Dating a photograph

The Photograph

Recently the Moray Libraries an Information Services posted a photograph of the Elgin Plainstones on Facebook:

Elgin Plainstones. Posted to Facebook by Moray Library and Information Services

They wanted help in dating the photograph and so followers chipped in with observations about the content of the photo. But what about a more systematic approach...
So what in the photograph can provide information about the date?

• Post office pillar box (bottom right)
• War memorial (center)
• Telephone kiosk (bottom right)
• Visible registration plate for car (bottom left)
• Bus (center)
• Shops:
• Macfarlane Bookseller (left)
• Gordon Arms Hotel (right)
• Burton (right)

So let's work through these and see what they can tell us...

Post Office Pillar Box

The initials "GR" can be made out on the box, the style of the initials indicates that this pillar box was installed during the reign of George V which ran from 6th May 1910 to 20th January 1936 (see "GR and ER Post Box: What does it mean?" and "A Brief Introduction to the Post Box"). So the image has to be after 6th May 1910. This doesn't really help much since so many other aspects of the scene suggest it was taken during the 1930s or 1940s, but it contributes by providing a hard boundary for the early end of the range.

War Memorial

The Elgin War Memorial was unveiled on 4th December 1921 in the wake of the Great War. After the Second World War flanking walls were added to provide space for the additional names.

Since the memorial appears in the photograph without these flanking walls the photo has to have been taken before they were added. This would have likely been in the late 1940s or early 1950s.

Further information about the Elgin War Memorial can be found at:

• The Scottish Military Research Group - Commemorations Project:
• Elgin War Memorial
• Percy Portsmouth, sculptor
• The Moray Council:
• Elgin War Memorial

Telephone Kiosk

The distinctive design of the phone box allows it to be easily identified by looking through the designs listed on "The Telephone Box" a website describing the various designs that have been used in the UK. The particular example in the photograph is a K1 Mk 236. This model was installed between 1927 and 1929, so the photograph is no earlier than 1927. Given the style of the box it is likely that the date of installation could be further refined using local news reports, since the installation would have likely be considered worthy of note.

Vehicle Registration: SO 5322

The vehicle registration scheme introduced in 1903 use a one or two letter prefix indicating the registration area followed by a four digit number. Details of the location codes can be found in various places including the "Who issued the registration mark?", "Allocation of vehicle registration marks" and "Car Registration and Number Plates". County council changes mean that the "SO" prefix was used by Elginshire County Council until 1919 when it changed to Morayshire County Council, where it would remain until the registration scheme changes in 1974. The registration scheme was extended in 1932 to allow a form using a three letter prefix which included the two letter area code and a three digit number. However local authorities often chose to exhaust the basic scheme before switching to the extended format. This format would not be replaced in all local authorities until 1965.

According to The Kithead Transport Archive the registration and taxation records are currently held by the Local Heritage Centre in Elgin, so it may be possible to determine when this registration was issued and thus add another lower bound to the date range.

Bus

The bus on the Plainstones appears to be turning. Sadly the angle doe not let us see a displayed route number, so we cannot tell if this is a scheduled service or a private hire. Additionally the vechicle registration or bus number cannot be seen, so we cannot determine anything about this specific bus.
However part of the operator logo can be made out, this tells that this is a bus is owned by W. Alexander & Son Ltd. The bus livery is that of W. Alexander & Son Ltd. in the NE.
Since W. Alexander & Sons Ltd. were also coachbuilders the bus body is likely to be one of their own designs. Comparing with the various examples on 1930s designs on Classic Buses, British Commercial Vechicles Museum, London Bus Museum and The Scottish Vintage Bus Museum suggests that the styling indicates a late 1920s or early 1930s design.

Shops: Burton

Elgin Street Prarade indicates that 122 High Street was opened as a Burton store in 1936. Checking Libindx this is confirmed by a newspaper article dated 19th June 1936.

Shops: Gordon Arms Hotel

Elgin Street Prarade indicates that the Gordon Arms Hotel (116-126 High Street) introduced shops at ground level from 1850.

Shops: Macfarlane Bookseller

Checking Libindx 159 High Street is occupied by a J.C. Macfarlane bookseller, stationer and printer in June 1925 (advert in Elgin Academy Magazine). Sources relating to works published suggest the name should be T.C. Macfarlane.

Postcards

The Plainstones in Elgin have been a popular subject for picture postcards, which provides a source for dated photographs of the area showing the changes to shops and street furniture. This can provide additional context and allow a focus on changes.
Of particular use for this purpose are the postcards published by Valentine & Sons of Dundee, since these include an identification number for the negative used for the card. The James Valentine Collection of Landscape Photography at the University of St Andrews provides access to the registers of these numbers allowing the photograph to be approximately dated. The Valentine Collection booklet (PDF) provides basic information to associate a Valentine postcard image with a year.
The trade in picture postcards makes it easy to find examples on the Internet using services such as eBay.
The postcards of interest have a number of possible titles:

• Elgin High Street
• Elgin War Memorial
• Elgin St Giles

Search: "Elgin High Street":

Year	Code	Title	Picture	Notes
1923	87970 J.V.	High Street, Elgin	PicClick	Gordon Arms Hotel canopy on south side (right). War memorial (centre). No telephone box. Lamppost with heart shaped top. Postmarked 1930.
?	N/A	High Street, Looking East, Elgin. 5	PicClick	Telephone box present. War memorial present. Lamppost with heart shaped top. Vehicles suggest 1920s.
1928	204128 J.V.	High Street, Elgin	PicClick, Edinburgh's War	Gordon Arms Hotel canopy on south side (right). War memorial (center). Lamppost either side of war memorial. Lampposts north and south of Plainstones not present. Three trees on each side of Plainstones. Iron railing round St. Giles.
?	A. 4292. [J.B. White Ltd. Dundee]	High Street Elgin	PicClick	Looking west from St Giles. Gordon Arms Hotel and Burton on south side (left) and Macfarlane on north side (right). Placement of south side tree, suggests two trees each side. No lamppost or sign to south of war memorial.
?	N/A	High Street, Elgin, Looking West	PicClick	Design on awning at bookseller suggests Macfarlane. Sign post on south side of war memorial plain post. Postmarked 1950. Manufacturer appears to be "M&L" who went out of business in 1941.
?	N/A	High St., Elgin	PicClick	Telephone box (right). Lamppost north side crook top. Iron railing round St Giles. Van registration "SO 7504". Sign post to north of war memorial has stripped post.
?	N/A	High Street, Elgin. 40	PicClick	Telephone box (bottom left). Lampposts on north and south sides of Plainstones have crook shaped tops. No railing round St Giles. Signs either side of war memorial have stripped posts.
Post-WW2	N/A	High Street and St Giles Church, Elgin. 44	PicClick	Looking east from outside Woolworths towards St Giles. F.W. Woolworth & Co. and George Grant on north side (left). Plainstones remodeled mid-20th century lampposts. Postmarked 1953.

Search: "Elgin war memorial":

Year	Code	Title	Picture	Notes
?	N/A	War Memorial and High Street, Elgin. 10	PicClick	Telephone box. Lampposts either side of war memorial with heart shaped tops.
1923	87973 JV.	War Memorial Elgin	PicClick	Lampposts either side of war memorial with heart shaped tops. Gordon Arms Hotel (center) painted sign.
1923	87959 (JV)	War Memorial and Parish Church, Elgin	PicClick	Lampposts either side of war memorial with heart shaped tops. Iron railing round St Giles. Three trees either side of stones.

From this some deductions can be made:

• Iron railings around St Giles do not appear in post WW2 cards suggesting they were donated to the war effort. Typically this would mean they were removed between 1940 and 1942.
• Street furniture either side of the war memorial changed between 1928 and 1941 with lampposts being replaced by signs (probably of the "no ball games" variety). In the subject photograph the sign visible to the north of the war memorial has a plain post, however they appear with stripped posts in some postcards.
• The trees flanking the stones were reduced. Earlier cards show three trees each side and later cards show two each side. Our subject photograph has two each side.
• The bookseller changed hands after the subject photograph was taken appearing as George Grant booksellers in post war images

Thus far the evidence suggests that the photograph was taken sometime between 1936-1942.
For further refinement we need more information about the changes to Elgin High Street and the Plainstones during the late 1930s. A option for doing this is to find more dated photographs and postcards of the High Street and the Plainstones from this time period and identify a sequence into to which the subject photograph can be placed.