Accession Number

2012.007.001.012

Description

A black and white photograph of a young woman (Sarah Byrd Dunsmuir) standing beside a horse holding its rein. They both stand in the middle of a roadway which veers slightly to left, on both sides of the roadway are wooded areas of Douglas fir, and a preponderance of deciduous tees, possibly alder. In the distance is a children's playhouse.

Narrative

This circa 1897 photograph is mounted in a brown suede leather album that documents the life and times of the James and Laura Dunsmuir family from about 1895 onward. The album includes scenes at their house Burleith on Victoria's Gorge Waterway, various coastal locales north of Victoria, and parts of the United Kingdom.

This particular photograph depicts James and Laura Dunsmuir's daughter, Sarah Byrd Dunsmuir (1878-1925), also known as Byrdie, with a horse on a small road within the Dunsmuir estate named Bureith on Victoria's Gorge Waterway. The unique design of the children's playhouse in the distance confirms the location as Burleith.  

History of Use

This photograph was taken in about 1897 and placed in an album created by the James and Laura Dunsmuir family at Burleith, their home on Victoria's Gorge Waterway. In 1906 it was probably taken by the family to Victoria's Government House where they lived while James served as British Columbia's eighth Lieutenant Governor. From there it was taken to the family's new house, Hatley Park, in 1910.

Sometime after Laura Miller Dunsmuir's death in 1937, the album became the property of Dola Frances Dunsmuir (also known as Mrs. Dola Canvendish) and was kept at her house Dolaura in Colwood, B.C. After hear death, the album was owned by her sister Kathleen's daughter, Judith Humphreys (also known as Mrs. Judith Joy). Her daughter donated the album to Craigdarroch Castle in 2012.

Date

circa 1897

Dimensions

9.5 x 11.7 cm

Subject/Image

Burleith; Burleith playhouse; Sarah Byrd Dunsmuir; horse

Support

Paper, Photographic paper

Country of Origin

Canada