The theme this week is (as usual) open to interpretation, so keeping with Great Granny’s album, I’ve chosen a rather tattered and creased (well-loved) old picture of my Granny and her sister as girls – it’s the earliest one I have of Granny, and I reckon Mary is about 10 (born 1909) and Chrissie about 7 or 8 (born 1912). Written on the back is “Mary and Chrissie in years long gone bye” in Great Granny’s handwriting
Chrissie looks very shy, or is maybe laughing and has been caught looking downwards. As with many of this type of photo, they are posed in front of a flower bed which must have taken a lot of work and been a source of great pride 🙂 Both girls are wearing what looks like velvet jackets, so it must have been rather cool – a typical Scottish autumn?
Mary (Granny) holds a steady gaze at the camera – perhaps a sign of her developing personality, which previous Great Granny’s Album pics have shown to be fun-loving and down to earth. She died when I was only 3, so I never knew her as an adult, but it’s lovely to have so many pictures of her and be able to build up an idea of her life, albeit from brief snapshots in time. Great auntie Chrissie survived well into her eighties, and I remember her well – she was the spitting image of Granny. They both had red hair, which is unfortunately lost in the black and white photos – I wonder if they had tempers to match? 😀
Jo
SEPIA SATURDAY is a weekly meme which encourages bloggers to publish and share old images and photographs. All that is required is for contributors to post an old image (it doesn’t have to be in sepia) and provide a few words in explanation. If you could provide a link back to the Sepia Saturday Blog and visit as many of the other contributors as you can, it would also be appreciated. Go on, share an old photo with us – it’s great fun and all the other contributors are very supportive 🙂
Jo Graham
Images Past 
That’s a charming picture. Your Gran was perhaps the more confident sibling, though they both look a little shy and awkward posing for this snapshot. They look as if they are wearing velvet coats/dresses.
Matching dresses or coats – I hated having to wear the same as my little sister when I was that sort of age.
My mother was born about the same time as your Granny. She, as well as her brother and sister, also had red hair.
How wonderful to have a picture of your great granny as a child. I’m glad you mentioned the red hair. I quickly added that to my revised mental picture.
Apart from being a charming portrait of two young girls, this is an interesting photograph to me from another point of view. “Mary and Chrissie” appears to have been written in the margin the negative, and then printed back to front. Although I’ve never seen an actual example before, I’ve read about a version of the Kodak Pocket cameras called the Autographic, first sold around 1915-1916. The camera had a special hinged flap at the back which, when opened, allowed the user to write on the backing paper of the film with a metal stylus. This compacted a layer of carbon in the backing paper making it translucent, and the writing would then later appear on the print. Thanks for the great example, of what would subsequently be done digitally in more recent years. Regards, Brett
At least the sun must have been shining judging by the shadow to the right of the girls. Perhaps Chrissie was looking down to keep the sun out of her eyes.
don’t ALL redheads have a temper?
i thought it was a given…
all of those i’ve known had one.
never one that was shy and quiet, lord knows, they sure weren’t!!
😀
HUGZ
This photo appears to have been loved dearly! What a nice treasure indeed!
What a treasure! I can imagine the red hair..and dark blue velvet coats..or perhaps emerald green! 🙂
Lovely photo! Brett’s comment about the technical aspect is interesting as well. I’m really enjoying your blog.
Yes, Camilla – it’s great to get info from comments. The blogging community are so generous 🙂 Loved your series of posts on Augusta’s life transcribed from her writings. Jo