Who Goes There...

"Collins"

I have several photographs from an ancestor's family photo-album. As there are rarely any names or dates on these photographs, I don't know whether these are photographs of my family or their friends. One of these mysterious photographs has the enigmatic "Collins" written on the back. I know that the clothing the couple are wearing are from the time period of 1900's possibly as late as 1917. I cannot find a marriage for any of my female relations to a Collins. It is possible that I simply cannot find the marriage, but I think it's more likely that they are family friends. I also have a group photo with the date written on it as "June 15th 1907 - Very wet day." and these same two people are sat next to my ancestor - Eva Jowett. There is one last photo of this mysterious couple, but this time only the male is present and dressed in what looks like shop-keepers wear. After confusing me for a very long time, I decided to search for a marriage of a "Collins" in Halifax, around the same time as my GGGrandparents were married - 1908. However after trawling through the FreeBMD, I found that my plan wasn't a very good one, especially as Collins isn't that unusual a surname. So I tried a different tactic, I searched on Ancestry for the 1911 census of a Collins family in Halifax about the same age as my family members. Bingo! I found Charlie and Elizabeth Ann Collins living at 79 Lister Lane Halifax, and

Charlie Collins, Shop-Assistant

Charlie's profession is that of a Shop-Keeper's Assistant! It looks like I may have found my people! So I quickly searched for a marriage of a Charlie and Elizabeth Ann, and indeed there was one in Halifax in the December of 1907. It looks like I've found them, especially as the couple were living less than a mile away from my GGGrandparents. It was also interesting that Charlie Collins was working in a tailoring business when Eva Jowett sewed dresses before she married my GGGrandfather - Herbert Sunderland. It looks like I've solved the photo mystery, but unfortunately I have no way to attach them to my family tree, and so the pictures are to remain in my family photo-album as a remembrance of the friends of my GGGrandmother.

Charlie is in the centre, Elizabeth Ann is on his right and Eva Jowett is on her right.