England: Cambridge Family (1860s-70s)


Figure 1.--This portrait shows Bertie in 1873. He has a short hair cut, but there is a good bit of hair around the ears. He has a small rounded collar and neckwear looking rather like an early necktie. He looks to be about 11 years old. Image coutesy of the MD collection.

A HBC reader has acquired a wonderful Carte de Visite album from an English family during the 1860s and 70s. All the subjects are identified by Christian name and the date the photo was taken. The portraits show a vey prosprous family, but that is all we know about it. Photography by the 1860s had become much less expensive than in the 1850s. Even so, it was not cheap. Only an affluent family could afford numperous individual portrairs of each child, especially in a large family. In addition, there were important technical innovations. The CDV, for example, was a major improve over the Deguereotype. Most of the photos in this albumn were taken in Cambridge so I would assume the family resided in that area, some of the later ones (circa 1873) were taken in Brighton, possibly on vacation. This was a typical large Victorian family. he two boys were Bertie and Alan. The children's ages are not indicated, but we can estimate birth dates from the dated portraits. Thre were also photos of five sisters as well: Florrie, Connie, Nellie, Grace, and Ethel. While we have no written information about the family and do not even know the family (last) name, the many different images offer a wonderful glimpse into the clothing worn by affluent English children during this period.

CDV Photograph Albumn

A HBC reader has acquired a wonderful Carte de Visite album from an English family during the 1860s and 70s. It has a tooled leather cover, a double "S" logo, ans a metal clasp. It looks to be specifically designed for CDVs. All the CDV portraits are identified by Christian name and the date the photo was taken. Family albumns were very common in the 19th century, especially after the appearance of CDVs. Dagereotypes were not easy to put in albumns. These albums might have very elaborate leather covers. They were lovingly maintained by the the family--normally the mother. The albumns were kept in the parlor and brought out for company to see. These albumns were not limited to photographic portraits, altnough this one was. Lots of other items mught be included such as theater tickets, baby ribbons, postcards, pressed flowers, amd much more.

The Family

A quick search of the 1881 census based on the Christian name of Grace, born around 1866 in the county of Cambridge (as I did not know the surname of the family). Would you believe there was only one Grace with a surname beginning with S (which is on the front of the albumn) returned in the search and that when I looked at the rest of the household, most of the other siblings appeared. The only exceptions being some of the boys who were probably away at school on Census night. The family had a butler, groom, two footmen, a housekeeper, a domestic servant, a nurse/domestic servant, an under nurse/domestic servant and a governess/teacher! There are also three more children not accounted for in the albumn. There were another nine servants listed. I'm now going to see if I can track down the boys at school. Unfortunately ther are no group photographs of this fascinating family.

Photography

Photography by the 1860s had become much less expensive than in the 1850s. Even so, it was not cheap. Only an affluent family could afford numperous individual portrairs of each child, especially in a large family. In addition, there were important technical innovations. The CDV, for example, was a major improvement over the Deguereotype.

Location

Most of the photos in this albumn were taken in Cambridge so I would assume the family resided in that area, some of the later ones (circa 1873) were taken in Brighton, possibly on vacation.

Family Members

A searched the 1901 British census provides information on the most of the members of the Stnley family about 20 years after the portraits displayed here were taken.

The Children

The boys un the album were Charley (1860), Alan (1861), Bertie (1863), and Guy (1867). John and Maurice came later than the period covered by this albumn. The first three boys were very close in age. The children's ages are not indicated on the photographs, but a family member has provided them to us. The helps to show that some of these are very early CDVs. (At least they would have been in America, I am not sure precisely when they first appeared in Britain.) There were also photos of the sisters as well. As most of the images are individual portraits, we have few clues as to the relationship between the brothers and sisters. Often group portraits provide body language clues. A British reader reports seeing some CDVs from 1859, but most date from the early 1860s. There were also photos of five sisters as well: Ethel (1860), Ellen Ada (1864), Grace (1865), Constance Eva--Connie (1870), Florence Howard--Florrie (1872), Winifred (1877), and Marguerite Sara (1879). As most of the images are individual portraits, we do not have any clues as to the relationship between the brothers and sisters.

Chronology

One very useful aspect of this wonderful collection is that the portraits are all dated. Many images HBC has acquired ar not dated, thus this is a very important addition to the HBC archive. This albumn provides a very reliable record of when the fashions depicted here were actually worn. It is also a fascinating reord of how the clothing of each child varied over time. The images begin April 30, 1863 with two CDVs taken at Mayland of Cambridge. Alan was about 1 year old and Charlie was about 2-3 years old. It is a wonderful dated record of clothing styles during the 1860s and 70s.

Clothing

While we have no written information about the family and do not even know the family (last) name, the many different images offer a wonderful glimpse into the clothing worn by affluent English children during this period. When very young the boys wore knickers. They seemed to have been breached at about age 3-4 years. Although close in age, the boys do not appear to have been dressed identically. Several portraits were taken at about the same time. They show the boys wearing imilar, but not identical outfits. The boys when younger wore dresses and knicker velvet suits. We see no evidence, however, of the fancy Fauntleroy style that was becoming popular in the 0s even bfore the publication of Mr. Burnette's book. We suspect that the fact that the boys were born in the 1860s was a factor here.

Hair

The boys seemed to have had their hair done somewhat differetly. Alain appears to have worn the same short hair style beginning as a baby. Bertie has a imilar hir style as an older boy, but as alittle boy his hair was curled. We do not know know why their mother decided to do Bertie's head differently than his older brother. Images of Alan about 1 year old in dresses (1863) show short hair. Bertie as slightly older boy about 3 years old in dresses (1866) show elaborately styled ringlet curls. They are not long ringlets, but they are very elabirately done tight ringlets. Later the boys had very similar short hair cuts.






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Created: March 9, 2002
Last updated: March 11, 2003