Accession Number

2012.007.001.077

Description

Sepia toned photograph of seven young children all dressed in white dresses standing in front of a small house.

Narrative

Depicted in this photograph (L to R) are Emily Elinor Dunsmuir (Elinor), Kathleen Euphemia Dunsmuir (Kat), Jessie Muriel Dunsmuir (Muriel), Laura Mary Dunsmuir (Maye), Joan Marion Dunsmuir (Marion), James Dunsmuir Jr. (Boy), and Elizabeth Maude Dunsmuir (Bessie). They are standing outside their playhouse beside Burleith, the Dunsmuir family home on Victoria's Gorge waterway. 

In this photograph, James Jr. is 'unbreeched', meaning he has not yet started wearing trousers. Until the late nineteenth century, both male and female infants and toddlers were dressed in petticoats and dresses. Breeching, the occasion when a boy wore trousers for the first time, was a significant rite of passage for boys in the western world and could happen any time between two and eight years old, depending on family preference. Often, the first haircut would happen at this time too. James Jr. is probably about two years old in this photograph.
 

History of Use

This photograph was taken in about 1896 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 Cavendish) 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 1896

Dimensions

9.5 x 13 cm

Support

Paper, Photographic paper

Country of Origin

Canada