Below is a selection of old Franklin family photos. Still working on the narrative and the images.
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| Ivy’s parents Sophia & John | Brother Harold | Brother Jack | Ivy |
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| The girl on the left above must have been Ivy’s best friend, since she features in several photographs, as do the wooden fences in the background.
I thought the photographs below might have been taken when Ivy lived with her parents on Station Road in Whitchurch, Hampshire, but that turns out not to be the case. |
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| Ivy has written on the back of photo on the left: “Taken at Whitchurch by the River, 1924
In 1917, when brother Jack was killed in Palestine, the family was living in Whitchurch, Hampshire, so I assume “at Whitchurch by the River” means down on the River Test near Whitchurch, Hampshire. Ivy, on the left, is with the same girlfriend who features in a number of other photographs. The young man in the photo on the right is Charles Brazell, my grandfather. Is it possible he met Ivy when he was courting her girlfriend and then decided he prefered Ivy? Or perhaps Ivy just wanted a photo of her future husband together with her best friend? |
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That is certainly a seascape in the background, with some very distinctive buildings or structures. At first I thought it could be the Colonnades at Blackpool, but it turns out to be a similar structure down on the beach in Barry, Wales. (Compare with a modern photograph.)
I suspect these photographs were taken either before Ivy met husband Charles or while they were courting; she looks more like the young girl posing in her best dress in a previous photograph. Perhaps Ivy is visiting the mysterious relations in Newport, Wales, and they took her to the seaside for the day? |
This is a lovely group photo of Ivy and friends, but I have no idea where it was taken. It could have been taken while Ivy was visiting family up North, but it could equally well have been taken on the South coast, when she lived in Whitchurch, Hampshire, especially since her girlfriend from previous photographs is in it (far left).
Then again, perhaps it’s the beach in Barry, Wales, from the other side of the bay!?
Ivy is third from the right, sitting on Donkey Nr. 24. She was born 1904 and married Charles Brazell in 1927; I would guess she is about 20 in the photo, which would mean it was taken in 1924 or so.
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| Again, Ivy is visiting family or friends somewhere, but where? It looks like she’s wearing the same clothes she is wearing in the previous seaside photograph (the one with the donkeys) and she looks much the same; on the left, she’s actually wearing the same hat she has with her sitting on the donkey. | |
| On the back of the photo to the right, Ivy has written: “me when I liked work.”
I’ve included it here because the house and garden in the background in the pictures to the right and top right are so similar. The similarities even extend to the patterns in the brickwork of the house. The photographs could have been taken in Whitchurch, before she left home, or later in Newport, Wales, either when she was visiting friends or family or after she had moved their with husband Charles and family in the mid-Thirties. |
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| On the back of the photo to the right, Ivy has written:
“Colin on the Horse So it must have been taken in the summer of 1931 I have no idea who Cousin Doris could be. The three photos below are all believed to be of friends of the family in Newport, but the one on the right is the only one that can be said with some certainty to come from Newport, as it has a photographer’s stamp on the back (Capitol Studio, 144 Commercial Street, Newport). |
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| On the back of the photo to the right, Ivy has written: “Colin on the Bike taken at Manchester.”
I would estimate my father to be four or five years old, so the photo could have been taken around 1933. I believe the photograph was taken either at Gorton or Denton, both in Manchester. |
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In December 1932, when Ivy’s father John Frankin died, Ivy’s brother Harold was named on the death certificate as informant and said he lived at “24 Bury Street, Church Lane, Gorton, Manchester.” However, my father also remembered visiting cousins in Denton, Manchester, when he was a child.
Today, both places are about a ten-minute drive apart to the east of Manchester.
The boy holding the bike could be Harold’s son Harold, who was born July 15, 1922 in Manchester, when the family was living at 24 Bury Street, Gorton.
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In Loving Memory of John Franklin |
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I.H.S. |
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| “Me,” alias son Harold | Mary & Harold (two of son Harold’s children) |
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Big question:
When were the photos taken?
Clues:
- Father Harold was born in February 1892 and married Martha BOYLE on August 24, 1912.
- Daughter Dorothy (not in the photos) was born June 1, 1913 and married April 11, 1936.
- Daughter Mary was born April 2, 1915 and married Aug 7, 1943.
- Son Harold was born July 15, 1922 and married September 8, 1951.
- Father Harold (“Me”) wrote that the gravestone of grandfather Henry Faulkner, who was buried in August 1901, “was covered with moss but Martha got it clean.”
- Father Harold’s father, John FRANKLIN, was buried on December 5, 1932, in the grave on the right.
- John’s wife, Sophia was buried at Cholsey St. Mary’s on November 18, 1949; possibly in the same grave as husband John, although there is no inscription.
Possible answer:
Still trying to work it out.
If you have any ideas, or questions, I would love to hear from you.