Theo and Lorna

This sweet hand-coloured portrait of Lorna and her brother Theo dates from around 1918, when Lorna was aged four. The photograph was taken in Stirling at Crowe and Rodgers’ studio. Crowe and Rodgers was a well-known outfit in the early days of photography, counting Queen Victoria amongst its former sitters.

Since we know of no family connection in Stirling, we can only guess at the reason for the family to be there. Stirling Castle was a recruitment and transit centre for sending men out to the trenches. Given his military record in the Boer War, it is possible that Lorna’s father Albert was contributing to this operation. Alternatively, perhaps the family was simply taking a Scottish holiday? Since posting this photograph we have discovered the reason for the family's stay in Stirling.

From the self-published memoirs of their cousin Margaret, we have learnt that Theo was very protective of his little sister, especially when they stayed together at their Grannie’s house with Margaret and her siblings. Margaret’s brother George, who was three years older than Lorna, would tease his younger cousin. Margaret’s memoirs note that since Lorna was ‘a very plump little girl’ George often called her ‘Mrs Podgy’. This led to fights between Theo and George.

This is the 200th blip in Lorna’s journal. We’d like to thank everyone for following the entries as we post them each day. What started as a simple record of war diary entries has transformed into something that we couldn’t possibly have envisaged at the start of this project last August. It’s also turned out to be a lot more work! However, all the comments, stars and favourites encourage us to continue the effort to document World War II from Lorna’s perspective, and to ‘fill in the gaps’ with Lorna’s artwork and poetry, alongside glimpses into middle class family life in England in the early twentieth century.