Accession Number

2012.007.003.025

Description

Black and white photograph of three women and a child in a field with a large manor house in the distance. The child has its arms outstretched and is running towards one or possibly several calves laying on the ground in front of a small shed. There is a second shed further up the lawn beyond the child. The women are smartly dressed, one in a dark dress suit and large hat, another with light coloured skirt and blouse and a cloche-style brimmed sun hat with a dark ribbon. The third woman also has a large hat and long dark hair styled in ringlets. She is wearing a light coloured open cardigan. On the right of the photograph, a fenced area is being tended to by a farm worker.

Narrative

This photograph was taken on the south lawn at Hatley Park, soon after the castle was completed. The fence in between the people and the castle shows the layout of a road that cut through the lawns and passed in front of the lagoon on the south side of the property. When the estate was further developed by Boston-based landscape architects, Franklin Brett and George Hall between 1911 and 1914, the farming activity was moved to the west side of the property, although sheep continued to graze in the fields south of the castle lawns. The position of the cow sheds and fenced area behind the people pictured is interesting and suggests remnants of the farm operated on the site by Roland Stuart, prior to the Dunsmuir ownership of the land.

History of Use

This photograph and the Dunsmuir family album that it comes from was passed down through Laura Dunsmuir's daughter Dola Frances Dunsmuir (Mrs. Henry Cavendish) to the family of her sister Kathleen Euphemia Dunsmuir (Mrs. Seldon Humphreys) from whom it was acquired by The Castle Society in 2012.  

Date

circa 1912

Dimensions

9.7 x 6.2 cm

Support

Paper, Photographic paper

Country of Origin

Canada