Silhouette Scribblings
- Thread starter Daft Bat
- Start date
Drat...
AnnB
Editor in Chief who is Hot off the Press!
I can't think of anywhere else to look - or what else to look for 
I'm now beginning to doubt if it is a Naval uniform. I've found several mentions of a Lieutenant Moorhouse of the 13th Regiment of Foot in the papers at the right sort of time, but nothing which helps to identify him. How about dropping enquiries to both the Imperial War Museum and the National Maritime Museum to see if they can identify the uniform?
I'm now beginning to doubt if it is a Naval uniform. I've found several mentions of a Lieutenant Moorhouse of the 13th Regiment of Foot in the papers at the right sort of time, but nothing which helps to identify him. How about dropping enquiries to both the Imperial War Museum and the National Maritime Museum to see if they can identify the uniform?Nevertheless, I've looked into this William Moorhouse a bit more.
He married in Howden in 1823, described as a gentleman.
At his children's baptisms he's described as a merchant in 1824-27 and 1840-45, and a gentleman in 1829-38.
He's in Baine's directory in 1822 as a lime merchant, rope maker and vessel owner (listed under 3 separate categories), and in Pigot's (1834) as a lime merchant. So there's no evidence there of him being in a uniformed occupation, though he does seem to have been important locally.
He himself was baptised on 28 Jun 1790 in Knottingley; Knottingley registers are damaged and only partly legible, but it was a chapelry of Pontefract and the baptism appears there too.
The baptism and burial I found don't fit the dates on the silhouette, and while I suggested earlier that the name may have been wrongly remembered, you'd then have three items that are similar matches and none that are exact, and you're in grave danger of twisting or disregarding the evidence to match the hypothesis.
So while William Moorhouse of Knottingley seems at first sight a tempting possibility, in the absence of any other evidence he can't really even be that.
MollyMay
Knows where to find the answers!
Do you think we have missed a clue?
The sash has some sort of symbol on it, part of which might be a horn and XC underneath - could looking for what that represents, be a means to unlock the mystery?
Another thought, and I know nothing about silhouettes, did the artist work from a studio? In which case could they - like the early photographers did, provide clothing to the 'sitter' meaning the uniform may not have anything relevant to do with who the chap is. Just my musings.
The sash has some sort of symbol on it, part of which might be a horn and XC underneath - could looking for what that represents, be a means to unlock the mystery?
Another thought, and I know nothing about silhouettes, did the artist work from a studio? In which case could they - like the early photographers did, provide clothing to the 'sitter' meaning the uniform may not have anything relevant to do with who the chap is. Just my musings.