Dating Old Photographs of Hungerford

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There are over 12,000 photographs of Hungerford included in the Virtual Museum, of which around 6,000 are historic "old" black and white images. It can be very difficult to accurately date them, and a number of different clues must be used. These include:

1. Dated images: Some images have clear dates printed by the photographer (esp Albert Parsons).
2. Postal rate: ½d, 1d or 1½d used.
3. Postal date: If the postcards are posted, then the date of the image cannot be later then the date of the postmark.
4. Local landmarks: The dates of certain landmarks, such as the railway bridge, shop signs, telegraph poles, and other street furniture can all offer clues.
5. Dates of certain events: Images of key events may give clear dates of images.
6. Photographers' publishing dates: Information is gradually accumulating for the dates when certain photographers' images were published.
7. Known dates of photographers' work.
8. Type of image: eg Carte de Visite, or postcard. Carte de Visites: Most CDV locally date from 1865-1875, although there are examples between 1860-1894. Only rarely are they from 1859 or 1895-1905. Locally, CDVs were published by Alfred Lane, Samuel Hawkes, and William Softley Parry. See Cartes de Visites.

Photographers' work:

Albert Parsons:

- Church Street - c1902-09
- No street named - c1910-1913
- 1 Bridge Street - c1914-1916/17
- 30 High Street - c1916/17 - 1950

Mrs Sue Hopson, who has an extensive collection of local historical postcards has noted the earliest dates of each style postcard:

A. Parsons, Photo.Church Street October 1908
A. PARSONS, Photographer, Hungerford September 1909 (in brown serif typefont)
A. PARSONS, Photographer November 1910
A. Parsons, Photo. Hocktide 1910
A. Parsons, Bridge Street June 1914

It is proving extremely difficult to date Parsons' photographs from the print style of the postcard! This is compounded by the number of extant postcards posted at a much later date than the photograph was taken.

Follow this link for Dating Albert Parsons' Photographs.

Aerofilms:

1929 onwards.

Ernest Barnard:

Apr 1906 - 1918.

MPC Series:

Earliest recorded date: 24 Dec 1901

Freeman Bros:

Lithographic: - 1903
Photographic: - Jan 1907 onwards.

Frith's Series:

Jun 1904 onwards.

Hawker's Series (Charles Hawker, 84 Northbrook Street, Newbury:

1902-1937 (but no Hungerford views after 1909?). (Some PCs are from per-1900 plates)

Samuel Hawkes:

c1881 - c1920.

Frederick Jessett:

c1907-1908.

Alfred Lane:

c1871 - 77

William Softley Parry:

1877 - c1903.

William Mapson:

c1898-1905.

Phillip Osbourne "Os" Collier, Reading:

- 1-3250 Autumn 1905 - Jul 1909
- 4000-4052 Jul 1908 - Jul 1910
- 5000-5032 ? - c1916
- A1 - A1075 Jul 1910 - Sep 1911
- B1 - B1149 Apr 1910 or Aug 1911 - Dec 1912 (B71 was taken on Coronation Day 22 Jun 1911)
- C1 - C995 Jun - Jul 1915
- E1 - E61 ? - c1917
- G1 - G140 ? - ?
- M1 - M2 ? - ?
- X1 - X96 Aug 1914 - Sep 1915
- X509 - X532 ? - Dec 1918
- Late series with a border, bottom margin contained the title and is script or typewritten or typeset 1950s-c1965

Tomkins & Barrett, Swindon:

Sep 1905 onwards.

Tufnail's Series, Newbury:

Aug 1905 onwards.

Chester Vaughan:

- Jan 1902 and after

Kingsway (WH Smith):

Dec 1907 onwards

Photochrome:

Jun 1909 onwards.

J W Righton, 42 Northbrook Street, Newbury:

1903--> (but no Hungerford views after 1909?) (SH says Aug 1916 onwards)

The 'Wyndhams' Series:

- Dec 1904 (or Feb 1906) onwards.

Others:

Alfred Barratt, Fleet Street, London, 1911.

Elliott and Fry, London, 1910.

A. W. Hoare, Reading, 1930-52.

J. Benjamin Stone, 1902.

J. Templeman , Stoke-on-Trent, 1914-1918.

W. Wicks, Hayes, Middlesex, 1910.

Postal Rate:

The postage rate for postcards was a follows:

- ½d from 1 Oct 1870 until...

- 1d from 3 Jun 1918 until...

- 1½d from 13 Jun 1921 until...

- 1d from 29 May 1922 until...

- 2d from 1 May 1940.

Local Landmarks and Street Furniture:

Railway Bridge: First bridge (1862) replaced by the second lattice bridge in 1896.

24 High Street: 1 dormer changed to 3 dormers c1891?

23 High Street: Mock Tudor re-fronting c1903.

Water stand pipes: Installed c1903; removed c1916?

Drainage Vents: Installed c1909 at Three Swans and Bridge.

Telegraph Poles: c1907: 5-bar in central High Street

c1912: 10-bar in central High Street

2-bar at Riverside

High Street Drains: Open still in 1909.