An old school photo

We don’t know much about this photo.

A school photo which includes Rose Polden. But which school is it?

What we do know is that the girl, third person from the left in the back row is Rose Polden. Rose was born in 1892 in Chitterne but seems to have been raised by her aunt and uncle in Market Lavington. But the first documentary evidence we have of that was in 1901. This photo might date from about 1901.

Can you help us? We don’t recognise the location or any of the other people. Could this, in fact, be Chitterne?

Rose Polden is marked with a rather fancy cross.

It is, though, a lovely picture of Rose who set up her dressmaking business in Parsonage Lane whilst still a teenager. Later she married Andrew Poolman and the couple had two Market Lavington born children before moving to the Warminster area.

We feel the photo is worthy of a place in our museum – but it may be of interest elsewhere as well.