Unidentified Young Scottish Familiy (probably late-1900s)


Figure 1.--Here we have a wonderful picture of a young Scottish family. Unfortunately there is no information associated with the image. Thus we can only work with what we see in the image. The photograph is not dated, but looks to us like the late-1900s or early-1910s, surely before World War I. We see four children very close in age, probably about 3-9 years in age. Because of the wooden beach sand shovels, we are guessing they are on vacation, although the background building does not suggest a vacation spot. The golf club rather suggests St. Andrews. The clothing does suggest a prosperous family that would take vacations.

Here we have a wonderful picture of a young Scottish family. Unfortunately there is no information associated with the image. Thus we can only work with what we see in the image. The photograph is not dated, but looks to us like the late-1900s or early-1910s, surely before World War I. We see four children very close in age, probably about 3-9 years in age. Because of the wooden beach sand shovels, we are guessing they are on vacation, although the background building does not suggest a vacation spot. The clothing does suggest a prosperous family that would take vacations. The charming aspect of the photograph is how they are holding on to each other, clearly a tight-knit little group. The expressions on the children's faces suggest to us that the photograph was taken by some kind of intinerate photographer rather than father. Notice the younger boy's expression. We would guess that the photograph was taken some place in the Highlands along the coast or even on one of the islands. Notice the golf club, that could suggest St. Andrews, although the building is not a stone structure one associates with St. Andrews. We might guess the club belonged to father. Itinerate photographers did not usually bring along props. The two younger children (a boy and a girl) wear sailor dresses. This strongly suggests a substantial middle-class family. The boy wears a standard wide-brimmed sailor hat. He is the only child wearing long sdtockings. The girl wears an unsuual cap. The two boys wear identical cut-away jackets and kilt outfits. One boy wears a peaked cap with his kilt outfit. He looks to be about 6 years old and thus has probably beguin to go to school, although the cap does not seem to be a school cap. Notice how it matches the jascket. We would guess his older brother had a similar cap. . The two kilted boys seem to be wearing knee pants or long drawers with their kilts as does the girl with her sailor dress. While the boys have smart Scottish outfits complere with stiff Eton collars and bowties, they do not have sporahns, even small leather ones. Perhaps our Scottish readers will be able to glean some insights from the photograph.





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Created: 4:11 PM 5/4/2011
Last updated: 4:11 PM 5/4/2011