Back in November last year I received an intriguing message relating to an old baby photographic postcard I had for sale on eBay at that time, as follows:
Hi Simon, I’m sorry English is not my first language,but I really need to know if you have any kind of information about this picture. I don’t know where to search, and this postcard that you posted was the only thing I found,
I’m from Brazil and I have a postcard with the same baby, but it’s a different photo.. he’s looking at the camera, and since I can remember my grandma, that gave me the postcard, said that this was her grandfather. He wrote behind the photo ‘1913’, but it was not the date that the picture was taken. It was the date that he gave the postcard to my grandma’s mother. Nobody paid attention to the mention ‘rotary photo London’, and my grandma is 92 now so.. I think she can’t remember the details if it was really her grandfather or it was just a postcard that he gave to her mom. I’m sorry to bother you, but if you have any kind of information could you tell me?
Here is the photograph that I was sent to compare to my own photograph and after matching closely with my own photographic postcard, below it, there is definitely a match!!
What do you think?

VICTORIA’S PHOTOGRAPH

MY PHOTOGRAPH


I then wanted to see if my old photograph had any information or clues on the back and as below you can see that it was sent to a Miss J OLDFIELD at Clifton Lodge, Humphrey Street in Old Trafford in Lancashire and the message reads:
Wishing you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year with love your loving Sister Edith OLDFIELD – the postmark date reads 23 December 11 – assuming this to be 1911?
I responded to Victoria’s original eBay message with this information and waited to hear more from her, although unfortunately eBay do not allow the sharing of personal information or contact details so Victoria had trouble replying to me again for a few days – I then heard further as below:
Hi, Simon! It’s me Victoria. I didn’t replied to you before, because after I send you the message talking about this picture, eBay banned my account, so I had to create a new one.
Well, I want to start saying thank you! I really appreciate how kind you were and how you offered to help me search for information about this picture.. also for trying to communicate in Portuguese.
I have a lot of things to say, but I can’t because they banned me for 3 times. Well, anyways i would like to say thank you again,for all the information. I will search for the names u wrote for sure! the pics u send,I couldn’t even see because I was banned,and now I just learned that I was banned again while writing this message, so i can’t write anything I discovered.
Thank you!
Victória
I investigated the OLDFIELD family further and hoped that maybe Victoria would be able to find me through my Charnwood Genealogy website, but sadly I have heard no further from her to date.
I found that the OLDFIELD family were living at 113 Humphrey Road in Old Trafford in Lancashire on the 1911 census, as below and as you will see there are two sisters Edith and Jessie, who I believe to be the sender and recipient of the postcard.
Making assumptions could this baby in the photograph be a child of Edith OLDFIELD the sender?

Source Citation: The National Archives of the UK (TNA); Kew, Surrey, England; Census Returns of England and Wales, 1911 Source Information: Ancestry.com. 1911 England CensusÂ
I can see that Edith OLDFIELD married a William D MENZIES in the July quarter of 1913 in the Barton upon Irwell Registration District in Lancashire – 1913 is the year that Victoria mentions about her own photograph, so is there a connection?
Searching the MENZIES family I have found them living at 114 Humphrey Street in Old Trafford, as below, so they would have been next door neighbors of the OLDFIELD family and this must be how Edith and William met and fell in love.

Source Citation: The National Archives of the UK (TNA); Kew, Surrey, England; Census Returns of England and Wales, 1911 Source Information: Ancestry.com. 1911 England Census
I have searched the records for a corresponding birth registration under OLDFIELD with mother’s maiden name OLDFIELD before 1913 and after this time using MENZIES and mother’s maiden name OLDFIELD, but I can find nothing to match, to possibly identify the baby in the photograph.
I am therefore hoping that the power of the internet and the fact that Victoria in Brazil found and matched the photograph once, she will possibly see this blog post and be able to contact me further to share information and discover more about the possible family connection.
If she does I will post an update accordingly and I am keeping my fingers well and truly crossed!!
Many thanks
Simon LAST
Charnwood Genealogy
http://www.charnwood-genealogy.com
charnwoodresearch@virginmedia.com