Lady & her Daughter from my home town
by Richovery
Carte-de-visite photograph purchased from an ebay trader last week.
This portrait of Mother and Daughter was taken by a local Photographer in my home town of Wellington, Shropshire (or Salop as it was known when this portrait was taken).
The front of the card reads: J.Laing, Photo, Wellington Salop.
The reverse reads: J. Laing Artist & Photographer – Castle Street Shrewsbury and 3 Queen Street Wellington, Salop.
I wonder if this lady or her daughter knew my ancestors?
lost and found 
I thought it was still called Salop. I have Salop in a postal address for a friend who lived in Shropshire. May be only used in addresses now?
The postal address changed from Salop to Shropshire in the 1970s I think Katherine although it will probably still get there using Salop : )
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postal_counties_of_the_United_Kingdom
Thanks Richard. It does seem to get there.
I think I can see a family likeness!! I love the lady,s dress.
Do you think so?! I loved the dress too, it’s massive!
Gorgeous photo!
It’s a nice one isn’t it, wish I had taken it!
[…] there are posts that just can’t be categorised. The most recent from Richard Overy, ‘Lady & her Daughter from my home town‘ is one such post. A very simple Victorian (?) photo taken in Richard’s home […]
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What a great photo ! Photography has changed so much since those days.
James Laing b1838 Glasgow. Married Shrews girl Nancy Coggin 1870. Lived and worked as Photographic Artist in Shrews and was retired there by 1901. No issue, but was home to his spinster sister Margaret and what seems to be her illigit daughter for some years. Nancy died there in 1912 and Margaret in 1914. I can’t find what happened to James after that as yet.
He may well have seen one or two of my ancestors as they lived on Tan Bank just 3 streets away.
You might send this picture to the Shropshire Star as they have a regular feature on old pics for readers to try and identify.
Thanks Debbie, I may well send the image to the Star, I bought another image by this photographer today : )
Judging from trade directories, James Laing occupied premises in Queen Street, Wellington, from about 1868 to about 1871. Queen Street, at that time, was a new road. Unfortunately, I haven’t yet been able to identify the precise location of his house/studio.