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Lost Images Reunited, Fareham, Hants (2025)

28/09/2025

I was having a play with AI today to see if it could generate a good image, possibly as a logo. It came up with these, what do you think? I'm pretty impressed. I particularly like the wear and tear on the light ones.

28/09/2025

case #130: An Architect, an Artist and a Fine Memorial

I found this photograph of a stylish gentleman with an admirable beard for sale on eBay. Luckily it was clearly annotated as "Lewis Shanks" in a beautiful and clear hand. It was taken in a studio in Largs, Scotland, sometime in the 1870s. This gave me plenty of clues and I was able to find him.

This is Lewis Shanks (1841-1913), and he was a man of many talents. He began his career as an architect but later in life became a landscape artist (I have tried to find some of his art but I've been unsuccessful). He was also part of the well-known Shanks thread manufacturing family from Renfrewshire, a company that is remarkably still in business today. They managed to survive despite fierce competition from huge international companies like Gutterman. Lewis married his wife Catherine, and they had a daughter named Eleanor.

Unfortunately, I haven't managed to track down any direct descendants to reunite this photograph with. However, when a direct reunion isn't possible, I like to make sure the image is saved for the future. I found that Lewis is buried in the Kilbarchan Cemetery in Renfrewshire, alongside his siblings, as can be seen on this rather great memorial. I have now added this great portrait to his online grave entry on Find A Grave, so his story and image will be available for any future family or local historians. I hope he won't be forgotten.

14/09/2025

case #104: Aren't these cute?

Look at these two beautiful portraits of these two siblings, as well as being lovely portraits they are in great condition. They were taken in 1881 in London. Again there was plenty of information given, names and dates of birth so it was the work of a moment to track down some descendents.

This is Benjamin Worthy Horne (b 1875) and his younger sister Constance Lucy Marie Horne (b 1878). Both born into a wealthy family in London who come from a line of solicitors. They are descended from the Barony of Ramelton. Benjamin became a clerk in a law firm and then eventually he became a solicitor. When he died he left quite a considerable amount of money. Constance appears not to have married and I am unsure when she died.

These photographs have now been reunited with the wider family of the Barony of Ramelton. I do think these are great quality photographs.

31/08/2025

case 102 An Early Photograph

This rather grand photograph appeared on eBay with a really useful contemporary annotation on the back of “Mary Anne Nicholson, Keinton, 1864” taken in Bath. This made finding descendents easy.

This is Mary Anne born in 1828, so was around 36 when this photograph was taken and still single. She was born to Henry (a stone cutter) and Harriet.

She married and was widowed twice, first in 1870 to Henry Lloyd, a Sergeant in the Royal Artillery and a widower, when she was 40. Her second marriage was in 1889 to Caleb Ridewood, a stone merchant and widower, when she was 62. Unfortunately Caleb died the following year. It doesn't appear that Mary Anne had any children.

Mary Anne ended up working as housekeeper for her sister in law. She died, where she lived her whole life, in Somerset in 1903 when she was 75 years old.

The picture has now been happily reunited with a descendent.

30/08/2025

pending case #82: A tragic story that I couldn’t resist

Some time ago I found this tantalising image annotated as “Mrs Evans & Family, father drowned on Verulam 6 Jan 77”. I posted asking for information and managed to track it down. I have reached out but been unsuccessful.

It’s a very sad story. Evan Evans, from a family of mariners, married Elizabeth Evans (yes that was her maiden name - I have now develop a great deal of sympathy for family historians with very common last names) in 1863 in Cardigan. They quickly had two sons, John in 1873 and Thomas in 1875 (the observant amongst you will notice a third child, I am unsure who that is and what happened to them, as Elizabeth only appears on the census with her two sons).

Evan prospered in his career as a Mariner and became the Master of the Verulam, a new ship, built in Glasgow. His young family must have been proud of him reaching the position of Master at such an early age and being given a shiny new ship! In early 1877 had a successful voyage to collect cargo from Natal. She returned to the Thames, offloaded her cargo and then, through some freak squall, capsized and was lost in the harbour, killing several crew members including Evan, at the young age of 35 (see the report of the inquest). It appears that his body was never found (update, in the inquest Evan’s body was found in the Thames on 28 th January, thanks so much to the excellent Rose Booth for finding that, amongst a lot of other information). This left poor Elizabeth a widow with two young boys.

Elizabeth must have been made of strong stuff as she went on to become the post mistress and grocer of the village of Verwick, living in Maencoch. This was one of the few respectable careers open to women. She raised her boys to adulthood. Looking at the census’ over the years she remained in this position as a pillar of the community.

I originally researched Elizabeth and Evan’s story back in May. I reached out to people who had them in their trees, but to no avail. Periodically I have been seeing the photograph, still for sale on eBay, and was reminded of the story. Well, it made me sad every time I saw it and I couldn’t think of them being forgotten so I’m afraid I bought the photograph! I would really like to find where Elizabeth is buried (and possibly Evan) to add this photograph on Find a Grave or something. Or to get the photograph to some local history society. If anyone could help reunite this photograph I would really appreciate it.

I've just looked up the Cardiganshire Family History Society and found that nearly all of the committee members last name is Evans!

25/08/2025

case #4: Mr Bunn was not a baker, he was in fact a fireman.
I found this wonderful collection of photographs (and negatives) on eBay, there appeared to be plenty of clues as to who they were: the odd name and looking carefully at photographs with street names and door numbers! I’m afraid I did buy them, but they seemed too diverse and valuable a collection to let them be split up.

I am very intrigued by what is on the negatives, I suspect that the original owner was a bit of a photography enthusiast and this was their collection.

I was able to track who these people were and confirm that they came from the Bunn Family, mostly Olive and Arthur Bunn.
Arthur was a fireman in London, but he came to a very sad end, killing himself at the age of 34. Perhaps he was suffering trauma from his time in the fire brigade. The inquest could offer no explanation, he was cheerful normally and doing well in his work.

Olive did persevere and went on to marry Edgar Bell. One person I contacted confirmed that these were their family photographs and that the young girl in the family group with the unfortunate hat was “Auntie Tink” (Lilian Bell from Olive’s second marriage - it’s a cute nick name isn’t it?) - who they knew as a very old lady.

As you can see by the case number, I've had these photographs for some time, I'm now pleased to say the photographs have found their way to the Bunn family One Name Study (trying to establish how all the Bunns are related) - https://one-name.org/name_profile/bunn/. I wonder if anyone will get the negatives printed?

20/07/2025

case #108: Two Sisters
I found this rather unusual photograph of these two sisters. I think it’s unusual because of the intimate way it is framed and their closeness to each other. It had a lot of detail on the back, identifying these as Jean and Ada Ross, giving Jean’s married name and that Ada never married, and also her parents and more. From the photograph I could tell it was taken in Aberdeen in the 1880s. So, although "Ross" is a relatively common name the other details really helped me to positively identify the siblings and I was able to contact many descendents and potential reunitees.

I’m very glad to say it has been reunited with Jean and Ada’s 1st cousin 3 times removed (Jean and Ada are the nieces of the reunitee’s Great Great Grandfather).

They told me that Jeanie and Ada were two of four siblings (they had two brothers). Jeanie married James Anderson in 1896 and they emigrated to South Africa, where she lived out the rest of her life. Ada, as the annotations show, never married. This photograph must have been treasured by her family with Jeanie being so far away in South Africa.

The reunitee has also said that the photograph has given them renewed energy to look at this branch of their family.

19/07/2025

case #106: Auntie Edith

I found this lovely photograph of this fine lady with lots of useful annotations on the back! “Auntie Edith”, her maiden name, who she married. All of which made it very easy to identify her and her family.

This is Edith Harrison, born near Wrexham in 1874 on Plas Coch Farm. She had two brothers, so the photograph probably belonged to one of their children. She married Alexander Reid, a Scottish civil engineer (I seem to be finding quite a few connections to civil engineers) in 1896.

I was then able to search out and contact possible descendents and possible reunitees of Edith. I’m glad to say it has been reunited with her Great Great Nephew (Edith was his Great Grandfather’s sister).

06/07/2025

case #99: A key family member and a touching message

I found this photograph of this fine gentleman with his name and a rather touching dedication to his beloved daughter and a date! All of which made it very easy to identify him and his family. This is Thomas Joseph Eadsforth (1824-1887) and this image was gifted to his daughter Mary Jane when she was about 19. It is lovely to have his affectionate words to his daughter as well as the image itself.

I was then able to search out and contact possible descendents and possible reunitees of Thomas. I’m glad to say it has been reunited with his Great Great niece (if that is a thing, Thomas was her Great Great Grandfather’s half brother). She has told me that Thomas was a key figure in the family and that having a photograph of him was important to her. She told me Thomas’ father ran a cotton factory. He transcribed his father's memories, wrote up genealogies for their family Bible and kept in touch with his half-sister in Australia. So, obviously family was very important to him, and his legacy is being valued. He was also a leading light in his Catholic parish church.

The reunitee has told me that this has given them a stimulus to get back to her family history. I like that his family history work is being valued today and now the family have a face to put to a name.

03/07/2025

case #103: Too good not to tell you about

I found this photograph of this proud policeman and his family, and I have to admit that I have a bit of a soft spot for Victorian policemen, as one of my ancestors was one of the first policemen in Portsmouth.

I couldn’t initially see any clues as to who this was, no annotations. The studio was in Trowbridge, Wiltshire and the “Leg of Mutton” sleeves were fashionable for a few years around 1895, but I had no clues as to the identity of the family. However, when you look closely you can see his Officer Number on his collar. I thought it looked like “75” or “73”. I was then really lucky to find that there is a dataset of Wiltshire Police Officers on FMP. I trawled this (which gave detailed descriptions and start and end dates and reasons for leaving) constructing a list of all the possible names of police officers who had a number similar to 73 and 75. By elimination I was able to reasonably confidently identify the policeman as Arthur Pinchin (or Pinchen), his wife Sarah Jane and their first child William was born in the Trowbridge district in 1896! I am not sure who the other woman in the photograph is, perhaps Sarah or Arthur's sister? Or a Godparent to William?

I was then able to search out and contact possible descendents and possible reunitees of Arthur. I cannot say it’s been reunited with a family member as it has now sold. But I do know that family members have been made aware of it and have been able to see the photograph. So that is good.

Arthur’s record showed he was one of the few policemen who stayed in the force until he had to leave due to some injury or other. Sarah and Arthur had four children together. I then found a rather sad newspaper story about Arthur’s tragic early death, in 1913 at the age of 46. It was the result of a faulty brake on his bicycle. I’ve attached the article for you to read.

I’ve tried to find Arthur or Sarah’s grave to add a bio and the image to, so this image may be available in some form to family in the future, but was unsuccessful. So not all of my cases result in success, but I view this as a success of some kind as this previously unknown family in this great photograph now have names.

29/06/2025

case #98: An international man of trade!

I found this photograph of this fine looking gentleman, complete with mutton chops, on eBay. It was clearly marked as “F Louis Schwind, Xmas 1875”. I wasn’t initially sure about “Schwind”, but I soon found there were at least 4 “Frederick Louis Schwinds” (Recycling names, don’t you just love our ancestors? At least this was quite distinctive, unlike my family tree littered with Williams!). They did all appear to be part of the same family though.

I soon tracked down a relative who now has been reunited with the photograph. The reunitee is the first cousin four times removed of Louis (so they are descended from Louis’ sibling). This is the only photograph they have of Louis.

They were able to tell me a few interesting things about this Mr Schwind. Schwind is a german name, but this branch of the family became associated with Brazil and England. Louis was born in England in 1840, shortly after some widely reported bankruptcy in the family. He went on to act as a very successful merchant, trading and travelling between these two places. Around 1872 he married Mathilda Carolina Sassetti in Rio (she was born there). It doesn’t appear that they had any children. Louis eventually “retired” to England and died at the ago of 74 in 1914 and left quite a considerable sum of money. It is believed that the photograph was taken on a visit to England and copies given to family and friends.

I especially like reuniting photographs with families when the photograph is the only image they have of their relative.

22/06/2025

case #91: Wouldn’t you love these photographs?

I was thrilled when I found this collection of four photographs on eBay, with plenty of information on them. They are photographs of two brothers, George Eustace (although it appears he was more usually known as Eustace) and Alan Deed Brunwin. These photos were taken in 1883 and 1886. The earlier photographs were taken when Alan was around 4 and George 3, and the later ones Alan is 6 and Eustace 5.

I soon tracked down a relative who now has been reunited with the photographs (plus a few extra from asking the seller if they had any other photographs associated with these). Alan is their partner's Great Grandfather and the Reunitee has been able to share them with Alan’s Granddaughter. Alan and Eustace lived to become successful adults, and Alan became a Doctor.

I would be so pleased to find family photographs like this, maybe one day I will. Again it pays to ask the seller if they have any other associated items.

Lost Images Reunited

28/09/2025

28/09/2025

14/09/2025

31/08/2025

30/08/2025

25/08/2025

20/07/2025

19/07/2025

06/07/2025

03/07/2025

29/06/2025

22/06/2025

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