Last weekend, when visiting Helly's parents, I spent a rather enjoyable day looking through a large box of photographs, cards, postcards and other documents which they had rediscovered in the attic - some dating back to the 19th century - and which had originally belonged to her grandmother Marjory before she passed away in 2010. As I have mentioned in the past, I have done quite a lot of research into Helly's family tree over the years, and as such these documents represent an important primary resource.
However, for the purposes of this forum one batch of photographs was of particular interest - although undated, they were accompanied by a handwritten note stating that they had been taken at Whipsnade Zoo. Along with various images of animals, this collection of photographs depicts Helly's father, aunt and their mother (Helly's grandmother), along with individuals I recognise to be her great-aunt Stella (the sister-in-law of Marjory) and her own family. Unfortunately, Helly's father wasn't sure when exactly the photographs were taken, as he used to visit his aunt Stella quite regularly as a child - however, there were two key pieces of evidence:
I knew that the first UK breeding of Indian Rhinoceros took place at Whipsnade in 1957, but as Helly's father was born in 1954 this seemed a little too early for the photographs to depict the calf in question. As such, I consulted @Tim May on the subject of whether or not the species was bred at Whipsnade in the years that followed - he was able to confirm that a second breeding took place at the collection in August 1960, which fits the apparent age of Helly's father much better.
Having asked (and received) permission to upload the photographs to Zoochat, I reproduce them below; I have uploaded the bulk to the Whipsnade Zoo section of the gallery, with some of the more "person-focused" ones merely attached to this thread.
However, for the purposes of this forum one batch of photographs was of particular interest - although undated, they were accompanied by a handwritten note stating that they had been taken at Whipsnade Zoo. Along with various images of animals, this collection of photographs depicts Helly's father, aunt and their mother (Helly's grandmother), along with individuals I recognise to be her great-aunt Stella (the sister-in-law of Marjory) and her own family. Unfortunately, Helly's father wasn't sure when exactly the photographs were taken, as he used to visit his aunt Stella quite regularly as a child - however, there were two key pieces of evidence:
- One of the photographs depicts an Indian Rhinoceros calf.
- Helly's father looks about five or six in the photographs.
I knew that the first UK breeding of Indian Rhinoceros took place at Whipsnade in 1957, but as Helly's father was born in 1954 this seemed a little too early for the photographs to depict the calf in question. As such, I consulted @Tim May on the subject of whether or not the species was bred at Whipsnade in the years that followed - he was able to confirm that a second breeding took place at the collection in August 1960, which fits the apparent age of Helly's father much better.
Having asked (and received) permission to upload the photographs to Zoochat, I reproduce them below; I have uploaded the bulk to the Whipsnade Zoo section of the gallery, with some of the more "person-focused" ones merely attached to this thread.
there's a fair few photographs and documents I very much want to track down again, including the photographs which her grandmother took when visiting Berlin around Easter 1939 (I have relocated photographs from the Paris stretch of the trip, and some scattered shots from other areas of Germany) and the single surviving photograph of a great-aunt who died of tuberculosis in 1925, so I'm hoping it doesn't take another decade to find where the other boxes and folders ended up.