A few weeks ago I shared a photograph of my grandmother, Kate Kellam, which must have dated from the very beginning of the twentieth century. This date was based on the location of the studio, Keighley, and the fact that Kate didn't move there until late 1901 or early 1902. However, the dress she is wearing looks much earlier than that, and if I had been looking at the Cabinet Card as an "unknown photograph", I would have probably dated it at least ten or twenty years earlier.
I was therefore fascinated to discover the other day, an advertisement in a 1898 copy of Pearson's Weekly Newspaper for John Noble's Half Guinea Costumes, which features dresses that have the same shape and style as the one my grandmother was wearing. Given that it would probably take two or three years for the latest fashions to transcend the Pennines from the bright lights of Manchester to the smokey streets of Keighley, the dates fit rather nicely.
Amazing how things like that often drop into our lap, isn't it?
ReplyDelete