Exploring the past

Maggie Davies does not appear to best advantage in her 1887 wedding photo. She and her husband Richard are standing. Maggie’s head does not even reach the top of Richard’s shoulder and she looks dumpy.

In a studio portrait taken a few years later the photographer did better. Richard is seated at a table and Maggie is standing next to him. Her hand rests gently on his shoulder. She has a slight smile on her lips and looks serene.

It is a lovely likeness of Maggie, but there is something else precious about this photo. Maggie was a dressmaker until her marriage at the age of 30. Her daughter Gwen and granddaughter Margaret used to tell stories of the beautiful clothes she made. None now survive, and the black dress she is wearing in the photo is one of the few links to that part of her story.

The dress has leg of mutton sleeves, which had come back into fashion in the 1890s, and a round neckline set off by a horizontal clasp. A pleated bodice is drawn into an elaborate waist and the skirt flares out slightly and drops to the floor, showing Maggie’s figure off to perfection. A decorative ribbon in the shape of a rose is attached to the right hand side of her waist, and there are two flowers embroidered on the bodice of the dress and another on the right wristband. The left wristband cannot be seen in the picture.

It would have been hard for Maggie to avoid the sin of pride when she wore this dress to church on Sunday to hear Richard preach.