Childhood Gallery

Battenberg family, 1906

Prince Louis of Battenberg, 1st Marquess of Milford Haven with his wife, Princess Victoria of Hesse, their four children, their son-in-law and two grandchildren. From left (seated), Princess Louise (1889-1965), later Lady Louise Mountbatten and then Queen Louise of Sweden, Princess Victoria (1863-1950), Marchioness of Milford Haven holding her two grand-daughters, Princess Margarita (1905-1981) and Princess Theodora (1906-1969). Next to her is her eldest daugher (and mother of the two babies), Princess Alice of Battenberg, then Princess Andrew of Greece (1885-1969), mother of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Seated on the ground are Lord Louis Mountbatten (1900-1979) and George Mountbatten, 2nd Marquess of Milford Haven (1892-1938). Standing is Prince Louis of Battenberg, 1st Marquess of Milford Haven (1854-1921) and his son-in-law, and husband of Alice, Prince Andrew of Greece (1882-1944). Date: 1906

© Mary Evans Picture Library/CHARLOTTE ZEEPVAT

Ice cream van JLP01_08_071642

Hornchurch Court, Bonsall Street, Hulme, Manchester. A recently completed multi-storey block of Sectra flats in Hulme, probably Hornchurch Court, with a family in the foreground buying from an ice cream van.
Sectra was a French prefabricated steel formwork design for flats which John Laing and Son Ltd acquired the British rights to in 1962. It was a method of using precision made
steel formwork for the placing of structural concrete in tunnel sections in room unit widths and ceiling heights. The units were bolted together in rows on special tracks, with the concrete poured to form the walls and floors in one operation. The formwork was internally heated to accelerate the hardening of the concrete in the mould and the sections were then lifted into position by a tower crane on the construction site.
Hornchurch Court was the first of three multi-storey blocks that Laing built in Hulme for the City of Manchester to replace 5,000 slum houses. The company started working on the site in October 1964 and finished 18 weeks later with the opening taking place on 10th May 1965. The other two blocks were due for completion at seven-week intervals

© Historic England Archive

May Goelet (Duchess of Roxburghe) as a little girl

Miss Mary ('May') Goelet, American heiress, who married Henry Innes-Kerr, 8th Duke of Roxburghe in 1903, becoming Duchess of Roxburghe and bringing with her a dowry of some $20 million. Pictured here at the age of four. Numerous impoverished peers married wealthy American heiresses during this period, who in return for the substantial dowries earned a title and the prestige of being chatelaine of some of the finest stately homes in England. Date: 1903

© Illustrated London News Ltd/Mary Evans