

While it’s fun to buy job-lots of victorian photographs on eBay, I can never be sure if they are connected to one another. So I was happy to discover that the man above, named as H J Monson, was the brother-in-law of Eric James Wright who featured in my previous post.
Henry John Monson was baptised in Kirby Underdale, Yorkshire, on 26th October 1862. In 1901 he married Theodosia Anne Emily Wright, the sister of Eric James Wright. The following account is taken from the St Jame’s Gazette (22 August 1901) in which the bride’s dress is described as ‘a gown of ivory satin flounced with chiffon and trimmed with Brussels lace‘:

A name that stands out is that of brother Mr. Gilbert J Monson since he is depicted on an accompanying cabinet card, although the inscription is faint and hard to read (‘Gilbert Monson, HJM’s youngest brother’?):


Born in 1876, Gilbert would have been twenty-five at the time of the wedding. In the above photograph he is still a young boy, smartly dressed but perhaps a little timid-looking.
The brothers had several other siblings, including the beautiful lady below. She is Caroline Alexandrina Monson (born 1865) and, according to a Monson family descendent who has kindly contacted me, shortened her name to ‘Aline’:


I therefore believe the inscription, while difficult to read, says ‘Aline Monson – passed on at Mentone – Connie was with her)’. Caroline did indeed die at Mentone, France in 1908, and it would seem that her sister Constance was by her side.
A third sister, Alice, married Captain Cecil Maddock, as reported in the Luton Times and Advertiser (1 June 1906). Intriguingly, Alice’s dress was ‘a costume of ivory satin draped with old Brussels lace‘. Could this be the same dress worn by Theodosia Anne Emily Wright a few years beforehand?
Gilbert Monson is also mentioned, this time ‘giving’ his sister away:

Sadly, Alice died just two years later, as recorded in ‘Homeward Mail from India, China and the East, 30 May 1908’: MADDOCK – May 1, at Karwar, Alice Edome, wife of Capt. E.C.G. Maddock, India Medical Service.
I see a definite likeness between Caroline and Gilbert and I’m happy that all three photographs are together, as I think they should be. There is one more cabinet card to explore from this family, which will be the subject of my next post.
_
Like this:
Like Loading...