Saturday, 15 November 2025

Family history photos - farming in the north of Ireland


This is my great grand-uncle George Graham (1870-1956), from Ballynagilly, County Tyrone, Ireland. He bought "Woodview" - where I spent some of a magical summer holiday as a child, when it was being farmed by his son Robert. 

George did some boxing in his youth, and still cut a formidable figure at the age of 85.


These really excellent photos come from a family history collection made by Anne - a second cousin, once-removed - who descended from the above George Graham (I am descended from George's older brother Nathaniel). 


4 comments:

Francis Berger said...

I like old photos like this very much. You can tell right away that men like George were cut from a different cloth.

I bet George could have outworked or outdone any contemporary twenty-to-fifty year old macho guy in pretty much anything ... even at 85.

Bruce Charlton said...

@Frank - I would like these photos anyway - I've always been interested in old agricultural stuff; but knowing he is a relative makes them extra special. He fought in the Boer War, then for a while alternated between farming in Ulster and (when farming was too depressed) being a miner in Northumberland. There's something impressive about the look in his eyes.

Maolsheachlann said...

It looks like you have come from a breed of fighters!

Bruce Charlton said...

@M - I think that trait must have fizzled-out somewhere en route to me.