** John Montague Stopford









Figure 1.-- This portrait is unidentified, but hard to read. His name was John Montague Stopford. Interestingly John is wearing an overcoat. The overcoat has double-breasted styling, but does not seem to be an actual double-breasted coat. Usually mothers had children take off their coats so the portrait would show the nice suits and dresses they were wearing. Here we have no idea what John is wearing. We can see his Glengary cap and streamer--a indication of the popularity of Scottish fashions. The portrait was taken at the Maull & co. studio in London. There were two studios. The negative was No. 83863. Put your cursor on the image to see the name on the back of the card.

John Montague Stopford (England, 1871)

Most CDV portraits are unidentified. This portrait is unidentified, but hard to read. We are guessing that the boy's name was John Montague Stopford. Interestingly John is wearing an overcoat. The overcoat has double-breasted styling, but does not seem to be an actual double-breasted coat. Usually mothers had children take off their coats so the portrait would show the nice suits and dresses they were wearing. Perhaps the studio wasn't very well heated. Here we have no idea what John is wearing. We can see his Glengary cap and streamer--a indication of the popularity of Scottish fashions. He also wears bloomer knickers and heavy socks. Note how his knickers do not have buttons or knickers, but were closed with draw strings. We do not know how long they were. He has high-top shoes. John was 10-years old and the portrait was taken at the Maull & co. studio in London (Piccadilly and Cheapside) during March 1871. (The writing looks like March 1841, but the CDV format did not exist at the time.) Note the little black dog. Small dogs like this began to be bread during the Victorian era as the newly prosperous middle-class began demanding household pets adapted to city life. I'm not sure what kind of dog this is.

Family

Hohn's middle name was Momtague. That is obviously of French origins. There was a John Montague Stopford that was a peer and desccended from William the Conqueror. It was not John though, although we suapect that John and his father were related to him. John's parents were George Montague Stopford and Caroline Mary.

The Boy

Most CDV portraits are unidentified. This portrait is identified, but hard to read. We are guessing that the boy's name was John Montagu Slopford, but that is not an English name with which we are familiar. A reader had found census records that have helped identify the boy as John Montague Stopford. He was born in London during 1861. He was christened July 12, 1860 at Holy Trinity, Paddington, London. (This must be a misprint, presumably 1861.)

Age

John was 10-years old when the portrait was taken. We know that from the incription on the back of the card.

Chronology

The portrait was taken during March 1871. (The writing looks like March 1841, but the CDV format did not exist at the time. The Germans solved this problen by putting a slash through the 7, but the Americand and English did not use this device.)

Clothing

Interestingly John is wearing an overcoat. The overcoat has double-breasted styling, but does not seem to be an actual double-breasted coat. Usually mothers had children take off their coats so the portrait would show the nice suits and dresses they were wearing. Perhaps the studio wasn't very well heated. Here we have no idea what John is wearing. We can see his Glengary cap and streamer--a indication of the popularity of Scottish fashions. He also wears bloomer knickers and heavy socks. Note how his knickers do not have buttons or knickers, but were closed with draw strings. We do not know how long his stockings were. He has high-top shoes.

Photography

The portrait was taken at the Maull & co. studio in London (Piccadilly and Cheapside).

Pets

Note the little black dog. Small dogs like this began to be bread during the Victorian era as the newly prosperous middle-class began demanding household pets adapted to city life. I'm not sure what kind of dog this is. I don't recognize the breed. Perhaps it was a mutt. You would think that John's family would have a thouroghbreed. We rather thought that John must have insisted on bringing it along. Studios commonly had props to use, but I think pets appearing in the portraits were actual family pets. A German reader yells us, "Well, this dog is stuffed studio prop. It is dead. Stuffed dogs often were used as studio probs. I have seen it several times. It was simply easy to use a dog that doesn't move." Our reader may be right, the dog doesn't look all that lively. We rather thought that parents would want a stuffed dog unrelated to the family in the portrait. Perhaps it helped pose John and as our reader metions, the stuffed dod avoided problems encountered with lies one.

Adult Life

We know that John entered the Regular Army. A Census report taken 10 years after the portrait here shows him serving as a Lieutenant at Fort Brockhurst With married quarters. The Census was taken at Alverstoke, Hampshire. Apparentlt Lt. Stopford was not married, but he was living with a friend, Lt. Charles James Hope Johnstone.






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Created: 9:33 PM 2/5/2009
Last edited: 7:43 PM 2/6/2009