Thanks to a generous donation from Wikimedia UK, the National Archives has been able to digitise and release into the public domain over 350 images from our collection of almost 2,000 original artworks by war artists working for the Ministry of Information during the Second World War. We hope we will eventually be able to release the whole collection.
This project aims to make the best possible use of these images across Wikimedia projects and ultimately to link The National Archives' catalogue back to definitive information on Commons. We have done some very basic categorisation of these images but we know very little about some of the artists and many of the works are anonymous.
Portraits - Some of the works are portraits of individuals whose Wikipedia articles contain no images whatsoever (e.g. Arthur Barratt, Duncan Sandys, Ernest Thurtle, RK Law) or images of poor quality (e.g. Stafford Cripps) which artworks might replace.
Produce new articles on obscure or unknown artists and illustrate them. We have virtually no personal information at all about some of the key artists in the collection (e.g.Harold Forster, William Little) and some are known only by signatures such as "Nunney" or "Stephen". Can you help us find out more about them?
How's your Chinese? Can you translate the text on this image? How about this one?
The National Archives donated over 4,800 images from the Colonial Office Photographic Library to Wiki Commons for use by the WikiAfrica project. Read the case study.
The National Archives has installed a dozen QR codes linked to Wikipedia within its museum. These were generated using the QRpedia system as part of an experiment in using mobile technology within the building.
We aim to improve some of the articles presented in the museum using the knowledge of Wikimedians, our academic staff and imagery from our collections.
We would like to make the articles now being presented in our museum available in as many languages as possible. Some of them are available in upwards of thirty or forty languages. Others are only available in English.
One of the key documents currently on display is Valor Ecclesiasticus. This document, carefully prepared for Henry VIII sets out in detail the land and property of English and Welsh monasteries. Henry used it to confiscate this property and monastic ruins can still be seen across Britain.
We aim to make this article available in Welsh, French, German, Italian, Spanish and Japanese. Sign up if you can help us or suggest other articles and languages you'd like to see.
Free a Photographer Challenge
The National Archives contains hundreds of thousands of 19th and early 20th century photographs taken by commercial photographers and registered for copyright at Stationer's Hall. The collection is known as COPY 1 within our catalogue. Thousands of photographers are represented in COPY 1 (heavy duty dataset available here) and we know very little about most of them. In many cases we do not even possess the bare birth/death details that would allow us to clear their works for copyright.
Many of these photographers are extremely notable - some are not - but if we can clear the images from copyright we will upload a selection of images of their work to Commons to complement any article or relevant information received.
Target: (for starters) Evidence for dates of death for 10 photographers to be tracked down
Oscar Remandas - example catalogue entry of work here
An Alfred Dismorr of Stewart House, Gravesend, (occupation not listed) died on 24 February 1896 according to the National Probate Calendar. This fits with the address given in the register of copyrights, and puts his work safely in the public domain. He may have been a cousin of Jessica Dismorr, but I'd have to dig further to be sure on that. As to notability, I can't say; he was a member of the RPS, but so were many amateurs. This blog post may be of some interest. Shimgray | talk | 19:50, 6 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Following up on this, something strange has just caught my attention - the evidence points to Dismorr being a wealthy amateur. He left an estate of £35, which is far too low to seem plausible - his probable father's estate was twelve and a half thousand. Shimgray | talk | 20:29, 6 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Jessica Dismorr appears to have been formally "Jessie Stewart Dismorr" per the National Probate Calendar (the dates of death match, and the odds are very much against it being coincidence. She was born 2 March 1885, the daughter of John Stewart Dismorr. He was born in Victoria, Australia c. 1850; if we take the identification of Dismorr in the 1881 census as valid, so was he. There's birth records for both in Victoria to the same parents, in 1849 and 1854, which strongly suggests they're siblings - therefore, Alfred Dismorr is the uncle of the artist Jessie. Shimgray | talk | 21:04, 6 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Harry Mackern - Boer War photographer - example catalogue entry of work here
The copyright assignation is the same as in the 1901 book Side-lights on the march by Henry F. Mackern, an American war correspondent. The captions are different, but I'd guess the photo you link to could be the one opposite page 60, "The Boer prisoners at Modder River"? It's not a death date, but it's a start.... Le Deluge (talk) 18:47, 6 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Horace Benge Dobell (1828 - 1917) MD St And. Born on New Years day, 1828 in the City of London, died at his home in Parkstone, Dorset on 22nd February 1917. Full obituary in the British Medical Directory. The Medical Register for 1887 available at Ancestry.com gives his address as Streate Place, Bournemouth in that year which ties in with the details of the address of the Horace Dobell who registered copyright of some photographs in 1884. He's probably a notable because of his medical work. [[User:PhilippaRichard|PhilippaRichard]|(talk)
Charles Dales (1851 - 1945)
The 1891 census available at Ancestry.comconfirms his address as 5 Park Terrace, Poole Road, Westbourne where he has a varied occupation of optician, electrician, watchmaker and photographer. He was born on 11th November 1851, son of Charles Dales, optician, and his wife Catherine Sarah Hamilton who were living at Cecil Street, St Martin in the Fields at the time of his baptism on Christmas Day 1851. By the 1901 census, Charles has moved to Vale View, Nelson Road, Branksome, Bournemouth. He married Alice Elizabeth Powell in 1877 in the Christchurch, Hampshire, registration district. They had at least five daughters and three sons, all born in Bournemouth.
Eva Alice - born 1878, a milliner in the 1901 census
Charles – 1879, a watchmater in the 1901 census
Nelly – born 1881, a mother’s help in the 1901 census
Millicent May – born 1883, a derrssmaker’s assistant in the 1901 census
Thomas Henry – born 1885, a clockmaker repairer in the 1901 census
Bernard – born 1889, at school in the 1901 census
Doris Mary – born 1891, at school in the 1901 census
Marjorie Gertrude – born 1893, at school in the 1901 census
The 1911 Census England Summary Books shows him still living at 5 Nelson Road. freebmd shows a death registered in the March 1945 quarter at Bournemouth of a 93 year old Charles Dales which is probably him. PhilippaRichard|(talk)
Chalkley Gould (1853 – 1906) Married Ellen Matilda Vivian in 1879. 1901 census has him living at “Bourneville” Surrey Road, Bournemouth, a photographer. Born in Epping, Essex, he moved his family to Bournemouth after the registration of the birth of his son Horace in 1882 but before 1888 when the birth of his son Alfred Kenneth was registered in Bournemouth. 1906 probate says he lived at “Florida”, Surrey Road South, Bournemouth and died at Llandudno on 27 June 1906. Probate was granted to his widow, Ellen Matilda and two of his sons, John Cecil Gould and Horace Gould, photographers. PhilippaRichard|(talk)
Edward George Down (1843 - 1897) Born in Chatham, Kent in 1843. 1881 census, he’s at 5 & 6 Wootton Place, Old Christchurch Road, a tobacconist, stationer and photographer. 1901 census, he’s at 191 Old Christchurch Road. But he’s moved to 238 Old Christchurch Road Bournemouth when probate was granted to his son, Harry Glenny Down (born 1875, Bournemouth), a ship’s steward, in 1897. Married Poole born Jane Susan F. Sainsbury in 1873. PhilippaRichard | (talk)
Octavius Carter (1862 - 1926)
Octavius was born in 1862 and his birth was recorded in the Christchurch registers in 1862 according to freeBMD. He appears in the 1871 census at Commercial Road, Bournemouth living with a 24 year old unmarried lady, Sophia Carter, born in Stoneham, Hampshire who runs a china and glass warehouse . His place of birth is down as Bournemouth and he is noted at the unmarried head’s son. But in the 1891 census, both he and Sophia are living at 19 Commercial Road with the head of the household, Jane Carter, who is a married dealer in china both Sophia and Octavius are down as her children so one of those two census entries is incorrect. But, it is from this address, 19 Commercial Road, that Carter registers the copyright in his photos in 1888.
National Probate register gives this: “… of Rozelle 14 Surrey Road South Bournemouth, died 4 August 1925 at Walton Surrey Probate Winchester 20 January to Octavius Cyril Carter surgeon and Stanley Noel Carter income tax consultant. Effects £34954 3s 11d” 1891 census, he’s at 2 Westbourne Arcade, a photographer. 1889 Kelly’s Directory places hi at 19 Commercial Road, Photographer. By 1895, Kelly’s Directory shows he has moved to Livingstone, Alumhurst Road.
The Times of February 6, 1926, gives this: “Octavius Carter, income-tax consultant, who died on August 4 left estate of the gross value of £34,954, with net personalty £9,076. He left:- £100 to Westcliff Baptist Church, Bournemouth for the improvement of the chapel.; £190 to his gardener Conrad Norman Bowhill; a conditional annuity of £26 to Clara Ann Bailey for faithful service; and after other bequests, the residue of the property to the Baptist Missionary Society" PhilippaRichard | (talk)
