...

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  2. Hello Rosemary:
    Photographs, such as these which you show here, are endlessly fascinating for they always, and of course it is true of these, have stories to tell. The comparisons which you are able to make between country and town add to the intrigue and the pictures do provide a social commentary of the times. We have one set of parents born very close to those of yours and H's in 1909 and 1912.

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  3. Dear Demie - Yes, by telling us more about those that went before us, these photographs do stir the emotions, and make us more intimate with the past.

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  4. Hello Jane and Lance - parallels with your family during the same period adds to the interest. Glad I could share these with you.

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  5. Hi, Rosemary - As a collector of antique photographs, I'm always looking at images and wondering about personalities (and perhaps sometimes even superimposing them), and I suppose that's one of the attractions to that collection. I certainly see strong personalities in both of your fathers!

    There's always a poignancy looking at old images of young children and knowing that we're seeing the beginning of a life that's already been experienced in full.

    That last photograph is a wonderful period piece!

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  6. Interesanta prezentarea strabunicilor. Acum, in era digitala, daca se pastreaza bine datele, putem spera sa fim vazuti de urmasii nostri peste sute de ani. Salutari!

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  7. Buna Marius - toate acestea vor face urmaşii noştri, cu toate fotografiile digitale care sunt în jurul valorii de astăzi?

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  8. Dear Mark - it is interesting to contemplate, when viewing antique photographs, how those lives turned out. We do the same when looking at photographs of our relatives. Sometimes, as in the last photograph, the outcome is tragic. H was given a large family album, which we treasure, by his Aunt - the one with the dishevelled hair!

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  9. Rosemary, a wonderful set of photos-Phil and I spent ages poring over them. We love your grandfather and his dog, of course, but it is that last picture which is incredibly arresting: those two little grave expressions and the beautiful toys. Thank you.

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  10. Kate - I am pleased that you and Phil enjoyed seeing the photos. The twins caught forever in a brief moment by the camera, in view of their sad story, do have a powerful impact.

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  11. These are such wonderful vintage photos and I really enjoyed looking at them and reading more about your ancestors. It is so lovely to have that link with the past...

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  12. Dear Nat - pleased you enjoyed looking at the family photos. There is something rather comforting in knowing about our ancestors and comparing how much our lives have changed.

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  13. Likewise, I enjoy seeing old family photos. I have many of my family and occasionally view them. One thing I have always noticed is that they would have stern or at the least serious looking faces. One thing that caught my attention was in the first photo it looks like your father was perhaps one to just go his own way and it looks like he has a bit of a smile. It occurred to me you probably have a bit of that and it helped lead you into writing your own blog. Nice post, Joe

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    1. Dear Joe - I had noticed that on many of the old sepia photos the faces look rather serious and stern. It was pointed out to me that because photography technology was in it's infancy it took a long time to actually take the photograph and so the subjects faces became rather set and frozen in their appearance. I had not particularly noticed that my father had a bit of a smile on his face, that is nice, thank you for pointing it out. He was always a kind and generous father to us all.

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  14. What a lovely collection of family photos you have. We don't have many before the '20's,

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    1. I am pleased that you enjoyed seeing the family photos - but now I am wondering how you found this post from long ago?

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