Captured
Photos of Captain Leonard Dudbridge, his old school
and more can be found in TheGenealogist's Image Archive

Step back in time with 3D photos

You can now see through your ancestor's eyes thanks to TheGenealogist's free Image Archive

A basic framework for your family tree is built by obtaining your ancestors names and vital details. Once you have found your ancestors in the census records and discovered more about them, the next step is to try placing them in the social context of their times.

One way to do this is by searching for pictures of the towns, villages and landscapes your forebears may have lived in. Finding the churches where they married, baptised their children and buried their loved ones can be good for adding social context to the family story.

"There are 3D images of places and people, and Boer War scenes, providing us with a flavour of our ancestors' times"

Past Scenes

A great resource for achieving this is the Image Archive on TheGenealogist website. To begin, head to www.thegenealogist.co.uk and select the tab along the top for the Image Archive – you don't need to sign in, although Diamond account holders can access higher resolution images for downloading.  

If you wish to see if a portrait exists of an ancestor you can search for their surname under 'Title'. For example, if you are looking for Leonard Dudbridge, enter Dudbridge under 'Tithe' and click 'Search' and you will find a picture of Captain Leonard Dudbridge.

Leonard came from Gloucestershire and, by using the name of the county as a keyword, we can find many scenes of that era including his old school, Wycliffe College in Stonehouse.

Southgate Street
To soak up some of the atmosphere of Gloucestershire around the 1900s when Captain Dudbridge was growing up, here we can see a street scene of Gloucester

Established
Wycliffe School House, located in Gloucestershire, has a long history of educational excellence

Bygone Times

Educational records on TheGenealogist are another avenue we can explore to learn more about Leonard. Within these we can find information on his life, as well as some old school photographs. In the World War 1 Casualty Lists we discover Leonard was wounded in action and that he held the Military Cross.

Born in Stroud in 1893, Leonard was baptised in the parish church; a picture of the church can be found in the Image Archive by using 'Stroud' as a keyword.

The historic photographs that can be searched in this resource often show a street scene that differs to how it may appear today. Perhaps whereas nowadays the road will be clogged with cars, in the old images it's predominantly pedestrian. In old photographs you might see people in period costumes, for example, or spot old-fashioned shop fronts with produce hanging outside; the atmosphere from bygone times captured forever in the lens of a professional photographer of the time.

Manoeuvre
The fearless Gloucesters leading the attack on a Kopje at Norvalspont, South Africa

Idyllic
Chalford, in Gloucestershire, was a place of rolling green hills

Unique Photos

Some of the pictures found in the Image Archive are in 3D and can be simply found by searching for the keyword '3D' and a subject, such as Boer War or WW1. These photos are available to look at in standard form or in three dimension by selecting either 'WiggleGram' or 'Red-Blue'; Red-Blue needs special glasses to see the effect while WiggleGram alternates the two images. These photos are produced from stereogram pictures made popular in Victorian times.

There are 3D images of places and people from the past, and even dramatic Boer War scenes, providing us with a unique flavour of our ancestors' times. The Gloucester regiment, with which Captain Leonard Dudbridge fought in WW1, was also involved in the Boer War. If you look above left, you can see an image of the Gloucesters in action.

To help you fond photos of interest, there's a selection of main search categories and sub-categories to choose from on the Gallery Home page. With hundreds of unique 3D photos helping to bring the past to life, and thousands of standard images available dating from 1850 to 1940, you can relive the past through the eyes of your ancestors. You can witness the hustle and bustle of market days, for example, or look upon the face of war with TheGenealogist's Image Archive located at www.TheGenealogist.co.uk/imagearchive.

Diamond subscribers to TheGenealogist can enjoy further access to the Image Archive, allowing them to view and download images in a high-resolution format.