Accession Number

2023.003.003

Description

One sepia-toned studio photograph of Margaret Joan Harvey (1871-1952) depicted from the knees up. Her costume is a darkly-shaded skirt with matching jacket with a lighter coloured fabric used for a belt around her waist. Wrapped around her neck and tucked into her belt is a lightly coloured fabric which forms an asymmetrical mantle covered in lace. A jeweled pin is attached to her collar. Her hat is elaborately decorated with feathers not exceeding approximately 30 centimeters in length. The photograph is mounted to cream-coloured cardstock. At the bottom is the photographer’s mark and address in embossed gilded lettering: “Savannah Five Sisters Block Victoria, B.C.” On the back of the cardstock support in artistically arranged lettering with graphic flourishes is: “FIRST PRIZE MEDAL. B.C.A. ASSOCIATION. Awarded four consecutive years. Savannah Photographic Parlours, Fort Street, Five Sisters Block Victoria, B.C. Additional Copies can be obtained from the Negative by calling at Studio.”

Narrative

This photograph depicts Margaret Joan Harvey, a granddaughter of Robert and Joan Olive Dunsmuir. She was born and raised in Nanaimo, B.C. and married Royal Navy officer Berkeley Holme-Sumner at Victoria’s Christchurch Cathedral on February 12, 1896. The Victoria Daily Colonist of February 13, 1896, states that she left for England via Tacoma, Washington immediately after the wedding reception. In a June 16, 1952 letter to her grand nephew Jim Harvey, also part of this accession (2023.003.023a-b), she states that she never returned to Victoria again after her wedding. This photograph was taken in about 1894. (Note: The “Five Sisters Block” where this studio was located was not completed until 1891, and Williams Directories indicate that Savannah operated there starting in 1894).

History of Use

This photograph was created in Victoria, B.C. and used by Captain Berkeley Holme-Sumner and Margaret Joan Harvey (Mrs. Holme-Sumner) in Britain until  the 1950s when it became the property of their daughter, Georgiana Holme-Sumner, and then by Georgiana Holme-Sumner’s son, who donated the photograph to Craigdarroch Castle in 2023. He had been using it at his home in Scotland.

Date

circa 1894

Dimensions

17.5 x 11.7 cm

Subject/Image

Margaret Joan Harvey

Support

Cardstock

Country of Origin

Canada