The photograph, shown left, was sent to us with a request for any information.
The first clue was a hand written note on back stating - "Holmes 37 Gloucester".
The second was the original photograph was by J.White of Littlehampton, Sussex.
 
37 Gloucester Road, Littlehampton still survives today [2014], a 2012 Google earth image is shown below, with the main fabric of the house looking much as it would have in 1898.
 
If we assume the young boy in the centre of the photo is 6 years old then the photograph was taken approx. 1898. He was born in Yapton in Nov-December 1892.
 
The Holmes family moved from Yapton to Littlehampton some time in the middle 1890s. They were still in Yapton in 1894 and are in the 1901 census at Gloucester Road.
The studio photograph shows Alfred standing behind his wife Sarepta, Alfred Jnr, his sister Ellen, seated, and her younger sister Beatrice to the right.
 
Alfred senior, aged approx. 35 in the photo, was born in Steyning, Sussex. He was christened Alfred John Holmes on 15 November 1863 at Steyning. His Father was John Holmes and his mother was Emma. He died in 1948.
 
Alfred married Sarepta in March 1887 at Greenwich, he was aged 24 and she was 26.
 
Sarepta, aged approx. 38 in the photo, was born in 1860 in the small village of Pinchbeck, near Spalding, in Lincolnshire.
Christened Sarepta Boothby Ranson her parents were John and Elizabeth Ranson both born in Pinchbeck in the 1830s. All her family were from this village. Her unusual name was taken from her Grandmother Sarepta Boothby b.1815 whose father was Joseph b.1786 who was born and died in Pinchbeck.
A look at the 1871 census shows her at home with her older brother and younger sister.
 
Next in line in the photograph is Alfred John Jnr. shown here aged about 6 years. He was born in Yapton in Nov-December 1892 and christened there on 1st January 1893. Later he was to become a local football team member and employed at the Constables Brewery in Littlehampton as an engineer.
In the First World War he enlisted in the Royal Sussex Regiment. He was sent to Gallipoli, were in 1915, at the age of 23, he was badly wounded and shipped back home. He died during the journey and was buried at sea on 19 September 1915.
He is listed on The Helles Memorial in Gallipoli.
 
Next to him are his older sisters. Ellen and Beatrice.
Ellen the oldest was born in Yapton, being christened Ellen Elizabeth in 1888.
 
Her younger sister Beatrice, standing, aged about 9 in the photograph, was also born and christened Beatrice Sarepta in Yapton on the 21 July 1889.
She married Arthur Wood in 1912 at East Preston, Sussex.
 
The above is only a basic outline of the completed report.
Further information on this branch of the Holmes family is archived.
 
 
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