A rare, Victorian CdV portrait by Charles Lowthian; possibly of Elizabeth Ann Eskriett c1890s.

An original, small, Victorian carte de visite (CdV) portrait by Charles Lowthian of Cleethorpes.

Harry (1860-1947) and Charles Lowthian (1861-1898) were born in Manchester. They were sons of Jabez Lowthian, artist, of Keswick, Cumberland. They moved to Grimsby in the 1880s and set up as Lowthian Bros., professional photographers, in Freeman Street.

Charles Lowthian later set up a photographic studio in Cleethorpes. He married Harriet Charles in Grimsby on 1887. Sadly, he died in 1898, aged just 37. Studio photographs by C. Lowthian, as opposed to Lowthian Bros., are rare as he died at such a young age.

The photograph comes from the Edith Mary Eskriett collection. Edith died in 1989. Elizabeth Ann Eskriett was her aunt.

Elizabeth Ann Eskriett (1876-1950) was a member of the Eskriett family of Grimsby shipwrights. She was born in Pontefract (Ferrybridge) in 1876. The family moved to Grimsby before 1891. They lived at 174 Hainton Street (now Avenue). By 1901, Elizabeth Ann was an assistant mistress at a school and living with her mother at 110 Victor Street. In 1911, aged 33, she was a teacher, employed by the council. She was still living with her mother, Martha, at 52 Cavendish Street. They were both at the same address in 1920. Martha died in December 1922. Elizabeth Ann Eskriett died in Hitchin, Hertfordshire in 1950, aged 74.