THE science behind dating old photographs incorporates Forensic Genealogy but without the law enforcement/genetics part.
Clothing and hairstyles of the time and utility services, such as telegraph poles, offer clues to dating photographs but you’ll need to know when such things were popular or invented. How good are you at sleuthing?
Take, for instance, Arthur Duncan Stratton standing proudly with his Rex motor bicycle. The registration AM-398 can be looked up online in the document “Early Motor Vehicle Registration in Wiltshire 1903–1914”, which is also available in the Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre.
From this document, we learn his motor bicycle was purchased on 16th April 1904 through a private sale, weighed 140 pounds, and was one of the first motor vehicles in Melksham. Because photographic film and processing was so expensive at the time, family pictures were usually only taken at special events, such as weddings.
In this case, it’s probable young “Bob”, as he was called, wanted to commemorate the day he bought the Rex motor bicycle. We know from other records he was born on 12th May 1884, which, if the assumption is correct, would age him in this photo at 19 years old, about a month shy of his 20th birthday. Quite reasonable.
Who was the first in Melksham with a motor vehicle registered in Wiltshire? James Edward Bush, chemist living in Cottingham Villa, Place Road, who, on 12th December 1903, purchased a Sunbeam Mabley motor car with a walnut body; registration AM-50. (Illustration: 1903 Sunbeam Mabley 12 hp, historically featured in “The Scotsman” 14th February, 1959).
The lowest registration number belonging to motorised car purchased by a Melksham resident was AM-6. This was another 1903 Sunbeam, but with an S-shaped body; dark brown wood, iron enamelled royal blue with red lines. Fred Nelson Colbourne, Lowbourne, was the third owner, and he purchased it on 2nd June 1905 from Herbert Sainsbury of Devizes.
Fascinating documents exist online, in history centres, even misplaced in attics. Gathering this information and piecing it all together helps to complete a Melksham story.
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