The Hampshire Family Historian | Volume 50 No.3 | Dec 2023

Member’s article

cravat and deep fronted waistcoat which looks single breasted is most likely for the 1850's. The hair style is full over the ears which also fits the 1850's. An older man might maintain earlier fashions, but the 1860s would be less likely. The restorer confirmed my deduction that the photo is certainly a copy, most probably of an ambrotype, which was only introduced in the UK in 1851. This was a collodion positive on glass. The only alternative would be a daguerreotype that would be far too costly for ordinary people. The top right corner was frayed on the original when copied, as can be seen in the scan above. Some of the spotting may also be on the original as it does not come from the mount. Ambrotypes would normally have great clarity (as clear from examples on the Wiki page). The fuzzy nature of the copy suggests the original had already deteriorated by the time it was copied. This has made restoration less successful than would normally be achieved, but nevertheless has yielded a very much better image. This, with the expert confirmation it was a copy, has been of enormous value. This is also a warning that photo dates do not always fit the other evidence; always worth checking why! Knowing that this was certainly a copy makes its identification easier. All candidates to be called ‘grandpa’ by 1876, the date Douglas was established in St Mary’s Road, were either dead or far too young: the subject of the picture is visually of considerable age, looks haggard, and has a stick. Knowing it is from the 1850s or early 1860s gives only one possible candidate: Henry NORRIS . Henry was born in 1782 at Compton, near Winchester, as stated in his 1851 and 1861

The restored photograph

census returns. His age of 69 and 79 in these respective censuses, and his death certificate 13 December.1866, aged 84, all confirm 1782 birth. But the sparse records at Compton suggest his baptism was not recorded; with checks of the Compton fiche and all HGS transcripts providing no alternative birth parish. However, his likely parents, John and Elizabeth, were part of a long-standing family in Compton where the earliest Norris record is the death of Richard in 1728, who married in 1711 to Jane BEANE , another long-standing Compton family. ² Henry moved from Compton to Milton (New Milton) and then to Marchwood and Eling where he was an agricultural labourer and later a gardener. He married three

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