Albert Hester photographed this child at his St. Kildas Studio in Clapton, London. According to the PhotoLondon website, Hester operated his studio at St. Kildas Terrace in Clapton from 1897 - May 9 18981. And, I am somewhat troubled by that.
On the reverse of this carte de visite photograph, the child is identified as "Frances E. McLauchlan, 15 months" In the 1911 England Census I found a Frances Emily McLauchlan, 9 years old, born in Clapton, now living at No. 4, Mount Zion, Castle Lane, Hadleigh, Essex2. Which, at this point, makes her birth year sometime around 1902.
I see a few potential problems here. First, is the child above a girl or boy? I've found a number of Frances McLauchlans in the census who are male. Secondly, the Frances E. McLauchlan of the 1911 Census would have been 15 months old in 1903, at which time Albert Hester would have been at his studio at 31 Upper Clapton Road, Hackney (1898 - 1919). She appears in the FreeBMD Index as having been born in the second quarter of 19023.
This could be Frances Emily, and it is very possible that Albert Hester is simply using up his old carte de visite stock after moving to a new location. This was a common practice, but is it reasonable to think he'd still be doing so five years after moving? What are your thoughts?
1 http://www.photolondon.org.uk/pages/details.asp?pid=3757↩
2 "England and Wales Census, 1911," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XWNS-JML : accessed 5 February 2016), Frances Emily Ma Lauchlan, Hadleigh, Hadleigh, Essex, England; from "1911 England and Wales census," database and images, findmypast (http://www.findmypast.com : n.d.); citing PRO RG 14, The National Archives of the UK, Kew, Surrey.↩
3 "England and Wales Birth Registration Index, 1837-2008," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:2F8C-HNW : accessed 5 February 2016), Frances Emily Mclauchlan, 1902; from "England & Wales Births, 1837-2006," database, findmypast (http://www.findmypast.com : 2012); citing Birth Registration, Hackney, London, England, citing General Register Office, Southport, England.↩
I found two sources that list the photographer in Clapton as late as 1902.
ReplyDeletehttp://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C13392691
page 357 of the British Journal of Photography, Volume 48.
https://books.google.com/books?id=Oks-AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA357&lpg=PA357&dq=albert+hester+st+kilda%27s+studio+clapton&source=bl&ots=c6C53DuHqt&sig=DSVmoVsrQza_Z2YqRjkJoy3cvA4&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjDpNPY9fLKAhXJwj4KHajvDAIQ6AEIIjAB#v=onepage&q=albert%20hester%20st%20kilda%27s%20studio%20clapton&f=false
Thanks, Iggy...that's encouraging! Maybe we have the right Frances after all.
ReplyDeleteNot sure i you are still interested, but this website https://pic.nypl.org/constituents/371709 says that Albert Howard Hester was at Upper Clapton Road (which I think counts as Clapton) until 1919. John
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