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This is the oldest photograph of Whitsome village that I've seen.
It's actual date is unknown, but there is a Duncan Davidson(1830-1881),
photographer, in the 1871 and 1881 census for Dunse. The houses on the right
of the picture are similar to those in the first picture here and, by
looking at where windows are partly obscured by a roof, give some idea of
the sequence in which they were built.
It's impossible to be know who is who, but I have spent a lot of time
speculating. Some of the men have tools which may provide a clue - is the
man with the horse and cart John Middlemiss, the carrier and grocer in
1871, or is he an employee of his daughter Elizabeth, who owned the
business by 1881? There were 3 brother-carpenters and the man on the far
right seems to be carrying a saw, are the men in the aprons on the
right Andrew Middlemiss and his brothers/apprentices? The two elderly
ladies could be the Purves sisters, Isabella and Agnes, dressmakers.. The
man in front of the taller house in the centre is carrying what looks like
a mason's hammer, and that could be a blacksmith's apron on the man on the
left in a hat…
You can have hours of harmless amusement with this picture!
© Photograph owned by Sheila Findlay
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