• Welcome to this forum . We are a worldwide group with a common interest in Birmingham and its history. While here, please follow a few simple rules. We ask that you respect other members, thank those who have helped you and please keep your contributions on-topic with the thread.

    We do hope you enjoy your visit. BHF Admin Team
  • HI folks the server that hosts the site completely died including the Hdd's and backups.
    Luckily i create an offsite backup once a week! this has now been restored so we have lost a few days posts.
    im still fixing things at the moment so bear with me and im still working on all images 90% are fine the others im working on now
    we are now using a backup solution

Photo of women in white

M

Maria Magenta

master brummie
Ninjas.jpg
Found among the photos of a relative who died recently. Has any one else got anything similar, and do you think it's from around the end of the First World War? Are the girls wearing their new Whitsun clothes, perhaps?
 
You have a box full of magic there.Sadly I am not to good on fashions but keep those photos coming , they are great. You may find some of our PhotoShop wizards may upload repaired copies of them.( Hint Hint.) They are very good at it.;)
 
time it was, oh what a time it was, I have a photograph, it's all that's left to me.......................................................
 
Marie I do have a very damaged photo where all the class are dressed in white will sort it and post if for you. Jean.
 
This photo was repaired with the other half by someone on the forum but I can't for the life of me find it. Will take a proper look later. Jean.
 
Jean. Would the picture of the girls in white Dresses be a picture of their Church Confirmation or 1st Communion ? Miriam/
 
I thought that myself Miriam but when the other half is attached there are an awful lot of young girls. My aunt always said it was a school but that is all I can remember. Jean.
 
The picture reminded me of one of my great grandmother with her husband and baby (my granddad who was born in 1912).

I can date this picture via the dob of my granddad to just before WW1 if it's any help.

The second picture shows just her with her son, so I guess either during the war or just after, but again she is wearing white.

Sarah
 
Bernard67Arnold said:
You think its an early judo pic, the one on the right being "black belt", just a thought!!
Bernard
Click to expand...
Bernard,

I had the same thought as you but, on reflection, the dresses seem very complicated for physical activity even for early 20th Century. I am now thinking that perhaps the black belt is in mourning perhaps for a husband or boy friend lost during the war.

Old Boy
 
My American cousin also thought of judo or yoga, but I think the belted style of dress would have been a bit restricting, though it's a nice idea!

The black belt as mourning I hadn't thought of. It does look a bit wrong; white or a pale colour would have been better. Likewise the other girl's black shoes and stockings don't quite 'go,' but perhaps she didn't have any pale ones.

Sarah's photos made me think how hard laundry must have been! Unless you could send things to a commercial laundry, in which case it would have been some one else's problem. One of my grandmothers was a laundry maid.
 
Maria I watched a programme about the worlds worst jobs and one was the women whose job it was to do the laundry by hand. The lime that was used eventually took the skin off their hands and fingers. Also the constant rubbing of the white sheets. Jean.
 
Maria Magenta said:
Ninjas.jpg
Found among the photos of a relative who died recently. Has any one else got anything similar, and do you think it's from around the end of the First World War? Are the girls wearing their new Whitsun clothes, perhaps?
Click to expand...
I have heard that ladies in mourning sometimes wore white,
 
I think, but not completely certain, that people did wear white for mourning and the black wear came in during the period of mourning by Queen Victoria when Albert died
 
The colour of deepest mourning among medieval European queens was white rather than black. This tradition survived in Spain until the end of the fifteenth century. It was practised again by the Spanish-born Belgian Queen Fabiola at King Baudouin's funeral. It was the custom for the queens of France to wear deuil blanc, or "white mourning". This was the origin of the "white wardrobe" created by Norman Hartnell for Queen Elizabeth (later the Queen Mother) in 1938. Elizabeth was required to make a state visit to France while in mourning for her mother.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mourning
 
The dresses are beautiful. Although they could be sports gear, the court shoes would say no. I believe the lady on the right has what we used to call a "lazy eye" (not sure what the modern PC term is) and is a rare example of a photo with a feminine monocle. The lady on the left may have a brooch made of Jet which could also indicate mourning. My guess is c1915-1920.
 
Aidan said:
The dresses are beautiful. Although they could be sports gear, the court shoes would say no. I believe the lady on the right has what we used to call a "lazy eye" (not sure what the modern PC term is) and is a rare example of a photo with a feminine monocle. The lady on the left may have a brooch made of Jet which could also indicate mourning. My guess is c1915-1920.
Click to expand...

Ooh well spotted, I'd missed that.

I'm certainly glad I didn't have to do the washing in those days!
 
Lady on right has no wedding ring though - there were many fiancées left mourning after the hostilities - not just one lost generation....
 
Mr Magenta thinks that the one on the right might have a few more pounds in the bank, as she's wearing a wrist watch and a bracelet, and she's made sure that they're visible.
 
Could we assume any significance of the daisies on the table.

The following from the meaning of flowers:-

'' Daisy[SIZE=-1] - innocence and modesty - chanting 'he loves me, he loves me not' as they plucked the petals from a daisy was how Victorian girls discovered whether their suitors were true or not. Northern girls once believed that if they closed their eyes and picked a handful of daisies, the number they held would foretell how many years it would be before they married. [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]hether their suitors were true or not. Northern girls once believed that if they closed their eyes and picked a handful of daisies, the number they held would foretell how many years it would be before they married.''

Humph
[/SIZE]
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top