Victorian Album

The photographs in these albums do not belong to my family so I have always wanted to try to return them to their rightful family if possible. The albums were found in a skip in the West Bridgeford area about 30 years ago. They were thrown in a skip probably as the result of a house clearance after someone had died. Some of the photographs have names on the back, in which case I have mentioned it with the relevant picture. They all seem to be of members of the same family, apart from one or two. The pictures are mostly from the period 1880 to 1885 although there are a few from the 1870's and few from the 1890's.There are about 150 pictures in total the majority of which are cartes de visite, the remainder being of a larger size. Although most of the pictures were taken at Nottingham studios there are some from Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Yorkshire and the Isle of Man.

There are two brown leather bound albums. The larger of the two is 22cm wide 29cm high and 6cm deep. It is embossed and inlaid with gold leaf and has metal studs on the back cover, presumably to protect the cover when the album is being looked at. There was originally a metal clasp but this had become detached and lost before I found the albums.

The second smaller album is 20cm wide 24cm high and 6cm deep. The cover on this one is not as ornate and the clasp is also missing.

Below are some of the photographs from the albums together with a transcription of what is written on the back, or in some cases a photograph of the back as well.

Since first adding the photographs to the web site many people have emailed me with information they had found just by doing a bit of research as a diversion from their own family history. To these people I am very grateful. The information is given at the bottom of the page.


This picture has written on the back "Marie Simpson, September 1894 eleven years old"	This picture has the words " Uncle Sharp died 1894 January 1895" written on the back. This one doesn't seem to make much sense unless the picture was given after the man died.


This picture is " From Uncle Richard Oct 11th /86

This photograph says " Mrs Pollard May 1900" Note that the photographers name is Pollard. Could this be the photographers wife?	" Jimmy Simpson September 1894 10 years old" Is Jimmy the brother of Marie at the top left of the page?

This picture shows " Violet Buttrum January 9th 1895 Born April 1892	This picture is of "Mr Fairholme July15th 1899" This is the latest of the photo's in the albums



This is the reverse of the photograph of the young girl above right.	This picture simply says " Miss Smith" and then below that " Constance"

This picture has written on the back " Burt Williams Sep 1898"	This picture is of "Frank Williams Sep 1898 Station Hotel Knebworth Herts"

	This is the only coloured picture in the book and is of Mrs J Lambert Oct 24th 1877