Figure 1.--This of course is mother with the four children. The two girls wear white dresses with hairbows. Younger brother wears a tunic suit with bangs. Harold has a rather mature looking tie and jacket whichb he wears with above-the-knees knickers. Notice the kitten Elizabeth is holding. Image courtesy of the MD collection.

Their father was obviously a man if not wealthy of at least some affluence. Only a man of some means could afford to have a substantial New York City brownhouse as well as a house in the country for the summer. Father appears to have taken a real interest in the children and their games, on occassion posing them in funny situations. A good example here is Phyllis playing. We know little more about their father. Neither do we know much about their mother, except that she appears to have been a cultured lady who insisted that the children take musical lessons. As far as we can tell, father was responsible for the photography. Mother was clearly in charge for the music lessons. She looks a bit older here than I would have thought, perhaps about 35 years old. We do not know what her maiden name was. She appears to have beenrather sensible about clothes. She did not choose any elaborate outfits for Harold such as Fauntleroy suits. Rather her preferences appear to have been for sailor suits. Both Harold and his sisters were commonly dressed in white. Aunt Dolly was a frequent visitor.

Father

Their father was obviously a man if not wealthy of at least some affluence. Only a man of some means could afford to have a substantial New York City brownhouse as well as a house in the country for the summer. Father appears to have taken a real interest in the children and their games, on occassion posing them in funny situations. A good example here is Phyllis playing. We know little more about their father. Neither do we know much about their mother, except that she appears to have been a cultured lady who insisted that the children take musical lessons. As far as we can tell, father was responsible for the photography, although the children were allowed to take some photographs themselves. We have no definite information on the father. An internet search does come up with some leads, but they appear to becfor a man whose first name was Fitzroy rather than a man with a hyphinated last name. We note a Fitzroy Carrington (1869-1954) who edited The Print-Collector's Quarterly for the New York publidshing house Houghton Mifflin. He also edited The Kings' Lyrics (1934), a collection of lyrical poems from the reigns of King James I and King Charles I; together with the Ballad of Agincourt written by Michael Drayton. He also edited A Pint-lover's Hundred (New York, M. Knoedler & Company, Inc., 1934).

Mother

Mother was clearly in charge for the music lessons. She looks a bit older here than I would ave thought, perhaps about 35 years old. We do not know what her maiden name was. She appears to have beenrather sensible about clothes. She did not choose any elaborate outfits for Harold such as Fauntleroy suits. Rather her preferences appear to have been for sailor suits. Both Harold and his sisters were commonly dressed in white.

The Children

The Fitzroy-Carringtons had four children. The three oldest children were There were four childen: Harold, Phyllis, Elizabeth and a younger brother who unfortunately is unidentified in any of the nine albums. I believe that Harold was born about 1897 or 1898 and Phyllis about 1900. The younger brother was probably born about 1901. Elizabeth may have been born about 1905. The image here shows the two oldest children when they were quite young, ome of the oldest photographs in the collection (figure 1). Several photographs show the children altogether. They were normally dressed similarly, but not identically. One interesting aspect of these photographs is the degree to which they show a warm caring relationship among the children. Note how Harold and Phyllis are holdng on to each other here (figure 1) and compare this to other families on HBC where there the children are phitographed with out even touching each other. A example here is a German family photographed almost the same time. There are many other examples on HBC. In some cases this may be hapinstance, but we believe that if often suggests actual relationships among the children and parents.

Aunt Dolly

We do not know much about Aunt Dolly, but she appaers to have been a frequent visitor. Phyllis and Harold are pictured with Aunt Dolly in one July 1905 photograph. Phyllis weards a white dress. Harold wears an above the knees white knickers sailor suit. It looks to be newc as the sleeves are quite long. Both children wear identical strap shoes with white socks that have a dark band at the top.

Lizzie

There was also Lizzie. We see Lizzie taking care od Elizabeth as a toddler. We are not sure precisely what her duties were. Ceratinly with two big houses to take care of, mother needed some help. Lizzie may have helped with more than caring for the little ones. But there may have been other seevanys as well.

Created: April 26, 2003
Last edited: April 29, 2003