photograph
Artwork
Accession Number
2012.007.001.102Description
Sepia toned photograph of five young girls and two men on the deck of a ship. The man standing is wearing a naval engineer's uniform.Narrative
The people in this photograph appear to be gathered on a boat deck. The girl standing on the left is not yet identified but the other girls are (L to R) Joan Marion Dunsmuir (sitting cross legged), Laura Mary Dunsmuir (Maye), Elizabeth Maude Dunsmuir (Bessie), and Emily Elinor Dunsmuir (Elinor). The man in uniform could be the chief engineer of HMS Satellite, one of the pacific naval fleet stationed in Esquimalt in 1896. Also serving on HMS Satellite was Lt. Berkeley Holme-Sumner, who married Margaret Harvey on February 12, 1896. The Dunsmuir girls may have been visiting the ship as part of the wedding festivities. The man in plain clothes is not yet identified.
This circa 1896 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 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 1896Dimensions
13 x 13.4 cmSupport
Paper, Photographic paperCountry of Origin
Canada