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Portrait of a Lady From William H Clarke Framer 82, Soho Hill Hockley any ideas?

M

Mechanima

proper brummie kid
It's a very long shot, but someone may recognise this lovely lady. The paper tape inside her expensive frame says:
"William H Clarke"
82, Soho Hill,
Hockley
Birmingham

Picture Frame and Overmantel Maker

Dealer in English China and Pottery Art Furnisher

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Any information at all...even the period in which William H Clarke traded at that address would be great. :)
 
82 Soho hill was on the east side of the road, on the junction with Naden Road.
Kellys directories show him in their editions from 1912 (but not 1910) till 1921 listed as a picture frame maker and in 1932 & 1933 as a furniture dealer, but replaced by another secondhand furniture dealer in 1936. I do not have access to the Kellys between 1921 & 1932, but am sure he was also there then. The dates given are publication dates and the dates that the directories refer to should be considered to be up to a year before that date. Therefore William was selling from that address from 1910-11 till about 1933-35.
 
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Thank you SO MUCH! :) I couldn't find him anywhere.

I would say, from all the other stuff in his own blurb it might be reasonable to assume the picture fits into that 1921 - 1932 twilight zone?
 
That would seem probable. I did also check on Ancestry to see if he was registered with a phone in those years, but there is no listing, though this may be because he was listed under some other name (if the shop was called , say" the furniture shop")
 
Phones were very rare in those days...and, BIG CLUE...he has no phone number on the tape - he would hardly leave it off...
 
William Henry Clarke lived at 80 Soho Hill with wife Florence Elizabeth (nee Shemmell) in 1911. He is aged 31, and occupation given was picture frame manufacturer on own account. William and Florence had been married 6 years
 
Is it too easy...or could Florence Elizabeth be the lady? I must get a photo of the frame in daylight, very slightly damaged at the corners, but it is STILL an elegant work of art that must have cost more than the photograph...weighs a ton too...
 
It theres a back to the frame .. is it possible to remove the photo from the frame to see if anythings written on the back of the photo
 
She doesn't look very happy does she - could it be a mourning photo? It looks as if she may be wearing all black and is that a black pendant on her necklace?
Shame Mike couldn't find William H Clarke on the phone lists - it may have helped date the picture as there was no number on the paper tape (I would think that was probably Mikes thinking when he checked the lists).
 
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I got into the back of frame right away. The brown paper was clear, but there was a tantalising old sheet under it pasted face against the wood backing with an Irish stamp from what little I can see (I got the picture in Dublin so that would not be part of original backing) and fragments of an address. I have tried everything but it is too well pasted to come off intact. Dampened there is some writing there (obviously as seen from behind so "mirrored") but I can't make any of it out:

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The shades must have been distorted a bit because, in real life whatever colour she is wearing is far too light to be black, and the pendant is some kind of round stone with inverted triangle drop...not black at all but she does look very sad.
 
she looks very like my aunty Alice from Selly Oak, Nan's cousin but I called her aunty. I will ask her son.
 
He is in his very late eighties would that put her in the right age frame? I only knew her (to me as a chid then) as an old lady. She had a melancholy air although she wasn't and was very petite with greying to dark wavy curly hair.
 
I have not forgotten the photo Mechanima. I have been speaking to my cousin, he doesn't have any old photos of his mum when she was young but I printed yours out. When it is blown up thr lady looks less like Aunty Alice but I didn't know her when she was young. I showed someone else though and they did think there is a resemblance. I will post it to the cousin and let you know.Nico
 
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