If you have ever had the task of sorting through old family photos, you will know the frustration of not being able to put names to faces. Perhaps you recognise your mother as a young woman, or some other relative, but who are those other people in the picture?
I have just been shown a photo of a woman seated with a young child on either side of her and a rather splendid teddy bear at her feet. Fortunately my wife is able to tell me that this is her grandmother with her two children. I have met all three, perhaps sixty or seventy years or so after the picture was taken, but without my wife’s prompting I could not have put names to their faces. Having your picture taken in a studio would have been a big deal and it shows in the slightly stilted poses, except perhaps the child I know as ‘Aunty Claudette’ who looks as though she might burst out of the shot were it not for her mother’s gently restraining grip.
Usually, putting names to faces is harder to do. But sometimes diligent research combined with a slice of good fortune can fill in the gaps. The photo below is of a group of ATS recruits who came to England for training in October 1943.
The photo, which comes from the National Army Museum’s collection, has been used many times but never with their names attached.
Until now!
This link will take you to an updated version of Audrey Dewjee’s article about the ATS women who came from the Caribbean to serve. The names of these nine ladies have now been included:
https://www.historycalroots.com/caribbean-women-in-the-ats-from-mid-1943-onwards/
We aren’t always so lucky. In October 2024 we published this photo of a young woman taken in Powys, North Wales, probably in the 1890s, and asked for help identifying her. So far her identity remains a mystery.
I mentioned that luck is often a factor, that’s what we need in this case. If anyone has any clues please get in touch.