Family History Stories from Photographs

Have you ever looked at an old photo and just wondered about who that person was and what stories they might have? Well while spending some time in the Yorkshire Dales recently I visited the Folly, a wonderful old building that houses the Museum of Craven Life and also owns The Horner Collection. The Folly is itself an amazing building with family stories to be discovered but I was particularly taken by the exhibition of some photographs from the Horner collection.

The Horner family were photographers in the North Yorkshire town of Settle for over 100 years. The business was started by Michael Horner in 1864. Photography in those days involved the use of fairly unpleasant chemicals and this could have had a detrimental effect on his health. Sadly he died young aged 26yrs in 1869, his death at the time was attributed to TB but it is possible that the chemicals he used in his photography business may have contributed to his early death.

His younger brother Anthony took over the business. At only 16 years of age he must have had enthusiasm far outweighing his very limited experience, but he learnt on the job as he became skilled at portrait and family photographs and was well known in the town as the local Photographer.

Anthony married Elizabeth Ann Holmes in 1889 and made a home on Market Street, Settle, above the business. They had seven children, and Eddie, their eldest was born on 10 April 1890. He is the young man pictured above, possibly helping out washing windows! Anthony had embraced the Quaker religion after his marriage to Elizabeth and the children were brought up in the Quaker religion.

Both Eddie and his younger brother Wilfred were sent away to school. In the 1901 census Eddie, aged 10yrs old is resident at the Quaker Friends School in Aireborough near Rawdon.

By 1911 Eddie was living back with the family in Settle and had joined his Father in the photography business, his brother Wilfred was still away at school but his younger siblings were all at home.

When war broke out in 1914 the Horner family must have had some difficulties deciding what to do. As Quakers they were Conscientious Objectors as they would have been opposed to taking a fighting role in war or conflict. However, the Quaker Church had set up ‘Friends Ambulance Units’ and both Eddie and Wilfred joined these. The Quakers have an excellent website with a searchable online archive, where I was able to access their records.

Although younger than Eddie, it was Wilfred who joined the Friends Ambulance Unit first, perhaps as Eddie was busy in the photography business.  In 1914 Wilfred signed up and was immediately sent to Dunkirk with the Red Cross. The first Friends Anglo-Belgian Ambulance Unit had left Dover for Dunkirk in October 1914. Wilfred followed soon after in mid November and was working as an Orderly. Within a couple of weeks he had changed role to Cooks Assistant and then a few weeks later to Assistant and then Full Adjutant. All these roles were in France or Belgium. Soon after Wilfred arrived the Friends had established the first of their ambulance units called ‘Section Sanitaire Anglais’ (SSA) which formed part of the French Military Medical Treatment and Evacuation System. By 1916 Wilfred had joined SSA 19 and was working as a Mechanic and Driver. He continued in this position until he was demobilised in 1918. Wilfred was later awarded the French Croix de Guerre for bravery rescuing injured soldiers.

Eddie joined the Friends Ambulance Unit on 29th Feb 1916. The first two postings have abbreviations and at the moment I’m unable to decipher these, but in August 1917 Eddie was sent to ‘Jordans’ for two weeks in 1917. Jordans was a Quaker farmstead in Buckinghamshire dating from the 17th century and was the oldest established Friends Meeting House in the UK. The site was the place where the Friends War Victims Relief Committee had first met in 1914 and established the Friends Ambulance Units. It was used for training the men who were then to work in these units. Eddie and Wilfred would have undertaken training and the taken examinations in First Aid, Home Nursing in addition to physical training exercises.

The Friends Ambulance Units were not only involved with the care and transport of injured soldiers, but also relief operations for refugees and civilians. Looking at Eddie’s personnel card and other records from his time in service, it would seem that he served mostly in this type of work. His personnel card states he worked with the Friends War Victims Relief Committee (WVRC). He spent time in Dole relief camp, which was a camp for refugees set up by the Quakers and also had a large convalescent depot for wounded and sick soldiers. Then later he was in Samoens Bettancort  in the French Alps, where they had established a convalescent home.

Later in 1916, Michael, younger brother to Eddie and Wilfred followed in their footsteps and also joined the Friends Ambulance Unit. He spent most of his service in France working on Ambulance Convoys and was discharged in January 1919.

They all returned home safely after the war and settled back to life in Settle. Sadly Wilfred died in 1920 aged only 27yrs, probably from the Spanish Flu.

Eddie joined his Father in the Photography business and it is photos from this business that sparked my interest in the family. The archive of photographs is available online and is a fascinating glimpse at life in a small Yorkshire town through the ages. The fact that they were a Quaker family led me to another amazing family history resource that would be very useful if you have family members who may have been Quakers.

Most towns had resident photographers and if you get a chance to peek into their archives there could be a wealth of wonderful history to discover. Look at all the detail I found just because the photo of a cute little boy caught my eye!

Please contact me if I can help with any of your family history research.

References:

The Folly Settle: https://thefolly.org.uk

The Horner Collection Catalogue: https://hub.catalogit.app/13427

Friends Ambulance Unit: https://fau.quaker.org.uk