I just loved this old photograph I recently found which showed a bride as part of a wedding group celebration with lots of boy scouts behind her and luckily on the back of the postcard someone had written lots of information to help me research it further, as below; On the back is written – Miss Myrtle ROBINSON of Wood Bank, 142 Burngreave Road in Sheffield married Frank YATES at Holy Trinity Church in Nursery Street in Sheffield – Father John ROBINSON an Iron Founder in Royds Lane in Sheffield. I quickly found that Elizabeth Myrtle ROBINSON married Frank YATES in the July quarter of 1926 i ..read more

Another lovely old wedding photograph find had some clues written on back of the postcard as below – With all good wishes for a Bright and Merry Xmas and a Prosperous New Year – Mr and Mrs A E PANTER. The photograph was taken by Perrott & Lacey photographers in Rushden in Northamptonshire – so could I find a Mr and Mrs A E PANTER in that area to link to the photograph? I started by looking at marriage registrations online and found quite a few A E PANTER’s, but the most likely match seemed to be the marriage of Alfred E PANTER and Gladys M ROBINSON in the October quarter of 1924 in the ..read more

I always enjoy finding and researching old wedding photographs so I was really pleased to find this one below with lots of clues on the back – it had names Emmeline WHALLEY and Arthur and Andrew, a date of September 15th 1920 and an address of Sunnyhill Road in Streatham. I started by looking at the 1911 census records and quickly found a match to a WHALLEY family living at 119 Sunny Hill Road in Streatham ,as below, the census showed Henry WHALLEY aged 59 a Retired Grocer born in Low Moor in Clitheroe in Lancashire, his wife Dora Frances aged 59 born in Blackburn and children Arthur Angelo ..read more

A great recent old photograph find, as below, had both names and an address written on the back of the postcard so I was sure I could research it further – it was sent by Mr and Mrs GAUNT and Edith from 13 Whitelands, The Lanes in Pudsey in Yorkshire, but had no date unfortunately. I started by quickly searching the 1911 census records using the surname GAUNT and the address and found a match, as below, to John William GAUNT aged 34 a Domestic Coachman born in Pudsey, his wife Janet aged 30 born in Calverley and their daughter Edith aged 8 born in Pudsey, so an exact match to the three peopl ..read more

A recent old postcard find that perked my interest was this old card below sent to Master F W E SAVAGE at the General Stores in Orford in Suffolk on 26th September 1906 from his cousin Dudley with a Bury St Edmunds postmark – could I discover more? I quickly found the 1911 census record, as below, which showed Frank W E SAVAGE now living in the Thoroughfare in Woodbridge in Suffolk with his parents William SAVAGE aged 38 a Retail Draper, Kate M SAVAGE aged 39 and his brother Stanley SAVAGE aged 3 – his father was born in Stradishall in Suffolk and his mother was born in Saffron Walden in Es ..read more

Another lovely old wedding photograph find at the Postcard fair in London at the weekend was this one, as below, which has written on the back ‘To Dear Brother Bill from Mr & Mrs V STEVENS 16th May 1928. There is a slight photographers marked indented into the photograph, as below, that looked like Birmingham and I quickly found a possible marriage of Victor STEVENS to Florence M A WOODFIELD in the April quarter of 1928 in the Birmingham South registration district. Florence Mary Ann WOODFIELD was born in the July quarter of 1900 in Alcester in Warwickshire and the 1911 census, as below ..read more

Another great find at the Bloomsbury postcard fair in London yesterday was this lovely old photograph, as below, which has had the date and names typed onto it – it was taken in October 1912 and shows Hilda STOTT (died aged 31), Dorothy RAND, Benjamin STOTT and Verena, Kitty, Aunt Jessie and Ella, but who were they? I started my research by looking for the 1911 census match and was amazed to find the record, as below, all neatly typed just like the names on the old photograph that I had found. Source Citation: The National Archives of the UK (TNA); Kew, Surrey, England; Census Returns ..read more

A lovely old wedding photograph find over the weekend at a postcard fair in London, as below, had the surnames BUNCHER, WILEMAN and NUTTING written on the back, but with no location, so could I discover anything about these families. As the surnames were quite unusual I started by looking at the marriage registrations on Free BMD and quickly found the marriage of Walter BUNCHER to Ethel K WILEMAN in the October quarter of 1910 in the Leicester registration district. I then found Walter and Ethel BUNCHER on the 1911 census, as below, living at 26 Clifton Road in Aylestone Park in Leicester ..read more

Another find in my recent purchase of old photographic postcards was this old postcard of a beautiful baby girl sent to Mr Jack TURNBULL in Millfield in Sunderland from the Kings Head in Wisbech in Cambridgeshire on 1st July 1910 – could I find any further information about the recipient or the sender? As the postcard was sent in 1910 I started by looking at the 1911 census records using the Kings Head in Wisbech address and quickly found a match, as below, for the BLACKMAN family living at the Kings Head Public House in Wisbech – the was father Walter R BLACKMAN aged 30 a Licensed Victuall ..read more

I recently found this lovely old photograph of a mother and daughter, as below, taken in Lancashire with a written note on the back that reads: Mary HIGHLEY and Miriam friend of Grandmas – Great War Widow Could I find a connection to a soldier who died in World War 1? I started by checking the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website and found eleven matches to the surname of men who had died during World War 1 – after checking more closely the likeliest match was for Charles William HIGHLEY who died on 22nd June 1917 aged 28 who was the son of John and Mary Ann Bray HIGHLEY of Walsden ..read more