Bland Wolfenden (1859-1922)

Bland Wolfenden was a photographer known to have been active in Halifax, Huddersfield and Blackpool.

Biography

He was born in Halifax on 5 March 1859, the son of overlooker Joseph Wolfenden and wife Elizabeth, and was baptised at St. Mary, Illingworth, on 18 April 1862.

He grew up in Halifax and by the time of the 1881 Census was working as a photographer and artist.

He married widow Annie Lisle (née Hadwin) in 1881 at Huddersfield. The couple had four known children:

  • Edith Annie Wolfenden (c.1882-1962)
  • Ethel Wolfenden (c.1884-1962)
  • Harold Bland Wolfenden (1887-?)
  • Mary (or May) Florence Wolfenden (1890-1972)

Although none of the Census returns give the couple living in Huddersfield, the births of their children show that they resided in Huddersfield following their marriage and then moved to Blackpool circa 1890. During this period, Bland ran a photographic studio on Bradford Road, Huddersfield.

Annie Wolfenden died in 1918 at Blackpool.

He travelled to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, likely to settle the estate of his brother Crawshaw Wolfenden who had died on 6 January 1916. In the years before he died, he made several further crossings of the Atlantic.

He married Elizabeth A. Meshling, daughter of George and Amelia Meshling, on 10 February 1921 in Philadelphia. Curiously, the couple appear to have returned to England later in the year where they were married again in Fylde, Lancashire. The couple appear to have had a daughter named Elizabeth[1] prior to Bland's death.

Bland Wolfenden died on 29 July 1922 at Philadelphia and was buried in Northwood Cemetery.[2] Also buried in the same plot are Crawshaw Wolfenden (1865-1916) and Elizabeth Wolfenden (1871-1950).

Notes and References

  1. Born 1871, died 1950).
  2. Find a Grave. His Will was proved on 13 March 1924 to the solicitor representing his widow and to Harold Bland Wolfenden.