This photograph printed on postcard paper is a real puzzle. According to a hand written note on the back, the photograph shows Lord and Lady Farnham of Eire. The people in the picture do appear as if they could be on board an old ship, but just look at the area where they are sitting - hardly somewhere where you would expect to see a Lord and Lady! Perhaps the writer is just being funny? Some of the writing has been crossed through, but it has not been obliterated.
And then there are the dates: 1938 written at top left, and 1914 bottom right. I am inclined to think 1914 is accurate, and the voyages were numbered by the shipping company, so voyage 6 could have been added by someone researching the card in the past. There was a real Lord Farnham, Arthur Maxwell, an Irish Republican peer and ex-soldier who lived at Farnham, County Cavan, Eire. He would have been 35 years old in 1914. This image may be a photographic copy of a photograph or lantern slide because there is an area of black background around the picture area (see small original image below). The picture is also numbered, bottom right, with an “8”, indicating that it was part of a series.
If you can tell me anything at all about Lord Farnham that helps make sense of this photograph, please write a comment on this blog.
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