Elsie's age in this photograph is unknown, but she looks in her late teens or early twenties so the picture probably dates from around 1906. Elsie's life was not easy. She had three siblings, two sisters and a brother but the brother, John Shipton died young of TB. Then her parents died within a few weeks of each other, both of TB, in 1897, both aged 31 or 32, when Elsie was 11. That left Elsie and her two sisters to be raised in an orphanage. Later, Elsie married a man called Frank Gillan and they lived in a terraced house in Grange Road, Small Heath, Birmingham. They had a child, Alexander, who himself tragically died aged 5 (of unknown causes), but she evidently didn't or couldn't have any more children. Frank himself passed away in the late 50's or early 60's leaving her alone in Grange Road. She herself finally departed this life in about 1964. I sense an undeniable melancholy in this picture and who could be surprised at that? Photo courtesy Annette Massey