Accession Number

2012.007.001.089

Description

One black and white photograph of one woman in a darkly-coloured dress. Around her are three girls and one boy in lightly-coloured clothing. Behind the group and to the left of the image is painted woodwork indicating the existence of a stairway going down.

Narrative

This Dunsmuir family group might be posing beside a staircase that leads to Victoria's Gorge Waterway on the grounds of Burleith, the James and Laura Dunsmuir house in the VicWest neighbourhood of Victoria. The photograph depicts Laura Miller Dunsmuir (nee Surles) and four of her children. From left to right, the subjects are: Jessie Muriel "Moulie" Dunsmuir; Laura Miller Dunsmuir; Joan Marion "Marion" Dunsmuir (back); James "Boy" Dunsmuir Jr.; Kathleen Euphemia "Kat" Dunsmuir.

This circa 1899 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.

History of Use

This photograph was taken in about 1899 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 her 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 1899

Dimensions

8.5 x 9.7 cm

Subject/Image

Dunsmuir family group at Burleith

Support

Paper, Photographic paper

Country of Origin

Canada