{"id":19126,"date":"2025-03-28T10:03:42","date_gmt":"2025-03-28T10:03:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/selwyn-family.me.uk\/~chris\/wordpress\/?page_id=19126"},"modified":"2026-01-12T10:50:28","modified_gmt":"2026-01-12T10:50:28","slug":"alice-hunts-photographs","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/selwyn-family.me.uk\/~chris\/wordpress\/ancestry-resources\/hunts-of-sedgeford\/alice-hunts-photographs\/","title":{"rendered":"Alice Hunt’s photographs"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Alice Hunt collection<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This collection of photographs was taken by my Great-Grandmother Alice Hunt during a period roughly from the mid 1880s to the early 1900s. For most of this time, Alice and her family were living in Sedgeford in North Norfolk, though they later moved to Woking and then to Folkestone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have split the photographs into 3 sections chronologically. The sections are intended to reflect the periods of time when Alice and her family lived in Sedgeford, Woking and Folkestone. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many of the captions are taken directly from the wrappers of the photographic plates. I believe that most of the captions were written by Alice but some may well have been written by others over the years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many of the photographs taken around North Norfolk were the subject of an exhibition entitled “A Moment in Time<\/a>” at the Dragon Hall, Norwich in 2000. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

An article<\/a> about the collection was also published in the photography journal Second Sight published by Richard Denyer and Half-Tone Press.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sedgeford<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Most of Alice’s surviving photographs were taken while the family was living at Sedgeford Hall. She seems to have begun around the mid-1880s, when she and Walter were in their mid-40s and their large family was complete. Many are single and group portraits of the immediate family, sometimes with friends or relatives. Alice took other pictures of rural scenes of Sedgeford and the surrounding area, sometimes featuring local people. I have divided the pictures taken in and around Sedgeford into sections by subject as best I can.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\n
\"The<\/a>
The Hunt family at
Sedgeford Hall<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
Family, friends and
servants at
Sedgeford Hall<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n
\"Sedgeford<\/a>
Sedgeford Hall<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
Sedgeford in the snow<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
A tour of Sedgeford<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
Probably Sedgeford<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n
\"Villages<\/a>
Villages of
North Norfolk<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

During this period, Alice paid visits to her sister, Edith Jane, who had married a Tom Simmons. Tom ran a leather manufactory in East Peckham, Kent. The family lived initially in East Peckham, later moving to Speldhurst<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
East Peckham, Kent<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
Speldhurst, Kent<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Hart Hill, Woking<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In about 1898 Alice. Walter and their younger children left Sedgeford and moved to Hart Hill near Woking. Most of the surviving photographs of this period were taken at Hart Hill house. There are none of the surrounding area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The remaining photographs from this period were taken during a visit to Alice’s sister Edith and her husband Tom Simmons at their house “Woodgrange” in Salcombe, where the Simmons family had moved on Tom’s retirement. The Simmons family were recorded living at Woodgrange in the 1901 census<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his memoirs, Donald records “That summer [of 1899] my parents, sisters, Frank & I went to Salcombe in Devonshire”. It seems reasonable to assume the pictures were taken during that visit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
Hart Hill, Woking<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
Salcombe<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Folkestone<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Sometime after the 1901 census, Alice, Walter and their younger children took a house in Folkestone, 15 Grimston Avenue, probably due to Walter’s declining health. He died there in 1903. The Hunt family had existing connections with Folkestone. Walter’s uncle, Henry Arthur Hunt CB had lived there until his death in 1889. Henry’s daughter, Walter’s cousin Emma Pownall Hunt, had married Alice’s brother Alexander Mortimore and at some time during Walter and Alice’s residence they lived next door at number 13 Grimston Avenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Along with the pictures taken in and around Folkestone, around this time Alice took a number of photographs in Barham, Kent, several of them featuring people who have so far not been identified. The captions suggest some of them may have been visitors from Germany. It is not known what Alice’s connection was with Barham or why she was visiting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\n
\"\"\/<\/a>
Grimston Avenue, Folkestone<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n
\"\"\/<\/a>
Folkestone<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n
\"\"\/<\/a>
Barham, Kent<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Unidentified places and things<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

There are a small number of pictures that, after much research, we have still not managed to determine where they were taken.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
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\"\"\/<\/a>
Unidentified places<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n
\"\"\/<\/a>
Inanimate objects<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Norfolk then & now<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This is a study of pictures from the Alice Hunt collection alongside modern day views of the same subjects. I have tried to take a picture from as close as I can possibly identify to the place that Alice took her picture.<\/p>\n\n\n

<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n

The Woodgate albums<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

These are scans of albums that the Purdy family of Woodgate House in Aylsham, Norfolk gave me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The albums contain many pictures from the Alice Hunt collection and, in many cases, provided a greater insight into the collection. There are also many pictures that are not in the collection and are likely to be either pictures that were taken by Alice but the plates are lost or pictures taken by third parties.<\/p>\n\n\n

<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n

The original Alice Hunt Collection<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Alice Hunt Collection is stored in numbered boxes. Each box contains a number of photographic places which are not not necessarily related to each other either by subject or date. This album simply presents each box of pictures as they are stored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This set of images is from the photographs of the collection that I have taken over September and October 2025. The pictures were taken with a Nikon D90 and a Tamron 90mm f\/2.8 macro lens. The plates were placed on a simple LED lightbox. The images were recorded in NEF (Nikon Raw) format and processed into the JPG images as follows :-<\/p>\n\n\n\n