Crespigny children portraits

Discovering family portraits in a book on fashion history

A while ago one of my Chauncy cousins generously gave me access to indexes of many family history documents he has collected and catalogued. Some references were familiar to me; others were entirely new. This entry caught my eye:

• 1978 – Elizabeth Scandrett Book of Fashions in Australia 1788 to 1914: “Breeches & Bustles – An Illustrated History of Clothes Worn in Australia, 1788-1914” Photos of Crespigny children, 1882 to 1912.

The book was in the Eureka Centre (Ballarat) library and yesterday afternoon I went there to have a look.

In the section for 1900 to 1914, I found a 1912 photograph of the four children of Philip Champion de Crespigny (1879–1918), my great-great-uncle. The children in the photograph are:

• Annie (1903–1977)

• Lorna (1904–1962)

• Philip (1906–2001)

• John (1908–1995)

Children of Philip Champion de Crespigny circa 1912: Lorna eight, Annie nine, Philip six, and John four

The book’s Acknowledgments includes the name John de Crespigny, which seems to imply that he supplied the photograph. John de Crespigny (1908–1995), was the youngest of the four children in the photograph. He was the cousin of my grandfather, my first cousin twice removed.

In the section for 1880 to 1890, I discovered another de Crespigny photograph, this one of my great-grandfather, Constantine Trent Champion de Crespigny (1882–1952), John de Crespigny’s uncle. The dating is wrong however. The caption has 1882, the year of his birth. It probably dates from around 1890, when he was about eight.

Constantine Trent Champion D’Crespigny 1882

In the “Breeches and Bustles” portrait, Constantine is dressed in a dark buttoned-up jacket with a high collar and matching trousers, a style of formal attire for boys that was popular from the late 1870s to the early 1890s. The studio setting and props are characteristic of professional photography in the 1880s and 1890s. The sitter’s face is very much like the face of later portraits of my great grandfather. Given all this, I believe the photograph was taken between 1887 and 1892.

The de Crespigny family in 1894: Constantine Trent with his step-mother, half-brother and father: Sophia (1870-1936), Frank (1892-1968), and Philip (1850-1912)

Constantine Trent Champion de Crespigny (1882–1952) over the years

Related posts

• Sepia Saturday 192 : John Chauncy Champion de Crespigny (1908 – 1995)

• O is for ‘Ottawa’ Gladstone Parade Elsternwick

• Wednesday Wedding : 11 September 1906 de Crespigny and Hughes

• A miniature note

This post first published at https://anneyoungau.wordpress.com/2025/02/27/crespigny-children-portraits/