Frog face

A few days ago we featured a piece of crested commemorative ware in the shape of an old arm chair. Its friend, which arrived with it, is in the shape of a frog with a big gaping mouth.

Market Lavington commemorative ware in the shape of a frog

This is the front of frog and we can see he has the words Market Lavington written across him. The crest here does appear to be Market Lavington St Mary’s Church.

But it hardly looks very frog like so let’s view it from a different angle.

But actually, it is the underside of this one which really adds to the interest.

The frog was made by Arcadian China

We can see this is Arcadian China – a common make and tending to be at the cheaper end of this kind of product. It is the rather worn writing at the top which is most interesting.

It was made for A Burgess and Son

This says, Made for A Burgess and Son, photographer etc, Market Lavington. No wonder it has an image of the church, based on a real photo by Alf Burgess. Alf, himself, died in 1918 so presumably this frog was made before then so it is at least 98 years old.

It is another lovely little item which can be seen at the museum.

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6 Peeps at Market Lavington

Alf Burgess was nothing if not entrepreneurial. He was quick to see opportunities for additional trade and the arrival of Canadian soldiers in the area was clearly a chance to sell additional post cards for all would have had loved ones back home and a need to send snappy messages back to them. We know that Alf produced cards especially for the Canadians. This one may have been made with a more general audience in mind as well. It shows six views of the village.

Six views of Market Lavington. A 1914 postcard by Alf Burgess.

We wonder if this was quite an early effort for Mr Burgess which he entitled ‘6 Peeps at Market Lavington. This card was posted in 1914 but his other multiview cards, definitely produced for WWI,  are much more complex and have a more artistic layout.

What we see here is a view from the hill, High Street, The Workmans’ Hall, The church – exterior and interior and Church Street. No doubt all would have been available as individual cards as well.

A Burgess Photo

This is one of those photos where we’d love to identify the person photographed.

A CDV by Burgess of Market Lavington – but who is the subject?

This is CDV sizes (carte de visite) and we think it is late 19^th century. A rather dapper young man has had his likeness taken. He is smartly dressed with an elegant watch chain displaying a cross motif. His hand rests alongside his bowler hat. We just don’t know who he is.

The back of the card is of interest and helps with dating the photo.

The back of the Carte de Visite

The person clearly visited Alf Burgess’s High Street Studio but of course he may have come from anywhere in the area – not just Market Lavington or Easterton.

Has anybody out there any ideas?

Linking families in Easterton and Market Lavington

Although Easterton always seems to have had a separate identity from Market Lavington, up until 1874 they were one and the same parish. By 1921, when Robert (known as Robin) Burgess married Elizabeth (known as Bessie or Queenie) Burnett, the villages had been separate parishes for over forty years. But of course, they were neighbours and it would be expected that people from one parish would marry partners from the other one. This wedding is a case in point.

Here we see the bride, Queenie, in her calf length wedding dress. She appears to be head to toe in white. Robin looks every inch the dapper young man in his smart suit with carnation, his pale tie and jaunty trilby hat.

We do not have the names of other people but we are confident that the older lady on the right is Marion Burgess, the widowed mother of the groom. The gentleman third from left and the one next to Robin certainly have the look of Burgesses.

Perhaps the older couple on the left are Queenie’s parents, Henry and Beatrice Burnett. Maybe the other two men are Burnetts. A comparison can be made with a Burnett family photo here.

We are not sure who the other women are.

Any suggestions would be gratefully received.