Emily's photograph

Emily Carr

Emily was born in Wadworth in 1871 the daughter of George Carr, an agricultural labourer, and Sarah; she attended the local school close to Wadworth parish church. By the 1891 Census she was living in Tickhill in the home of her brother-in-law, Frederick Saxton, a widower, and his two children. Frederick's wife, Sarah, Emily's sister, had died aged 27 on 3 July 1887 leaving Frederick to care for their two young daughters aged 5 and 3. Sarah had married Frederick at Wadworth parish church on 9 May 1881.

Emily remained with Frederick and his family, being recorded with them in 1901, no doubt helping to raise her two nieces and look after the household. She married Frederick in 1907, three years before his death on 3 April 1910. (Before 1907 it was illegal for a man to marry his deceased wife's sister in the United Kingdom.) Frederick is buried with Sarah in St Mary's churchyard, the gravestone recording 'awaiting the grand reunion in Christ'.

Frederick's last occupation was as a publican at the Scarbrough Arms after previous work as a farm servant (1881) and a carrier (1891). When his elder daughter Ethel married Louis Kirkland (son of watchmaker Joseph Kirkland) in 1905, Frederick was then described as a publican in the Marriage Register - Emily was a witness to this marriage. After Frederick's death Emily became the licensee at the Scarbrough Arms and is registered as that in the 1911 Census. She then had two live-in servants, Gertrude Widnall aged 15 and Stephen Hood aged 16.

Emily married George Willie (Bill) Handy in 1912. A year earlier he was recorded in the Census as a blacksmith aged 29 living with his parents at Stainton. Emily and George had a daughter, Olive, in 1913. By the time of the 1915 Doncaster Directory and Year Book George W Handy was the licensee at the Scarbrough Arms.

The photograph, kept by the Carr family, was taken in the garden of Roland House looking across the Mill Stream towards the Castle Mill. Roland House was the home of George Crossland, a photographer. Why did Emily have this photograph taken in her summer finery holding a rose in her left hand? Was it on the occasion of her betrothal to Frederick Saxton or to George W Handy? Did George Crossland regularly use his garden rather than a studio for his photographs or was this a favour for a friend? As is often the case, old photographs prompt questions but the answers are more elusive.