Posy Poser

[DaveinGermany]

Originally Posted by susie123

but why would they still have the posies?

Add a splash of colour to the piccy.

[Retlaw]

Originally Posted by Atarah

Forgive my strange response, but I feel "I know" one of the gentlemen in the photo. He looks so familiar, so much so, I have printed the photo off, put it in my bag, and if I ever see this guy in town, I am going to ask him could it be his grandfather, or even great grandfather on the photo. He is standing at the far left of the photo. The guy I know has the surname Dickinson.

I've spent ages looking at the faces on that picture, and not one of them matches any of the faces in my WW1 collection, makes me wonder now if any of those men are from the Accrington area.
Retlaw.

[Retlaw]

Originally Posted by annesingleton

Could it have been the male members of a wedding party? One of them is holding a posy.

An unusual group for a wedding, must have been a dusty place.
the three knelt at the front, are on a few pages from a newspaper.
All of them appear to have a flower in their button hole.
The Thot Plickens.
Retlaw.

[susie123]

Originally Posted by Retlaw

I've spent ages looking at the faces on that picture, and not one of them matches any of the faces in my WW1 collection, makes me wonder now if any of those men are from the Accrington area.
Retlaw.

Well it was an Accrington photographer so we have to assume that the men were also from the area.

Originally Posted by Retlaw

An unusual group for a wedding, must have been a dusty place.
the three knelt at the front, are on a few pages from a newspaper.
All of them appear to have a flower in their button hole.
The Thot Plickens.
Retlaw.

Yes I noticed the newspaper - and their shoes are dusty. I've looked at some wedding group photos from the period on the www and none of the men were wearing hats or caps

[annesingleton]

Looking closer, the men seem to be covered in muck - could be sawdust, and their clothes definitely aren't too clean - one has a greasy stain on his trouser leg.

[MargaretR]

On the Beamish website I found a small mention of posies being taken to church/chapel as part of harvest festival celebrations.
I can't imagine any other reason for men to wear flowers (morris dancers excepted)

[Retlaw]

Originally Posted by annesingleton

Looking closer, the men seem to be covered in muck - could be sawdust, and their clothes definitely aren't too clean - one has a greasy stain on his trouser leg.

Looking closely at an enlargement most of those tiny specks appear to have come from the original negative, its surprising how much debris there is in water, especially when processing film, I had a micro filter, for the water I used to process negatives. Look closely at their faces, and you can see those tiny marks caused by dirty water, they can even attracted dust whilst the emulsion is drying after being developed.
Retlaw

[susie123]

Originally Posted by Retlaw

Looking closely at an enlargement most of those tiny specks appear to have come from the original negative, its surprising how much debris there is in water, especially when processing film, I had a micro filter, for the water I used to process negatives. Look closely at their faces, and you can see those tiny marks caused by dirty water, they can even attracted dust whilst the emulsion is drying after being developed.
Retlaw

Yes Retlaw, I was going to suggest much the same thing, but you do itmuch better than I could. Their shoes are very dusty though.

[spw]

Originally Posted by Retlaw

I've spent ages looking at the faces on that picture, and not one of them matches any of the faces in my WW1 collection, makes me wonder now if any of those men are from the Accrington area.
Retlaw.

Perhaps Clayton given that's where my Grandad's cousin Harry was living.

[spw]

Originally Posted by spw

Found this reference on National Archives site:
"Photograph of the Rev Canon John Rogers taken on Saturday the 25th of May 1912 standing figure."
Copyright owner and author of work: Charles Howarth, 41 Owen Street, Accrington, Lancashire.
Form completed 31 May 1912. Registration stamp: 1 June 1912.

As an aside, there was a photograph of a standing clergyman amongst a collection of old photographs that I sent to Accrington Library some time ago. Could be that referred to above. Canon Rogers was at St. James.

[Pudwoppa]

There are flowers/foliage inside the window to the left - so it's likely that it was a big event at that building rather than a day out that happened to be pictured there. The guesses at a wedding or harvest festival seem plausible - they look dressed for mild summer weather.

I'd guess that either the group or the location has to be local, but not necessarily both. I have a few photos were I know that the stated photographers address doesn't hold any relevance to the person pictured.