Accession Number

2023.003.010

Description

One sepia-toned photograph of Margaret Joan Harvey (1871-1952) and her husband Berkeley Holme-Sumner (1872-1943) with their daughter Joan Holme-Sumner walking outside. Berkeley Holme-Sumner is walking in his navy-blue dress uniform, a cigarette in his right hand and his sword in his left hand. Joan Holme-Sumner is walking beside him in a medium-coloured coat with a fur collar. Margaret Holme-Sumner walks behind them both, holding a book in her gloved left hand. She wears a darkly coloured coat with a fur collar. The photograph is mounted on a paper which is then mounted on a whitish-coloured embossed cardstock. On the back of the card stock in pencil is written: “France Joan Capt. Berkeley Mousie”.

Narrative

This photograph of Captain Berkeley Holme-Sumner, his wife Margaret Holme-Sumner, and daughter Joan Holme-Sumner was taken in France, probably not long after the Armistice was signed. Margaret, also known as “Madge” and “Mousie”, had been a volunteer with the Red Cross during the Great War. Commander Berkeley Holme-Sumner, OBE served as a divisional naval transport officer in the Royal Naval Transport Service during The Great War and was based in Rouen, France.  

History of Use

This photograph was created in France, and used in Britain by Captain Berkeley Holme-Sumner and Margaret Joan Harvey (Mrs. Holme-Sumner) 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 1919

Dimensions

25.7 x 20.9 cm

Subject/Image

Margaret Joan Harvey, Berkeley Holme-Sumner, Joan Holme-Sumner

Support

Cardstock

Country of Origin

Republic of France