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Any suggestions for this photo ?

  • 14-08-2011 9:04pm
    #1
    Registered Users Posts: 2,501 ✭✭✭


    I know it's a really, really long shot, but can anyone pick anything out of this photo to give clues about its whereabouts or context ? I appreciate that it's a bit fuzzy - I'm fighting with my scanner at the moment.

    Here's what I'm getting from looking at it -
    * The ladies in front look like they are wearing a sash or colours or whatever you call the thing you wear at graduation to show your faculty
    * They look somewhat old to be schoolgirls
    * The ladies in the second second and third rows aren't wearing gowns or a sash
    * The men look significantly older
    * The photo is by "Watson & Wilson, Jamaica Street, Glasgow and according to here - http://www.thelows.madasafish.com/alpha/Ws.htm - they were in business from 1891 onwards, at least as far as 1914

    There's a small blue X in biro on one person in the front row. If it's the person I'm thinking of then this may well be her graduation from a medicine degree somewhere in Ireland, I've lost my source notes so I don't know which college at the moment.

    As I say - a long shot, but does anyone have any comments or suggestions that might help me work out any further information ?

    z


Comments

  • Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 6,609 Mod ✭✭✭✭pinkypinky


    Have you looked at university buildings in Glasgow to see if you can pick one out? It looks like quite dark stone, like they have in Edinburgh.

    In the same vein, you can check when women were first admitted to those universities. I know Trinity first allowed women in 1908 but this photo looks 10-15 years earlier.

    The women are probably university finishing age. People always look older in old photos because, well, they weren't so obsessed with looking young. Also, women wouldn't necessarily be the average college age of today, they might start a bit later.

    Genealogy Forum Mod



  • Registered Users Posts: 1,162 ✭✭✭Wyldwood


    I'm not sure this is a graduation photo. There are only 7 people in academic dress. I think this is just a class photo and, as Pinkypinky says is in a Glasgow University.
    Would you try posting it on the Scottish forum on www.rootschat.com?


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 470 ✭✭CeannRua


    Some of the people at the front are maybe academic staff and at least some of the rest are students? Is the man at centre with the black hat a clergyman maybe? Is there a cross above the door? Could you scan the photo at a higher resolution maybe? It's a little difficult to make out. According to quick look on the web, there was a medical college for women in Glasgow at this time - Queen Margaret College. If this is a medicine class could it be tied to this college? It's a bit unusual there are so many women and so few men so if this is a medical class, this college might be good place to start looking. I didn't do a very detailed search but looks like the first graduates from this medical school were in 1894 and there were only two of them. Do any of the women in the front row look like they are the right age for graduating? Could this building be a hospital if the emblem over the door is a cross?


  • Registered Users Posts: 2,501 ✭✭✭zagmund


    Thanks for the feedback to date. I will try the various suggestions and get back to you. I tried to log on to rootschat, but forgot my password and it didn't seem to like the password reset process, but I will get through that eventually.

    The guy in black does very much look like a priest, and the emblem above the door looks like the foot of a cross alright, so there is likely to be a religious element to this alright.

    The particular family had 3 daughters who graduated from various degrees ~1900-1915. At least one of these did medicine under the most strange circumstances - she wasn't allowed attend lectures on account of being a woman, or a catholic, or both. I have a document which lays out the institutions she attended (in Dublin) but it's hard to decipher exactly what she did where because of the various restrictions.

    Another one has this recorded about her - "In September 1898 she went to Dublin where she attended St Marys University College, in Merrion Square, the College of Science then at Stephen's Green and the Medical School in Cecilia Street. In the Autumn of 1902 she took an honours degree at Royal University of Ireland in experimental physics and chemistry."

    I reckon it was one of these 3 sisters in the photo. I will do further research, post this in the Scotland forum as suggested, etc . . . In practice, this will only identify the person in the photo for me rather than furthering research, but it would be good to try to work out who/where/when it was.

    Thanks for your help,

    z


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