Gentleman with unusual beard by Marsden of Grimsby c1890.

An original studio portrait from Grimsby.

Water Major Marsden (1851-1932) was an accomplished portrait painter and the joint owner of a hairdressers and perfumers business (Imperial Hairdressing Saloon, 6 Victoria Street. The business was dissolved in 1895.)

It’s likely that W. M. Marsden was not working at 3, Old Market Place for very long. Fred Edwin Friston, Harry Jancowski and William Edward Sherlock were photographers at the same address.

Walter Major Marsden was born in Bradford in 1851. He married in Bradford in 1872.

At the time of his death in 1932, Walter Major Marsden was living at Brackenhall Farm, Baildon, Yorkshire. He was a farmer. His son, Major Marsden, was a hairdresser and later a herbalist. Major Marsden was at South Parade School in Grimsby in 1992 and 1993 and then the family left town. This helps date the photograph.

Note: Major Marsden of Brackenhall Farm fought in WW1 in the Army, the R.F.C. and then the R.A.F. After the war, he transferred to the R.A.F. Reserve from 1919 until 1920. His civilian occupation was given as ‘film traveller’.