A 1911 football photo question

[Hill Walker]

I was uncertain which forum would be best for this question but as searches of this site and the web in general indicate that Accrington's current football activities have no connection back to 1911 here seemed best.

I have two photos in an album of Accrington photos which are obviously related both to each other and to Accrington. There is strong commonality of people between the photos and some commonality of people occurs with other Accrington photos in the album. Unfortunately I'm about as good at reading 100 year old handwriting as I am at devising legal get rich quick schemes so the annotation on the rear of the second photo might reveal all, if only I could read it!

So if anybody can come up with a hint as to what these photos relate to I would be very grateful. The only two hints I have is that at least one of the people (a none player) worked for the Corporation Transport Dept. and the date 1911. Both are printed on generic postcard stock so no help there.

I should add that these two photos seem completely out of place in the album so they were obviously important to the lady who's album it was, hence my curiosity.

[lancsdave]

Originally Posted by Hill Walker

I was uncertain which forum would be best for this question but as searches of this site and the web in general indicate that Accrington's current football activities have no connection back to 1911 here seemed best.

I have two photos in an album of Accrington photos which are obviously related both to each other and to Accrington. There is strong commonality of people between the photos and some commonality of people occurs with other Accrington photos in the album. Unfortunately I'm about as good at reading 100 year old handwriting as I am at devising legal get rich quick schemes so the annotation on the rear of the second photo might reveal all, if only I could read it!

So if anybody can come up with a hint as to what these photos relate to I would be very grateful. The only two hints I have is that at least one of the people (a none player) worked for the Corporation Transport Dept. and the date 1911. Both are printed on generic postcard stock so no help there.

I should add that these two photos seem completely out of place in the album so they were obviously important to the lady who's album it was, hence my curiosity.

It looks like some mis-spelling of Leicester

[Retlaw]

Originally Posted by Hill Walker

I was uncertain which forum would be best for this question but as searches of this site and the web in general indicate that Accrington's current football activities have no connection back to 1911 here seemed best.

I have two photos in an album of Accrington photos which are obviously related both to each other and to Accrington. There is strong commonality of people between the photos and some commonality of people occurs with other Accrington photos in the album. Unfortunately I'm about as good at reading 100 year old handwriting as I am at devising legal get rich quick schemes so the annotation on the rear of the second photo might reveal all, if only I could read it!

So if anybody can come up with a hint as to what these photos relate to I would be very grateful. The only two hints I have is that at least one of the people (a none player) worked for the Corporation Transport Dept. and the date 1911. Both are printed on generic postcard stock so no help there.

I should add that these two photos seem completely out of place in the album so they were obviously important to the lady who's album it was, hence my curiosity.

Looks like a misspelling, nearest I can come up with is Yeomanry Men's
Leicester

[susie123]

Originally Posted by Hill Walker

I was uncertain which forum would be best for this question but as searches of this site and the web in general indicate that Accrington's current football activities have no connection back to 1911 here seemed best.

I have two photos in an album of Accrington photos which are obviously related both to each other and to Accrington. There is strong commonality of people between the photos and some commonality of people occurs with other Accrington photos in the album. Unfortunately I'm about as good at reading 100 year old handwriting as I am at devising legal get rich quick schemes so the annotation on the rear of the second photo might reveal all, if only I could read it!

So if anybody can come up with a hint as to what these photos relate to I would be very grateful. The only two hints I have is that at least one of the people (a none player) worked for the Corporation Transport Dept. and the date 1911. Both are printed on generic postcard stock so no help there.

I should add that these two photos seem completely out of place in the album so they were obviously important to the lady who's album it was, hence my curiosity.

Looks like ...man's Leicester to me. Is that Accrington railway station in the background to picture 2? And what have they got in their buttonholes?

[MargaretR]

I was taught copperplate writing at school in the 40's.
Capital T was very much like capital Y as this example shows
http://www.niarchive.org/directory/u...andwriting.pdf

...which would make that script start 'Team..' not 'Yeom'

[susie123]

In the football photo that fence is made of railway sleepers. Could it be a station? And some of the men are wearing the same rosettes as in the other picture.

[susie123]

That word could be tramwaymans - as you said one of the men was connected with the corporation transport dept.

[smobile]

Bloke on the extreme right of the 1st picture looks like he's giving some kind of hand signal

[susie123]

Originally Posted by smobile

Bloke on the extreme right of the 1st picture looks like he's giving some kind of hand signal

He's holding a cigar - as he is in the centre of picture 2.

[Hill Walker]

Many thanks to all.

I think the annotation has been cracked. The 'railway sleepers' in the first photo are almost certainly tramway sleepers. At both the left and right of the photo you can see the spacing of the drill holes for the rail shoes, its too close to be the five foot eight and a half inches of the standard railway gauge but its about right for the four foot gauge of Accrington trams. Also I done a web search for other tramway football teams and found evidence that at least Preston, Glasgow and Newham had them. As to the 'Leister' this is perhaps not a mis-spelling but an abreviation of Leicester that seems to be in (slight) use even today. If you do a Google search for 'Leister University' you get offered a lot of University of Leicester pages. Perhaps more significantly a hunt through American medical paper citations makes references to 'Leister-University' tracking down the research again you end up at Leicester University (Hospital).

Given the above I am satisfied that the annotation can be read as "Tramwayman's Leister 1911".

Special thanks to MargretR that guide to copperplate script will prove very useful, its far better than the one I've been using.

[lancsdave]

Originally Posted by Hill Walker

Many thanks to all.

I think the annotation has been cracked. The 'railway sleepers' in the first photo are almost certainly tramway sleepers. At both the left and right of the photo you can see the spacing of the drill holes for the rail shoes, its too close to be the five foot eight and a half inches of the standard railway gauge but its about right for the four foot gauge of Accrington trams. Also I done a web search for other tramway football teams and found evidence that at least Preston, Glasgow and Newham had them. As to the 'Leister' this is perhaps not a mis-spelling but an abreviation of Leicester that seems to be in (slight) use even today. If you do a Google search for 'Leister University' you get offered a lot of University of Leicester pages. Perhaps more significantly a hunt through American medical paper citations makes references to 'Leister-University' tracking down the research again you end up at Leicester University (Hospital).


Given the above I am satisfied that the annotation can be read as "Tramwayman's Leister 1911".

Special thanks to MargretR that guide to copperplate script will prove very useful, its far better than the one I've been using.

Could Leister not be the surname of somebody.

[Hill Walker]

Originally Posted by lancsdave

Could Leister not be the surname of somebody.

Yes its the name of a Swiss manufacturer of heat guns used for roof sealing, and the surname of several American medical doctors, also an artist and an author. Howerver it doesn't seem to be in the 1911 Cenus in the Accrington area.

[Bob Dobson]

There was a word for a picnic such as this, but I don't think it was anything like Leister. A pal of mine works at the National Football Museum on research. PM me your email address Hill and I will put yo0u in contact.

Got the word - wayzgoose ( or similar spelling)

It would be useful to check the 1911 Observers in Accrington Library. I wonder why the photo was taken when the leaves had lefty the trees - in the middle of a season

[Retlaw]

Originally Posted by Hill Walker

Many thanks to all.

I think the annotation has been cracked. The 'railway sleepers' in the first photo are almost certainly tramway sleepers. At both the left and right of the photo you can see the spacing of the drill holes for the rail shoes, its too close to be the five foot eight and a half inches of the standard railway gauge but its about right for the four foot gauge of Accrington trams. Also I done a web search for other tramway football teams and found evidence that at least Preston, Glasgow and Newham had them. As to the 'Leister' this is perhaps not a mis-spelling but an abreviation of Leicester that seems to be in (slight) use even today. If you do a Google search for 'Leister University' you get offered a lot of University of Leicester pages. Perhaps more significantly a hunt through American medical paper citations makes references to 'Leister-University' tracking down the research again you end up at Leicester University (Hospital).

Given the above I am satisfied that the annotation can be read as "Tramwayman's Leister 1911".

Special thanks to MargretR that guide to copperplate script will prove very useful, its far better than the one I've been using.

Tram tracks laid on wooden sleepers and buried under the road, I think not, they would have rotted away very quickly. There are still some tram lines under some of the roads in Accy, also seen one of the power lines, when some lecky blokes dug the pavement up near Oak Hill Park, they said over 700 volts and still live, they couldn't understand how it was still live, and would be reporting it.

[Turtle]

Impressive sleuthing, everyone!