Mystery Medic - the trail begins

We all have them – photos of people of whose identity is a mystery. But this is a particularly interesting one.

Who is our mystery medic?

As you can probably tell from the image, it's a studio photograph, and is a good size at 8" x 6". We found it in a photo album of random, but precious, family photographs put together by my husband's mum.

This photo belonged to his grandmother, Caroline Matilda Saunders (nee Long) and has "Mrs Saunders" written on the back in a hand my husband doesn't recognise. Sadly though, it doesn't have the name of the sitter.

A browse online revealed that the gentleman's cap badge is that of the Royal Army Medical Corps,
an organisation formed in 1898.

An #AncestryHour friend identified the "pips" on his shoulder as those of a lieutenant.

I've also been told that most of the officers in the R.A.M.C. would have been doctors.
So, who is he?

The fact that Caroline was given an "official" photograph, and that she kept it amongst her most treasured possessions, suggests that he was significant to her. He would be a contemporary of her own daughter – so, a nephew, perhaps? The logical initial trail to follow, then, would be to identify all her nephews and establish whether any of them were in the R.A.M.C. or, indeed, if any were doctors. As it's a branch of the family I've not researched in any great depth, it could be a long job, particularly as Caroline had eight brothers and sisters.

But then, of course, he could be someone from the her husband's side of the family, Alfred Joseph Saunders, whose picture you can see below, left. Any family resemblance, do you think? Something about the nose, perhaps? (Sadly, Alfred died in 1929. I wrote about his sad story in my post, Tantalising Clues.)

Alfred also came from a large family. He was the youngest of eight, with five brothers and two sisters.


Perhaps, I wondered, our man was killed during WW2 and this was the reason for Caroline to have received his photograph?

So, on a whim, I went on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website and put the name Saunders into the search engine, along with a reference to the Royal Army Medical Corps.

Up popped an Albert Henry Saunders, a lieutenant, serving in the R.A.M.C. who died in Italy in 1944. Could this be him?

But Saunders is too common a surname for such a scatter-gun approach. Besides, as Caroline had both sisters and sister-in-laws, the surname may not be Saunders at all. Time to get back to my systematic trawl and try and establish some more tangible links.

Surely someone as distinguished as this officer must turn up somewhere!

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The Army Medical Corps has a museum in Aldershot. More about it, including advice on researching individuals, can be found on their website, www.ams-museum.org.uk

If you have medics in the family, whether nurses or doctors, military or civilian, Michelle Higg's book, Tracing Your Medical Ancestors, is an informative resource on the history of medicine practitioners as well as where to find their records.

Ancestry.co.uk have just added to their website, a database of Nursing records, covering a period from 1891-1968. These include nurses registered with the Royal College of Nursing.

Wedding Photo Quiz

With a family wedding earlier this month, it seemed a good time to dig around in our own archives and look at some of the old wedding photos we're lucky enough to have.

1. The first couple to star are my husband's grandparents, Albert Joseph Saunders, born in 1884 in London and Caroline Matilda Long, born in 1885.

Caroline was born and grew up in the beautiful historic village of Lavenham in Suffolk.  They were married in... well, perhaps you can guess? Answers on a postcard.. no, just joking. Answer is at the bottom of the page.

 Albert was a cabinet maker and made a lot of their furniture, mainly in mahogany. His apprentice piece was a small stool with a drawer in it and remains in the family.

2. I love this next photograph! It's of my own grandparents, Ernest George Shelley, known as George, and Edith Alice Diggory. George was born in Claverley in Shropshire in 1897, and Edith a year later, in 1898. She was grew up in the lodge house of Park Hall, Sedgeley, Staffordshire, where her father worked as a groom. Her brother, Thomas, worked in the house as a footman before the First World War. Park Hall is now a hotel. Love the hats, don't you?



3. Couple number three are my great uncle George Diggory and his bride Ethel Price. George was a twin. He and his sister Hannah were born in 1896, in the same lodge house as my grandmother.
















4. Moving on now, with my husband's parents, Dennis Percival and Eunice Irene Saunders, both born in 1914.

Dennis was a school teacher and a physicist. He built the family's first TV in his garden shed so that they and the neighbours could watch the Queen's coronation in 1953.

5. And then there's my parents, John Shelley and Patricia Barton, bless 'em, a decade or so later.










6. And finally, another of those mystery weddings. It's a picture from that bundle I mention in The Mystery of 138 photographs. I believe it's that of Mabel Maud Talbot and John Herniman Ben Mowels,  a conclusion arrived at due to a note on a scrap of paper I found in the same pouch as the photograph.

Interestingly, having studied it (with a magnifying glass - it's quite small) I think I can see Mabel's sister Nellie (Helena) peering out from behind the groom, wearing her signature Alice band. What do you think?

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Dates to photos - were you right?

1. 1913 2. 1921 3. 1921 4. 1940 5. 1956 6. 1918

Secrets revealed...

One of the things I love about family history research is visiting the places where our ancestors lived and I've been fortunate in being able to research in some beautiful locations.

None more so than Lavenham in Suffolk, often said to be the "finest medieval town in England".

The Guildhall, Lavenham

But if it hadn't been for the foresight of Francis Lingard Ranson, the village tailor, Lavenham and its wealth of historic buildings would not have survived. 

Ranson, (1880-1950) a keen historian and photographer, captured images of Lavenham during a period when its buildings were in serious decline and threatened with demolition. He used his photographs to raise money for restoration work as well as raising awareness of the imminent loss of our valuable heritage. 

In 1944 he helped form the Lavenham Preservation Society which campaigned to save the village from what would have been almost complete destruction.

Little Hall, Lavenham. Museum and home to the Suffolk Preservation Society.

We stayed in Lavenham in a holiday cottage some years ago while undertaking family history research into my husband's ancestry, the Long family. While we were there, we bought two books, Lingard's Lavenham and Lavenham Panorama, (now, sadly, out of print) containing a collection of Ranson's photographs, compiled by his daughter, Kitty. 

As well as images of buildings - from humble cottages to great halls - the photographs (most taken by her father Francis, but also by her brother Lingard and Joseph Hines Abbott) show the people of Lavenham, including shopkeepers, children playing in the street, the church choir, musicians, workers and village gatherings. On the cover of Lingard's Lavenham is the Ranson family standing outside their own tailor's shop.

Much later, as we pieced together our research on the Longs, we came across Susanna Ranson, daughter of Jeremiah Ranson, who had first opened the tailor's shop in the 1840s, in which his son, Francis, had plied his trade when he wasn't out and about in the village taking photographs. And Susanna, it transpired, was my husband's Great-great-grandmother! 

And what was even more amazing, though we hadn't realised at the time, was that the cottage where we'd  stayed was next door to the Ranson's tailor's shop. Had we known, we could have rented the actual former shop itself - Tailors Cottage!

Lavenham Cottages - Tailors Cottage is on the right

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You can learn more about Lavenham on the 'Discover Lavenham' website or at Britain Express.

There are more photographs of its buildings in the Francis Frith Collection.