The St. Bernard Puppy of Southport

A tiny little girl sits on an seemingly enormous cushion with her St Bernard Puppy in this portrait from the 1880s. Which one of them is the cutest is difficult to decide. Perhaps the proportions of this young pup, with his huge, chunky paws will sway your decision!

The photographer Lambert Partington was born in Lancashire, son of John & Harriet in 1840. He married Mary Hannah in 1875 and they had three children - Edith Emily (born about 1878), Lilian (born about 1879) and Harriett (born 1884). In their early twenties whilst still living at home the two eldest sisters worked as photographic assistants for their father.

The Studio where the photograph was taken on Bath Street, was in operation under the Partington name from 1871 to 1921

This pup looks like he just stepped out from one of Dutch artist Otto Eerelman's 19th century dog portraits. Just like Saint-Bernard Puppies painted in 1904, shown below.

Eerelman had a real talent in rendering the lighthearted, cheerful natures of these pups, with their soft fur, in just a few simple brushstrokes.


Sources:

• Lambert Partington in the 1841 Census, 1851 Census, 1861 Census
• Lambert Partington in the 1891 Census
• Example of an alternate mount design for a CDV from Partington's Southport studio, and another design here
• Lambert Partington on the victorianphotographers.co.uk database 
• Otto Eerelman Saint-Bernard Puppies in Cristie's Auctions, 2010

Winifred & Her Rough Collie

I have a number of photographs with children & their pet dogs in my collection, but I think these two photographs would win an award for the most charming.

In the first photograph Winifred's little hands are slightly blurred as she clutches onto the lead of her Rough Collie, who according to the annotation on the reverse might be called "Whit".

Winifred's portrait was taken by photographer William Coles. His Studio resided at 60 Queen's Road from approximately 1890 to 1908, during which time Coles photographed HRH Princess Eulalie of Spain as well as his more ordinary clients. Below is a postcard view of Queen's road from circa early 1900s.

Click on the image to enlarge

Winifred was certainly a lucky little girl to have such a beautiful Rough Collie as a pet. Take a look at the second photo of the pair in a slightly different pose. Doesn't the dog's fur look soft?

Click on the images to enlarge

Winifred was a very lucky little girl to have such a beautiful Collie as a pet. The origins of the Collie hail from Scotland were they were used for a variety of agricultural pursuits. The Collie is one of the most ancient breeds with more than a passing resemblance to the wolves from which it is descended.

Theo Marples, Victorian editor of Our Dogs magazine describes the breed thus:

"The modern rough-coated Scotch Collie is, without doubt, one of the handsomest examples of the canine species, his long, intelligent head, enormous coat and frill, proportionate frame and symmetry, and great buoyancy of disposition appealing to all dog lovers, and which account for his at once coming into popularity."

 

 Engraving of two champion Collies from Dogs of the British Isles, 1872

A Short Family History of Winifred Hutchings Larcombe

Winifred was the first daughter of Frances (nee Poulton) and Ernest Hutchings Larcombe. You can see their portraits below.

Click on the images to enlarge

 Frances & Ernest married on 30th June 1894 in St Albans.

Winifred was born in April 1895. The family lived comfortably, Ernest worked as a law clerk and the family was able to afford a domestic servant who lived with them in their home.

In 1911 when she was 16 Winifred was a Bridesmaid, but she herself would never marry. She died aged 60 in 1956.

Sources:

• Hertfordshire Genealogy - The Photographs & Postcards of Coles of Watford
• William Coles, Photographer in the 1911 England Census
• Larcombe-Morpett Wedding in the Goulburn Evening Penny Post Newspaper, 14th of October 1911
• The Larcombe family in the 1901 England Census
• The Larcombe family in the 1911 England Census
• Wedding of Frances Poulton & Ernest Larcombe in England & Wales Marriages
• Show Dogs, Their Points & Characteristics, How to Breed for Prizes & Profits, Theo Marples, 1915

Aren't you just the Cutest Thing..

The title of most adorable photograph in my collection must surely go to this image of a little blonde girl with her dog and two puppies. Perhaps one of the more unusual elements of this photograph is the range of expressions that have been captured in the exposure.

From the cheeky, smile-like expression of the mother dog, with her tongue hanging out & the puzzled look on the little girls face:

To the contented puppy, and the other who cannot stifle a big yawn (having your portrait taking is obviously a tiring business!)

 

The photograph was taken in San Jose, California by Alonzo Gardner Rifenburg. A record of Alonzo in California's voting register of 1896 (probably a simmlar period in time to when this photograph was taken) provides a fascinating decription of the photographer:

Occupation: Photographer, 

Age: 49, 

Height: 5 ft 7 1/4 inches,  

Colour of Hair: Gray, 

Colour of Eyes: Hazel

San Jose in 1875

Sources:

Alonzo Gardner Rifenburg in (California State Library, California History Section;) Great Registers, 1866-1898; Collection Number: 4 - 2A; CSL Roll Number: 126; FHL Roll Number: 977290.

Mrs Thorpe's School Dog

This is a first for the Antique Dog Photograph Gallery - a school group photo. Look carefully to spot the dog in the middle of the front row. Click on the image to enlarge for a better view.

The photograph was taken by L. Wandy of 108 Renfield St, Glasgow, Scotland. Wandy is somewhat of a mystery, as there is no trace of him to be found in trade directories of the time, or in any variation of a search on ancestry.com that I have been able to think of.

However I have found other examples of school photos by Wandy, so they must have been something of a specialty of his.

The style of the mount dates the image to the mid-1880s. The address in Renfield Street was occupied by J. Douglas and Son photographers until 1883, and subsequently David Duiguid & Son photographers from 1885 till 1886. So perhaps Wandy worked for one of these firms as a guest, and this would go some way to explaining the title of "Artist" rather than photographer on the photo mount.

On the reverse of the photo "Mrs Thorpe's School" is written faintly in pencil. I wonder if the woman on the far right of the back row is Mrs Thorpe? This woman, who ever she is is holding something hair under her arm, which must be a dog, who was perhaps unable to keep still when the photograph was taken.

 

The main attraction of this photo is the little dog in the centre of the front row of children - a Clydesdale or Paisley Terrier.

Victorian author Rawdon Lee wrote of these dogs in 1894:

It has been said that this terrier was originally a cross between the ordinary Skye Terrier and the Yorkshire terrier, but, although it is of quite modern origin, no proof has been produced when such crosses took place or who made them. Much more likely origin is that the variety was made by the Glasgow and other Scottish dog fanciers crossing the softer-coated, lighter-coloured prick-eared Skye terriers with each other until they bred fairly truly and produced the Skye terriers in an altered form.

Victorian drawing of Clydesdale & Paisley Terriers

In the earliest days of dog showing when many individual breeds were much less defined than they are today, Clydesdale or Paisley terriers were shown together in the same classes as Skye Terriers, much to the annoyance of the Skye fanciers. Thomson Gray writes about this in his book Dogs of Scotland:

At the shows which used to be held at Glasgow... these silky-coated terriers were seen in all their beauty, and the fact of their appearing there as Skyes was what first brought them into prominence. The fanciers of the hard-coated Skyes rose in arms against them, holding that they were not Skyes, as they had a silky coat, and were only pretty 'mongrels' bred from Skye terrier 'rejections,' and ought to be known as Glasgow or Paisley Skyes. On the other hand, the breeders of the silky-coated dogs held, as a matter of course, that the texture of coat their dogs possessed was the correct one. This was untenable, as until the introduction of this breed no Scottish dog had a silky or soft coat.

After the decision against the eligibility of the silky-coated dog to compete in the Skye terrier classes, the breed rapidly declined. A few, however, held to the breed out of pure love and admiration for it, but they were few.


Sources:

• L. Wandy on Glasgow's Victorian Photographers
• The Terriers. A History And Description Of The Modern Dogs Of Great Britain And Ireland, Rawdon Briggs Lee, 1894
• Dogs of Scotland, Thomson Gray, 1891

Myrtle, Celia & Mops

This has to be one of the most charming photos in my collection. A little girl proudly displays her most precious things - her doll, her bonnet, a favourite book, and last but by no means least - her dog.

On the reverse of the mount, faintly in pencil reads the following:

To Hilda
From Myrtle age 6 yrs
Celia (the doll) will be a year next Christmas.

Mop's age is uncertain.

The photograph was taken in Lawler, a small township of Chickasaw County, Iowa, USA. The population of this tiny town has changed little since the 1880s, when the population was 487, to the latest census data from 2010 which put the population at 439. You can image when Myrtle had her photograph taken she would have had lots of close family and friends in the town who would have enjoyed the photo, including Hilda.

1907 Postcard of Lawler, showing Main Street, looking East - click the image for a larger view.

The photographer was John P. Eskildsen. John was born in Denmark and emmigrated to America in 1887. On the 11th of June 1891 he married Emma Schlatter. Her parents were also of European origin, with her father Henry born in Switzerland and her mother Mary born in Prussia. Emma however had been born in Iowa. John officially became a US citizen on 14th of May 1895.  In 1920 aged 54 he was still working as a photographer, with his two of his children - Herbert & Edna - working at the Studio with him.


Sources:

• Examples of Portraits and mount designs from the studio of John P. Eskildsen
• Marriage record for John P. Eskildsen & Emma Schlatter
• John P Eskildsen in the 1910 United States Federal Census
• John P. Eskildsen in the 1920 United States Federal Census
• John P. Eskildsen in the U.S Naturalization Records Index 1791-1992
• Emma Schlatter in the 1870 United States Federal Census
• Photograph of the gravestone of Emma Schlatter 
• Postcard of Lawler produced by W. S. King of Algona, Iowa
• Wiki article on Lawler, IA

Little Frank & the Train Wreck

This photograph depicts Frank Snedaker, who on August 10th 1887 suffered a great tragedy. At nearly midnight on that fateful night Frank was travelling home on a train from Niagra Falls excursion with his parents, Reverend George B. Snedaker and Elizabeth M. Snedaker, when a fire on a small bridge on the line cause the whole train to crash.

Haper's Weekly wrote of the incident:

The train passed through Peoria at 11:45 p.m. Three miles further along on the road there was a shallow "run," not more than fifteen feet wide and ten feet deep, which the recent drought in that region had made dry. This was crossed by a wooden trestle bridge supported by timbers. As the train approached this it was running at the rate of thirty-five miles an hour with a clear track. Just before reaching it the engineer of the forward engine noticed flames licking up through the wooden structure, but too late to stop the train. His engine crossed the gulch, but the burning bridge gave way, the tender broke from the engine and fell in, the second engine ploughed furiously into the farther bank, and cars came crashing with terrific force upon one another, telescoped throughout their length, and piled in splinters over the broken and burning trestle. The sleeping-cars stopped short of the horrible gap, but were badly shaken up. The scene that followed it is impossible to describe. The hapless passengers of the forward cars were, almost inextricably mingled in the shattered mass.

 

Illustration from Harper's Weekley depicting the aftermath of the crash

Both of Frank's parents were killed, and Frank was seriously injured, losing the lower half of one leg. The Chatsworth Plaindealer newspaper wrote on August 12th 1887:

Little Frank Snedaker, of Abingdon,Ill., is domiciled.  No braver person was in the ill-fated train than this little fellow.  His leg was amputated, his arm is broken, and his eye injured.  His mother was killed and his father has gone home with the remains, and will return.  Mrs Kipp, of Wing, Ill., a cousin of Rev. Snedaker, is with the little hero.  He was very restless at the hour of our reporter's call, but all hope for the recovery of this brave little fellow, who said when asked at the time of his rescue, "I'm not hurt much, help those who are crying first."

We can only hope that Frank's little dog was a source of comfort to him at such a difficult time. Frank had older sister called Myrtle, who married Joseph M. Shipplet. Interestingly on the back of this photograph is written Myrtle Shipplet - was this photograph now in my collection, once the possession of Frank's sister? We can but wonder.

The reverse of the photograph mount

Sources:

• The Illinois Railroad Accident, Harper's Weekly, August 20th 1887
• Chatsworth Illinois Memories - The Great Chatsworth Train Wreck
• The Snedaker / Ansley Family Tree

The Dalmatian and the Donkey

I do not have many 'outdoor' dog photographs in my collection and this one is particularly special. Here we have a Dalmatian sitting patiently on the back of a Donkey in the middle of a street in Angoulême, southwestern France.

The Dalmatian wears a deep studded leather collar which reminds me of the type of collar which is now fashionable for Lurchers and Greyhounds. The Dalmatian's ears are closely cropped, this practice was popular at the start of the 19th century. Ear Cropping was banned in England in 1899, but not in France until 1st of January 2010 so it is not surprising to find this photographic example of a cropped eared french Dalmatian.

1804 Engraving of a cropped eared Dalmatian by J. Scott

You can see how the photographer Henry Billard kept his subjects entertained during the photograph's exposure; the little girl holds a tray of food for the Donkey, which also keeps a just visible second Dalmatian standing still.

Robert Leighton writes in Dogs and All About Them in 1910 about the Dalmatian & Equine relationship:

[Originally] the Dalmatian was known as the Coach Dog, a name appropriately derived from his fondness for following a carriage, for living in and about the stable, and for accompanying his master's horses at exercise. He appears almost to prefer equine to human companionship, and he is as fond of being among horses as the Collie is of being in the midst of sheep.

It is no wonder the Dalmatian is so at ease with the Donkey. I have found some other examples of photographs taken by Henry Billard in 1893 of the market at Angoulême which also feature Donkeys, you can see them here.

 The reverse of the photograph showing the photographers details

Sources:

• Dogs And All About Them, Robert Leighton, 1910
• Wikipedia entry on Angoulême
• Wikipedia entry on Animal Cropping
• Examples of photographs by Henry Billard

The Spaniels and the Siblings

In this photograph we have two siblings, so similar in appearance and age I have considered that they might be twins. With them they have the family dogs, a Springer type spaniel and a Cocker spaniel type puppy. The studio props are somewhat usual as a fake tree and naturalistic wooden benches are used to give an outdoor appearance, whilst the props and subjects stand on a patterned carpet.

The larger older dog has done a good job posing and looking straight at the camera.

Where as the young pup seems to be concentrating on something off to the right hand side.

The photographer is Max Erler, he operated his "Sunbeam Gallery" at 1216 S. Adams Street in Peoria, Illinois between 1883 and 1898. The style of the photograph's mount with its elaborate lettering and fancy imprint on the reverse would date this image to the latter part of this time period.

A Short Family history of Max Erler

Max's father Michael Erler was born in the city of Reichstadt, Germany, June 23, 1829. From the age of 14 to 19 Michael he was apprenticed to learn the trade of a watchmaker, a skill which he put to good use when he arrived in Amercia on 1st of August, 1848. After two years Michael was able to set up his own business as a watchmaker which proved very successful. Michael was described thus "he is a man of earnest, strong character and intelligent mind, and his honesty and unswerving integrity in all the transactions of life have gained him a high place in the regard of all who know or associate with him."

Michael married in June, 1850, to Laura Lehne, whose parents were early pioneers in America, and were also natives of Germany. Michael and Laura had seven children together including Max who was born on 16th of February 1856.

Max married Jennie E. Harris on 28th of June 1883. He remained is listed as a photographer in US census records and city directories up until 1920, during this time he became one of Peoria's finest portrait photographers and was well known as a wedding photographer.

 

Max Erler in the Peoria, Illinois, City Directory, 1890.

Source Information:

Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1821-1989 [database on-line]

Sources:

• Portrait and Biographical Album of Peoria County (1890) - transcribed online here 
• Erler on Langdon's list of 19th & 20th Century photographers
• Max Erler's grave information on Find a Grave
• List of Peoria County Photographers 1862-1899
• Max Erler in Illinois, Marriages, 1851-1900

The Dachshund with the Big Family

This photograph of a Dachshund with his very large family was taken by Gebrüder Brändlein in Schweinfurt, Germany. Schweinfurt literally translates as "swine ford" - there is an ancient story about pigs crossing the once shallow Main River, on the bank of which Schweinfurt would eventually be built.

The photograph is a great example of how scanning an old photograph can provide a fresh perspective on and image, and show you things you would perhaps never have seen with the naked eye. Allow me to demonstrate...

The mother in the image is carefully working on her knitting.

The Dachshund and one of the little girls are framed by two figurines, one of a cat and one of a little girl in a bonnet with a basket.

This little girl holds a favourite curly-haired doll.

Not only can we take a closer look at the relationship between mother and daughter, but we can see the mother wears a brooch with a winged-cupid holding a lute.

Sources:

• Other examples of Gebrüder Brändlein photographs in Lexikon der Fotografen
• How did Schweinfurt get its name?