A Belgian woman is hoping for local knowledge to help in identifying mystery photos inherited by her late husband.
Reinhilde Aendekerk of Oostkamp, West Flanders, has emailed the Journal to see if anyone can shed any light of the origin of the pictures – all formal portraits and 'made in Lowestoft by W Boughton & Sons, estimated around 1880-1890.'
She explained: 'We inherited a few portraits. The album which contains the portraits, which were made in Lowestoft, belonged to Henri Carbonez (1852-1926) and Celina Billiau (1852-1926).
'They were the maternal great grandparents of my late husband.
'Henry Carbonez was a merchant and started circa 1894 to bloat/smoke? herring etc. He was a ship owner as from 1900 (details from the Belgian Law Gazette).
'His herring fishing industry was located in Nieuwpoort, a port with similar harbour and fishing activities as Lowestoft, I think. The fishing boats he owned were Tout à Jésus et à Marie N4 (1909) and St Antoine de Padoue N5 (1907).'
Mrs Aendekerk asks readers: 'Maybe there was a relationship between Nieuwpoort and Lowestoft? Before or after 1900? We suppose the people on the portraits were business relations as we could not find until now a family relation in the UK.'
If anyone can help, please email Journal editor anne.edwards@archant.co.uk and Mrs Aendekerk at reinhilde.aendekerk@telenet.be
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