Ok I finally took some photo!!! They’re not amazing but they’re not to bad….
The photos do not do it justice it’s so beautiful in real life 🥹 it’s also TINY the waist on the skirt is about the width of an armhole!! It’s quite hard to fully see the shape because I currently don’t have access to a mannequin to put it on (I’m not sure it would even fit on one? But that’s a problem for another day….) and also it’s quite wrinkled because it’s been stuffed in my grandparents attic in an Argos bag for the last 30 years….. but I’m not really sure what do to about it because I’m really scared of damaging it if I try to iron it etc..
Also I know a bunch about the lady who wore it, she’s my great great grandmother and she was called Mary John and she was born in 1853! (That’s why we estimate the dress to be 1870s-80s because she wore it around when she was that age) she lived until 1934 and she was 81 when she died, she was a midwife and was married to Thomas John who died aged 69 in a mining accident
She had 16 children!! But two of them died as babies she also then raised her daughter’s children after she died.
We do have photos of her which my aunt currently has so I’ll ask her to send pictures of them and the then I’ll post them :))
I’m trying to do some more research into her but it’s really hard when she has a very generic name….. but I do know she lived in Royal Oak house on Waun y clun road in Trimsaran, Carmarthenshire (I’m yet to find photos of the house but il keep digging)
I’ve also had no luck in any of the ancestry websites they all just don’t seem to have her on record so I might have to do a deeper search….
But I’ll keep yall updated :))
(I’ll also take photos of the mink fur and the jacket and waistcoat which were also theirs but I can’t right now)
