According to the inside cover of this small post card album it once belonged to one J S White who turned out to be James Spencer White known as ‘Spen’. Inside are many lovely old photos from before and after the turn of the century, unfortunately there are many with no names but some are named so I will attempt to identify as many as I can. The first photo in the album is obviously a family group and luckily I’ve been able to identify the father as being Charles White MBE of Onamalutu in Marlborough, New Zealand (There’s a photo of Charles White found in a Temperance Newspaper dated 1916 & reprinted in the book ‘Plum Duff & Cake’). Charles was Spen’s father, possibly he is the one sitting next to his mother Elizabeth Ann neé Botham.
I originally thought the photo might have been taken about the same time as the date on the album – August 1914 – but on further investigation I found that Elizabeth Ann had died on 2 Apr 1912 aged 52 so it must have been before that date. The young lady on the extreme right standing at the back looks to be quite young, maybe 13 or thereabouts and their youngest daughter, Elizabeth Alice, was born in 1898. Charles & Elizabeth had at least nine sons and five daughters (that I’ve found), they were:-
George 1878-?; John James 1881-1881; Frank Oldham 1882-1924; Charles Botham 1885-1907; William Botham 1890-1924; James Spencer 1891-1971; Albert Henry 1895-1981; Alfred 1897-1897 & Robert 1900-1900.
Ann 1879-1913; Mary 1883-1941; Martha 1887-1935; Caroline Ella 1893-1914; Elizabeth Alice 1898-1984.
The only person I don’t have a death date for is eldest son George so if he isn’t in the photo then it would have been taken before the death of son Charles Botham in 1907, in that case Elizabeth Alice would have been less than 9 years old and she’s definately older than that!
PS Since posting this photo I’ve been contacted by the grand-daughter of Mary (daughter of Charles & Elizabeth Ann White) who told me that Mary is the one sitting on the extreme right. She also told me that her mother said that the older couple in the middle of the photo were the parents of Elizabeth Ann Botham and the rest were their grandchildren, however, that remains to be seen as the grandmother, Martha Botham neé Oldham, died in 1904 and that would make the youngest in the photo (Elizabeth Alice) only aged 5 or 6, she’s definately older than that!
References: Marlborough Museum; Papers Past; NZBMD Online
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If you can help identify anyone in this photo please leave a comment including a contact email address. More photographs of this and other families from the album to follow.
(With many thanks to Chris Ward & Suzanne for their help).
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Dawn Scotting
pandora[at]kc.net.nz
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