The Mission Church Photo Mystery
(From the collection of Wilton Atkinson)
Who are they?
This photograph appears at the beginning of the Website on the ‘About Us’ page. No surprise we chose it, it’s great - we see a group of Point residents in their Sunday best outside the Mission Church. We are quickly attracted to the smile of the older man with the children at his knee.
Of course, with modern eyes we are a bit outraged and certainly disappointed at the absence of womenfolk, apart from the two young girls.
The picture comes from the collection of Wilton Atkinson. He left notes of his studies when trying to reveal who was who, and to confirm a date. This is important, because if that were possible, it would fix a benchmark for identifying and dating other photos of the period. We followed eagerly in his footsteps.
With knowledge not available to Wilton and great help from Kris Needham in Australia, we scrutinised many photos and census records, struggled through numerous options and finally a process of rigorous elimination. We are now confident we can name all the adults and some children – here goes.
(From the collection of Wilton Atkinson – restored and names added by Paul Hatton)
Except for George Mason, who was the recently arrived tenant of the Temperance Hotel, they are all fishermen and pilots (and many Gardners!). Almost all are related, Richard W Gardner is father to James W Gardner. Senior Luke Gardner, smiling, is the uncle of James ‘Shirley’ Gardner at the end, right. He is also uncle to Mabel and Maud (by his knee) and to the boys Luke and Thomas Gardner (standing). These children are brothers and sisters. Note, this Gardner family group are not related to Richard W, and James W. Gardner, father, and son.
William and Arthur Townley are also brothers. Richard and Gerrard Bagot are father and son.
We can’t fix the other children, but they will be Gardner, Townley, Mason, Spencer or Hargreaves children.
And the date?
Scribbles of Wilton’s suggested several changes of mind, but he settled on 1900. But that’s not possible. Uncle Luke Gardner died in February 1898.
‘Hold on, hold on’ I hear you shout, ‘what about the man in the middle, who’s he?’ I understand, but please wait, we are coming to that.
To continue. The clue had to be the ages of the children and which year fits that best. Kris - who is a granddaughter of the child Maud – solves the puzzle for us. Knowing it can’t be before 1894 – because the Mission Church is built - and not later than 1898 – Luke’s death, Kris took each year in turn to see how they fitted with the ages of the four young Gardner brother and sisters.
It must be sometime in 1894. In that year Mabel would be 2, Maud would be aged 5, Luke 4 and Thomas 10. Looking closely at the children - It fits. Moreover, Gerard Bagot would have been eleven – he looks big but, famously, so was his father Richard sitting below.
And the name of the mystery man?
We can’t be certain but there is good reason to believe it’s James Gardner, the half-brother of Luke senior, and uncle to ‘Shirley’. Looking at their various ages in 1894 - and there are considerable differences - it appears a good match. James is father to the four Gardner children, and, as he sits next to Luke, it could be it is his daughter Mabel who is turning to look at her dad.
It's circumstantial – and there is a big problem. James dies in November 1894.
Now we are down to months in 1894. At first, we thought this was the Mission Church opening ceremony, but it can’t be. There’s too much light for November, furthermore we know this was a well-attended event attracting folk from Overton, Middleton and further afield – where are they? Hmmm.
What if the Church building is just finished, say in September, and they invited all the residents to come and have a look around, maybe take a photograph or two, then all the pieces would fit into place, and it could be James Gardner.
Another look at Wilton’s scribbles shows he adds ‘cotton tree cottage’ below the mystery man, and this is where James and family plus Uncle Luke were living in 1891. It must be James Gardner. The adults in the photo are complete.
(From the collection of Wilton Atkinson – restored and names added by Paul Hatton)
We could stop there, pat on the back, job done, and Kris has the first confirmed photo of her great grandfather.
However, there is a sad postscript. The death of James Gardner, only a couple of months after this photograph was taken, is a tragedy. He is only 33 and leaves behind seven young children and his wife Betty who is pregnant with their eighth child.
We express our thanks to Kris Needham for her considerable help in the research and preparation of this article. Kris has kindly told us much more of this fascinating Gardner story which we hope to post at a later date.