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Other places in this section... |
ow many of us have an old photograph that contains a mystery person - maybe an ancestor, an old friend, work colleagues or neighbours? Or perhaps you know the people, but can't identify the place? Some of us inherit photos that we know nothing about, and wish to learn where they were taken.... or when. This section of Historic Coventry is where some of those photos can be displayed, both for our viewing pleasure, and in the hope that we might learn more about them from visitors who may recognise some element of your Coventry related pictures....
If you recognise any people or places in the photographs in this section, please contact me so we can solve some of these mysteries. Equally, if you have any such photos of your own, please feel free to contact me, so we can arrange for you to send me a scan - and let's see if someone else can solve your mystery!
Horse-drawn Outing
e begin this section with an outing - in a slightly more relaxed manner than we're used to today! This wonderful photograph was sent to me by Simon Shaw, and belongs to June Gibson of Wyken, Coventry, who has several photos that were from her granddad, William Kent. Most of the photographs appear to be from the 1900 to 1920 period.
Clicking on the photo will open another page with a much larger version.
Maybe you can recognise a relative in this photo? Or maybe the pub or its location? Perhaps one of the horses??? Whatever you might know, please contact me so we can share it with the world.
Well, we appear to have an early success with this old photo! Huge thanks go to Kim Pateman, who wrote to say "I think the pub in the picture is the old Hand and Heart in Far Gosford Street before it was extensively rebuilt."
I certainly have to agree with Kim about this. When we compare the above photo with the one on the left, which appears, as Kim pointed out to me, in John Ashby's great book "The Character of Coventry", we can see that the window design, the recessed panels below the upper bay windows and the trapezoid lintel above the doorway, all perfectly match.
So, thank you Kim for working out the location so quickly. I wonder if anyone can tell us anything about the people in the photograph?It's not the only place that has been suggested, however. Peter Ingram, now living in Lancashire, has this to say about the first photograph....
"I believe this photo was taken outside the George Inn in Little Park Street, about 1918. This was just before my late grandfather, Albert Browne, became landlord. Another more well-known picture exists showing the trippers on a stage coach (at the end of the street is the incomplete Council House)."
That would certainly be another photo well worth seeing!
Indeed we do have more.... the plot thickens! Jacqui Adams has emailed me with some more wonderful old pictures, and we have a possible match for the driver of the above charabanc.
Here are two images of Dick 'Crack' Adams. We know it's definitely him on the right. On the left is a close-up of the driver in the first photo on this page.... could this be him, too?
Her husband's great grandfather was Richard Adams, known as Dick 'Crack' Adams, who I display here on the right to see if he might be cracking the whip in the first photo above. He ran a charabanc service known as 'Pride of the Midlands'.
Another possible link between these photographs comes in the form of the chap standing at the front of the horses in the last photo, below. On the left is a close-up of this man, and he bears a certain possible resemblance to the chap in the same position outside the Hand and Heart in the first photo on this page. Both have a fob-watch - are they the same person?
Brian Stote, who successfully located the village pub on the "Leamington Ales" page, also adds weight to the argument for the connection between the two photographs....
"One further link between the two key pictures might be the horses themselves. One of them is clearly a grey in both pictures and seems to be slightly smaller in both cases than its companion. We cannot see enough of the right rear foot of the darker horse paired with it in the lower picture to match it exactly with the one outside the Hand and Heart, but it is certainly possible. Carrier companies would probably have worked horses in pairs because they were used to each other, and it strengthens the possibility that these two photographs were taken within a very short time of each other and of the same personnel."