I came across this old photograph in Trove archive. I was struck by the positions of the people in the photograph: it was almost as if they had been styled in their poses as if to ‘say’ something.
Often in old photographs the subject is not identified. But in this photograph we can see it was of the Plough Inn that was run by George Brown. Furthermore, the archive records that this Inn was located in Yetholm in the Scottish Borders. No date for the photograph is given but the dress styles would indicate sometime in the late Victorian period.
These were sufficient details for me to find more about this family. The Innkeeper was George Brown and his wife Caroline Niven. Sadly, I discovered that this family faced great tragedy shortly after the photograph was taken.
Caroline Brown, wife of the Innkeeper died in August 1894 [It is likely that she is the woman in the photograph leaning on the door of the Inn with her hand to her chest]
The man on the left, looking towards his mother?, may have been William Brown, who died 1st of February 1896:
The boy riding the horse cart, is likely to be Robert John, the youngest son of George and Caroline Brown. The younger woman nearer the camera is likely one of their daughters.
I reckon that the photographer may have been George Brown, the Innkeeper himself. Sadly, he died the month after his son, in March 1896:
Susan Sontag: On Photography:
