Originally posted: 15 Aug 2016
May 4th 1871 was a big day in my family history. James Jones married Julia Anne Moore at St. Faith’s Church in Havant, Hampshire, England.
Neither bride nor groom were my direct ancestors, but later that same year, James’s brother Charles would marry Julia’s sister Mary Jane. These were my great-great-grandparents, so many of the wedding guests would have been my blood relatives.
An amazing photographic record
More to the point, back in 1971 (celebrating the centenary?), my great-aunt Olga had some prints made up from a glass slide she had found, meaning I have this rather amazing photograph:
Olga’s notes say this was taken on the croquet lawn of Jessamine House, North Street, Havant (sadly long since demolished).
Who’s who?
Of course, I’m now on a mission to identify all the people. There are four people I’m 100% certain of, and another two I feel are very likely. As for the remaining 13 figures, I have no proof but lots of credible candidates. By looking at which close relatives were alive at the time, it’s possible to come up with a group of 15-20 or so people from whom these 13 are probably taken.
Sadly, quite a few close relatives had died over the 10 years before the wedding. The groom’s mother, Ann Maria Jones (nee Heighington) died in Ludlow in 1862, and that same year, the bride’s half-brother Albert had died in Havant aged just 25. The bride’s father, James Moore, had died in 1865, followed just two months later by her half-sister Elizabeth.
Let’s have a look at that photo again:
Known and highly probable people
The four people I can identify definitively based on other photos are the bride and groom and their brother and sister (who will be bride and groom 6 months later):
11. James Jones, aged 38 or 39
12. Julia Anne Jones (nee Moore), aged 22
5. Charles Richard Jones, aged 42 or 43
8. Mary Jane Moore, aged 20
The next two are highly probable:
6. This is almost certainly the groom’s father, Richard Jones, a publisher and bookseller from Ludlow. He would have been 74, having been born in 1797
10. This is almost certainly the bride’s mother Julia Moore (née Blackburn), aged 60
After that, it’s more speculative. Obviously some of these people might not have been family at all. However, some of the guesses I’ve made below are likely to be right, and many may eventually be verifiable if other photographs of these people emerge.
The other people in the photograph
The Clergyman
According to the newspaper announcement, the couple were married by Rev. H.A. Olivier, rector. The 1871 census confirms that the rector of Havant was Henry Arnold Olivier b. 1826. I was amazed to discover that Henry was the grandfather* of actor Laurence Olivier (this Findagrave page for his son shows the connection).
More excitingly for me, Henry had son, Herbert Arnould Olivier, who was an artist, and who painted his father’s portrait in 1893. I can’t say for sure that this is the same person, but the rather distinctive beard style and hairline make me think it probably is. What do you think?
Groom’s side (Jones)
- As of 1871, the groom had four surviving siblings, all brothers. I think these four brothers are the younger men on the left of the picture (the elder man being their father).
- Of these brothers, I’ve already identified Charles Richard Jones as 5
- Other brothers Thomas Richard Jones (aged 34) and Whitmore Jones (aged 37) were both married, and with their wives probably make up the two couples who are 1, 2, 3 and 4
- Younger brother Henry Jones (aged 33) was not married, and is most likely number 9
- There is an older women, 7, to the left of this person who might be Henry. Interestingly, the mother of son Thomas R. Jones’s wife is resident alongside Henry in Richard Jones’s house in Ludlow in the 1871 census (one month earlier). This leads me to speculate that 7 is this person, Mary Ann Knight (nee Binsted). Adding to the connection, Mary Ann Knight is the sister-in-law of the bride’s father’s first wife (she was married to George, the brother of James Moore’s first wife, Ann Knight)
Moore
- If the left hand is the Jones side (except for Mary Jane Moore, who is seated next to her future husband Charles Richard Jones), it follows that the right hand side might be the Moore side.
- There are two younger couples (?), an older couple and the seated clergyman.
- Julia Ann had only two surviving siblings: the aforementioned Mary Jane, and Laura Smithers (nee Moore, aged 32), who was married to William Henry Smithers (aged about 31). Laura and William could be 16 and 17
- If this is right, I’ve now run out of parents, siblings and their spouses. Next up, I considered other close relatives who either live near Hampshire or have associations with the area. If my identification of 14 above as H. A. Olivier is correct, that leaves two couples to find.
- The older couple (18 and 19) could be Mary Luning née Blackburn (aged 57) and her husband Charles (aged 65). Mary had previously lived with her uncle just up the road in Emsworth.
- Or perhaps more likely candidates are Edward Moore (aged 53) and his wife Sarah (nee Knight, aged 51). Both were born around Havant, and Sarah was the sister of James Moore’s first wife Ann. The couple lived in Islington, London in 1871.
- This leaves the younger couple (13 and 15). They could be the bride’s first cousin Julia Ellen Taylor née Luning b. 1844 (aged 26) and husband John Jasper Taylor b.1837 (aged 34)
- Or perhaps other first cousins Elizabeth Hulbert b. 1838 (aged 31) and husband John Burnett Hulbert b. 1835 (aged 36).
The future
There are some sad times ahead for these people. Julia died in Shanghai in September 1874, aged just 25. After returning to China with James, she had two children, but died not long after her second daughter was born.
Summary
So here’s my speculative key to this photo as it stands. If anyone reading this has any photographic evidence to confirm or contradict this, or any other opinions, please don’t hesitate to get in touch!
| # | Person | Speculative person | This person’s age in 1871 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Maria Anna Jones (Whitmore’s wife) | 24 | |
| 2 | Richard Thomas Jones | 35 | |
| 3 | Whitmore Jones | 37 | |
| 4 | Mary Frances Jones (Richard Thomas’s wife) | 37 | |
| 5 | Charles Richard Jones | 43 | |
| 6 | Richard Jones | 74 | |
| 7 | Mary Ann Knight | 68 | |
| 8 | Mary Ann Moore | 20 | |
| 9 | Henry Jones | 33 | |
| 10 | Julia Moore | 60 | |
| 11 | James Jones | 39 | |
| 12 | Julia Anne Moore | 22 | |
| 13 | John Jasper Taylor | 33 | |
| 14 | Rev. H. A. Olivier | 45 | |
| 15 | Ellen Taylor née Luning | 27 | |
| 16 | Henry William Smithers | 31 | |
| 17 | Laura Moore | 32 | |
| 18 | Sarah Moore née Knight | 51 | |
| 19 | Edward Moore | 53 |
* The genealogy available online for Henry Arnold Olivier appears to contain errors. For example:
- When his portrait was sold, the notes said that he was the grandfather rather than the father of Herbert Arnould Olivier,
- The Geni tree names his brother Dacres as the father of Gerard Kerr Olivier, Laurence Olivier’s father.
I researched independently and confirmed that Henry was indeed the father of both Herbert and Gerard.
I hope this is all of interest to at least the odd person aside from me!
Contact info: @dnapainter.bsky.social / jonny@dnapainter.com