This is the only photo I have of my great-grandfather, Stephen George, standing alone, in his soft, comfortable, everyday clothes.  The other photos that have survived show him as a ‘pillar of the community‘ or ‘pater familias’ –  his place in the group determined by a photographer who knew the importance of age, height and status and arranged his subjects accordingly.

In this informal photo I love the ease of his knitted waistcoat with the mismatched buttons and the wear on his jacket. Did he keep a pipe in his breast pocket and is he hiding it away for the photograph? Did he need the stick to steady himself or was it just a useful tool when he went walking in the country side? I wish I had known him.

I don’t know exactly where this photo was taken. He appears to be looking into the sun and maybe has his back to the sea. He farmed at Hescwm and then retired to Bank House, where he died in 1933 aged 91. I expect that the photo was taken at the Fishguard end of the village.