Friday 5 January 2024

Friday Photo #55

 

Skiers Street, West Ham, circa 1909. The young boy is my maternal grandfather, Sid (Sydney, 1896-1956). In the doorway stands his mother Elizabeth (1866-1946) with her eldest daughter Ada (born 1886). Next to Sid is his younger sister Marie (1902-1971), who I would come to know as Aunt Marie over 50 years later. I'm lucky enough to have a number of family photos taken early in the 20th century, though the majority are stiff studio poses. I don't know the circumstances behind this informal outdoor shot, but it's a real treasure - the framing and detail are remarkable. Skiers Street still exists in the Borough of Newham, though it would be unrecognisable to these ancient relatives, having sustained heavy damage in the Second World War and subsequently been completely rebuilt. 

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2 comments:

John Medd said...

Another evocative photograph, TS. The way people looked down the lens of a camera in the days of sepia is very haunting. Even the cats are doing it!

6 January 2024 at 15:53
C said...

This is so special. I could look at it for hours, taking in the detail and perhaps imagining them transported to the modern day and how they would look. (I guess the cats would look exactly the same...) How brilliant for you to know you're a descendent of Sid!

6 January 2024 at 16:33

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