Cambridge mystery of Edwardian family photo album solved

BBC News

08-06-2025

The fascinating story behind a pre-World War One family photo album found in a second-hand book shop has been painstakingly unearthed by a researcher. Stand-out images included ones of an airship, which came down in the middle of Cambridge during huge Army manoeuvres attended by George V in 1912.As Michelle Bullivant dug into the story, she realised the family had links to the city, but were London-based, with connections to Fulham and Arsenal football clubs. "I'm now 100% sure it belonged to William and Kate Hall, who got married in Cambridge, but there are still so many stories to explore within the album," she said.
Miss Bullivant was rummaging through a pile of books at antiquarian booksellers G David, in St Edward's Passage, Cambridge, two years ago, when she came across the album. Her attention was immediately caught by obvious links to the city - pictures of rowers on the river at Stourbridge Common, the university's Senate House and Great St Mary's church, as well as of the Beta II airship floating above Jesus Grove which was a small piece of land next to Jesus Green. "I thought I had to get it," said the archaeological and historical consultant from Cherry Hinton near Cambridge. It stayed on a shelf at her home until a recent bereavement gave her a "kick start to get on with things".
Her first thought was the album might belong to the Marshall family, who set up a garage business which eventually became Marshall Aerospace and Defence Group.In 1912, their garage was close to Jesus Grove, and it was their mechanics who helped fix the broken airship during the Army manoeuvres. These were the last war games held before the outbreak of World War One and were based in and around Cambridge.
Many of the troops were based on Midsummer Common, where the airship experienced mechanical failure.Miss Bullivant said: "The airship captain used a loud speaker to give instructions to the troops to manhandle the Beta II down, using ropes."Huge crowds of people gathered around the airship, so it was moved to the more secluded Jesus Grove.
The second reason why she thought there could be a Marshall connection was the many pictures of cars, but her research soon ruled that out.She discovered a large, detached houses pictured was Devonshire House in Battersea, London, then owned by an Augustus Hall."I compiled a family tree of all his brothers and sisters, cross-referencing their addresses and looking up their homes, and I recognised the house where everyone was having their pictures taken - Woodborough Road in Putney, said Miss Bullivant."It was owned by William Hall and it turned out he'd married Kate Davis in Cambridge in 1899 - so finally, I had my link to Cambridge."
Census research confirmed Kate was the daughter of a college servant, living in Queen's Lane in 1881."But that seems quite strange, I mean what kind of servant? The family pictured seem quite wealthy," she said.The couple had one daughter, Elsa, who appears in many of the photos.Mr Hall was a director of both Fulham and [Woolwich] Arsenal football clubs and he ran a successful metal work business in Battersea.Miss Bullivant believes at least one of the photos shows a Fulham match and she is waiting to hear if the Premier League club's archivist can verify this.
It took her about a fortnight to track down these details, which she shared on her blog, hoping other researchers will add to the details. She also hopes any remaining members of the Hall family might get in contact."There's so many elements to it, the football, the rowing, the military pictures - and it's amazing how it's grown from me not knowing anything about these people to knowing so much," she said.
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