Oct 23 2008
Sitters
It is such a shame that people down the years have disposed of family albums without a thought as to who might treasure them in the future.
The prime purpose of this aspect of the archive is to preserve information for family historians and to re-unite families with photos.
Mother of C H Proctor
We have many thousands of Victorian photographs which indicate the name of the person or persons who have been photographed.
These people, the sitters, are mainly everyday folk although a few with titles are included.
Most photographs of sitters are available for sale to the families that want them.
Cards that are integral to the archive itself cannot be released but high quality scans can be supplied.
See Prices for more details.
Fanny Messenger
In either case, wouldn’t it be fantastic to locate a photograph of one of your ancestors?
The sitters are listed alphabetically by surname (see the navigation menu on the left of the screen) along with the town where the photograph was taken. Where stated, the date that the photograph was taken is also recorded.
In most cases the town will be where the sitter lived but it should be remembered that photographs were often taken on holidays (Blackpool, Scarborough etc.) or when visiting relatives or working away from home. In those cases the town may not match up with where the sitter lived - but it could still be one of your ancestors!
Remember, most of the names have been added in handwriting - and Victorian writing, like today’s scrawl, can vary in clarity. If the name you are looking for is not here - think of how the name might have looked when written down.
Not Sure?
In some cases the surname is so unusual or the forenames are so distinctive that you will know that it is an image of one of your ancestors. However, if you are not sure, Contact Us for more information - such as the age of the person in the picture or the approximate date of the image etc.
Original or Scan?
If you find a name that appears to fit into your family tree, Contact Us to find out if the original is available or if a scan can be provided.
More names are being added as additional photographs are obtained. Do look again or let us know who you are looking for and we will keep a note just in case.
Do you like looking at old photographs?
Ready to browse several hundred Victorian images for free, sorted by subject (children, animals, uniforms etc.) and available now at the Victorian Image Collection? Then click on the linked image in the left hand side bar.
