AMONG the many unidentified relatives in old photographs I have at home there is the most beautiful blonde-haired girl.
She is standing, wearing a dark dress, her hair caught up in ribbons, holding the back of an ornate chair in what appears to be the most sumptuous drawing room.
However, if she’s who I think she is, her family were miners, and I don’t think many mining families in Durham, at that time, ran to Downton Abbey standards of furnishings and fittings.
It was all an illusion of course, created by the clever layout of a photographer’s studio.
The same thought occurred when I saw this picture. Possibly it was as commodious as this at the Missions to Seamen (now Mission to Seafarers) in Shields, but I doubt it.
This is a super picture, another lent by Kevin Blair, and taken by Carling’s, who were among the most prominent photographers in the town in their day.
Kevin’s been led to believe that these were ‘Missioners’ with the Flying Angel here.
Certainly that’s possibly the chaplain sitting there, but it would be interesting to know what specific jobs the other three gentlemen had.
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