Accession Number

2012.007.001.099

Description

One black and white photograph of a woman wearing a lightly-coloured dress, dark gloves, and a large dark ostrich-plumed hat. She carries an open parasol and stares intently at the camera. Beside her stands a gentleman in a darkly-coloured striped suit. He wears a white shirt and long necktie and a straw boater's hat. He was a handlebar moustache and holds a cane or walking stick.

Narrative

This photograph depicts Henrietta Maud "Maud" Dunsmuir and her husband Reginald "Reggie" Spencer Chaplin.  The scene behind them suggests that they might be travelling to or from somewhere on a ship or railcar.

Maud and Reggie married in Dublin on June 20, 1898. They travelled to Victoria soon afterward. The photograph was probably taken in August or September, 1898 when they were in the City.¹

1. British Columbia Archives GR-2731 Hopper vs. Dunsmuir case file 12/92 Transcript from Victoria (Hon. Justice Drake) Victoria, December 3, 1903. p.243
 

History of Use

This photograph was taken in August or September, 1898 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

1898

Dimensions

8 x 7.5 cm

Support

Paper, Photographic paper

Country of Origin

Canada