Figure 1.--Here is a carte-de-visite (CDV) portrait by Hanson of Leeds. It shows an unidentified family group of children. We have rarely seen such a great and well-posed CDV. The portrait spaeks highly of the studio. The family is unidentified. Leeds is in Yorkshire which at the time was an important center of the textile industry. This was clearly a prosperous family. There are six children. Unfortunately we have only a small scan of the portrait. Four are clearly girls. The two younger girls at the sides are dresed identically. The older girls also seem to be wearing identical dresses. The boy at the back wear a dark suit. We can't tell much about his outfit except that he has a small white collar. We are unsure about the youngest child. We suspect that he is a boy who has not yet been breeched. The child looks about 4-5 years old.

Here is a carte-de-visite (CDV) portrait by Hanson of Leeds. It shows an unidentified family group of children. We have rarely seen such a great and well-posed CDV. The portrait spaeks highly of the studio. The family is unidentified. Leeds is in Yorkshire which at the time was an important center of the textile industry. This was clearly a prosperous family. There are six children. Four are clearly girls. The two younger girls at the sides are dresed identically. The oldergirls als seem to be wearing identical dresses, The boy at the back wear a dark suit. We can't tell much about his outfit except that he has a small white collar. We are unsure about the youngest child. We suspect that he is a boy who has not yet been breeched. The child looks about 4-5 years old. A reader writes, "I think the child sitting on an older sisters lap is a boy He has boyish features and short hair. His dress although similar to his sisters', has front button fastening. I can see no buttons on the front of the dresses the girls are wearing." Family portraits like this are helpful in establishing breeching trends. The younger child's dress seems similar to that of the younger sisters, only a darker color. Unfortunately we can not tell what color the dresses are. The portrait is undated. We would guess it was taken kn the erly 1870s. A HBC reader collecting old photographs estimates it was taken about 1870, meaning the late 60s or early 70s.

Created: 8:29 PM 8/16/2008
Last updated: 7:51 PM 7/7/2016