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Photographer at "6 The Parade" somewhere? Maybe Cattell family?

Pointydog

Pointydog

Brummie babby
Hi all,

I've come to the forum mainly to try to get to the bottom of who is showing in an old photo we have. It turned up in the house where my 2 x great grandmother lived in Over in Cambridgeshire. Annoyingly, the photographer's details only partially show, "9 The Parade" and the tops of some letters (see on left below). We aren't even sure if it is of my 2 x great grandmother or her family but the address of the photographer led me to think it might be from the Birmingham area. Scouring the internet I located a photographer, Robert L Graham who had a studio at 6 The Parade in Leamington. I have also found vague references to photography studios on The Parade in Sutton Coldfield. One of my 2 x great grandmother's daughters, Harriet Carter, married Herbert John Cattell in 1877 and they farmed at Marston Hall, Bickenhill so it is feasible that they might have used a photographer in the Birmingham area and some of these people might be them.

Anyway....is there anyone on this site who is super-familiar with the branding of early photos and would recognise it in the attached photo. Also, is there anyone here good at dating old photos? If this picture did include Harriet Carter and her family the ages of the children would date it to around 1895.

View attachment 152621Carters:Cattells photo found at Sycamore Farm, Over.jpg
 
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Robert Graham certainly had premises at 6 and 8 The Parade in Leamington - listed in 1900 Kelly's. In the same directory 6 Parade, Sutton Coldfield is a bootmaker and hairdresser. Note the Sutton address is just "Parade" not "The Parade" - not sure if that is significant.
 
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Graham's seemed to print their names like this:
 

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pjmburns said:
Robert Graham certainly had premises at 6 and 8 The Parade in Leamington - listed in 1900 Kelly's. In the same directory 6 Parade, Sutton Coldfield is a bootmaker and hairdresser. Not the Sutton address is just "Parade" not "The Parade" - not sure if that is significant.
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Yes, think that would be significant - I am not familiar with either area but think that would rule out Sutton then as a potential address. Thanks.
 
Earlier in his career Graham describes his address as "Graham's art studio, Top of the Parade" (1880 Kellys), whereas later (1900 Kellys) it is just "6 & 8 The Parade". There are some photos (well I found one) with a more flamboyant name (see below) which is not identical to the top of it on your photo , but similar, and address is just Leamington The top of the signature is similar to yours, but not identical. As the address on your photo says just 6, I would suggest, if it is Graham's work, that it is after the 1880 date, but before he had a larger studio at 6&8.

sample of R.L Graham s phpotos.jpg
 
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mikejee said:
Earlier in his career Graham describes his address as "Graham's art studio, Top of the Parade" (1880 Kellys), whereas later (1900 Kellys) it is just "6 & 8 The Parade". There are some photos (well I found one) with a more flamboyant name (see below) which is not identical to the top of it on your photo , but similar, and address is just Leamington The top of the signature is similar to yours, but not identical. As the address on your photo says just 6, I would suggest, if it is Graham's work, that it is after the 1880 date, but before he had a larger studio st 6&8.

View attachment 152630
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Hmm, maybe my theory is just wrong then! I did see one carte de visite for a photographer on King's Parade, Cambridge but they had just printed Parade so it could be as crazy as that. Thanks for your help.
 
The photo does suggest to me a family with a farming interest. The style of dress of the man far right (back) looks like the type of outdoor wear that might have been worn, possibly for gamekeeping ? Also the bowler hats could have an association with farm management. Interestingly the young man/boy far left has a bowler hat too.

In terms of date, I’d say the female clothing is around 1890s, by that time dresses had become less frilly and fussy. The skirts look plainer and the hats look narrower than in previous decades. The lady far right and the one far left are wearing a Tyrolean-style hat, popular in the late 1880s/90s. Viv.
 
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Vivienne14 said:
The photo does suggest to me a family with a farming interest. The style of dress of the man far right (back) looks like the type of outdoor wear that might have been worn, possibly for gamekeeping ? Also the bowler hats could have an association with farm management. Interestingly the young man/boy far left has a bowler hat too.

In terms of date, I’d say the female clothing is around 1890s, by that time dresses had become less frilly and fussy. The skirts look plainer and the hats look narrower than in previous decades. The lady far right and the one far left are wearing a Tyrolean-style hat, popular in the late 1880s/90s. Viv.
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Thank you, I thought the hats were distinctive and internet-searching made me place it to the 1890s but I am no expert and good to have another opinion that places it then. If it is my family they were all farming folk but one of the sons became an accountant and lived in Harpenden - the country attire does make me think it isn't any of that lot.
 
There is a Zoom presentation , which you have to book for by someone researching photogfraphs of Sutton Park


Thursday 21 October is the date for our online local interest talk, Sutton Park: A Photographer’s Place.

Sutton Park has been a place of interest for many a photographer over the years. Supported by an Arts Council England grant, Anna Sparham is currently researching photographs of the park held in public archives. This talk will introduce some of those better-known photographers through the 19th and early 20th centuries and some contemporary photographers who are drawn to the park today, including herself. How have these photographers’ purposes and approaches varied? What and where has been their focus?

This talk will take place on Zoom. It's free, but you'll need to book a place to attend: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_2LxxOnSnQf-WV3lCpAW6Qw
 
Pointydog said:
Hi all,


Anyway....is there anyone on this site who is super-familiar with the branding of early photos and would recognise it in the attached photo. Also, is there anyone here good at dating old photos? If this picture did include Harriet Carter and her family the ages of the children would date it to around 1895.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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I may be wrong but I get the impression that some if not all of those people in the back row are not family but are staff, see the young boy on the left, he looks rather unkempt as though his coat is hand me down and he can't button it up. The old lady at the back ( the housekeeper, cook?) is standing and steadying herself by hold the chairback while young girls are sitting down which very much suggests she is not a family member

That's not a studio photograph so the photographer would have had to set up at the actual residence, that would be costly and above anyone who was not well off. It was common for the well to do to photograph their servants together, sometimes in their Sunday best clothes.
 
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