Dating old Photos.....

And It Makes Me Shine · Post by **And It Makes Me Shine** » Tue May 23, 2006 11:56 am

I have came across a bag of old photo's of family members. Some I have managed to put names to. But some are obviously from 19th Century and with rough dates I could probably put names to them. Could anyone give me any ideas how you would get rough ideas of the period they came from. A couple have the details of the company so I could look at directories to see when the photographer were around. But some have not. Any ideas appreciated.

JimM · Post by **JimM** » Tue May 23, 2006 12:20 pm

Hi there
Welcome to TS
Try this one for an idea on dating your photos

http://www.cartes.freeuk.com/time/date.htm

For your named photographers you could try a "Google" and see if anything turns up

Jim
JJ

DavidWW · Post by **DavidWW** » Tue May 23, 2006 1:59 pm

A cousin of mine has had great success in tracking down the dates when a range of photographers were in business thus setting the timeframe for many photographs, which most often made it very obvious which generation was involved and quite often pointed to a particular person.

Along the way together with sites such as the above he quickly became quite expert in dating photographs to the closest decade from the dress.

David

And It Makes Me Shine · Post by **And It Makes Me Shine** » Tue May 23, 2006 2:08 pm

Thaks for the tips. I never realised that when I started this family history trek that I would be sitting at a computer studying Edwardian dress styles!
Seriously the website has given me some good tips, especially the actual format of the photo's IE postcards photographer stamps etc.

DavidWW · Post by **DavidWW** » Tue May 23, 2006 2:39 pm

And It Makes Me Shine wrote:Thaks for the tips. I never realised that when I started this family history trek that I would be sitting at a computer studying Edwardian dress styles!
Seriously the website has given me some good tips, especially the actual format of the photo's IE postcards photographer stamps etc.

Nae prob.

If you'd told me 20 years ago that I'd now be a leading expert on the history of the naming and numbering of Scottish regiments, and have written a 55 page booklet on the subject, I'd have raised both eyebrows, and suggested that you consult a trick cyclist, but it's quite amazing the byeways and alley ways of history and geography down which genealogical research can take you

(For anyone interested, I became frustrated over the lack of compiled info on the subject, so wrote a 1,000 word guide which, like Topsy, growed just a bit, eventually into the booklet. But don't ask me to sell you a copy since, in the last few years, the website www.regiments.org has grown and improved to the extent that a second edition of my booklet would have to expand to at least a two or three hundred pages in order to provide the information now available, not least including a year by year detailed listing of where a particular regiment/battalion was serving, - to the level in the case of one Scottish regiment of a note to the effect that the 2nd Bn was disbanded with those wishing to remain in the army being absorbed into the 1st Bn, but that a small cadre from the 2nd Bn was sent back to Scotland on recruiting duties, thus solving the problem for a TS member who couldn't previously resolve the info that she had on her ancestor's birth in Scotland when {a} the Bn no longer existed and {b} hadn't in any case been stationed in Scotland at an appropriate time

)

(And, BTW, if you're interested in Scots in military service of Russia, Sweden [30,000 of them at one point], Denmark/Norway, The Netherlands [there was a Scotch Brigade of 3 battalions for over 300 years], then I may be able to help

)

David

And It Makes Me Shine · Post by **And It Makes Me Shine** » Wed May 24, 2006 12:12 pm

Funnily enough I am also looking for a military expert. My Grandfather was stationed at Hamilton Barracks in 1942. It has never been spoken about by my family. No details of father on my mothers birth certificate. I have managed to find an elderly Aunt who thinks she would be able to recognise his name if she seen it. Albert something ? Is there somewhere I would find a list of who served at the Barracks March - May 1942?