SUMMERS Photo Album (Winchcombe, ENG)

UPDATE - This album has been sent home to the Winchcombe Museum in Gloucestershire, England.

This old photo album was purchased yesterday at the Hillsboro Antique Mall (which is located inside the Festival Marketplace) in Pompano Beach, FL.

The album measures about 5" x 4" x abt 1.75" thick. The back cover is a light-colored polished wood. The spine is leather. And the front cover appears to be maybe wood covered in leather with an image "stamped" in the center. The image is a view of Broad Street, in Hay-on-Wye (Wales) and bears the label "Broad St. Hay".

Here is a close-up of that image, next to a photograph of the same view, dated 1904.

There are several photographs inside the album, none of which appear to be identified. The album pages are fragile and I did not wish to try removing any of the photos to look at the back, as I felt this might damage the pages.

However, there were two items tucked between the pages which make identification a bit easier.

The first is a handwritten note from "M. Swinburne" to "Walter". Dated 24 Dec 1901, it bears the word "Corndean" at the top; assuming this is a location. It reads: Walter, I enclose your 10 pounds as a Xmas present and hope you will have a Happy Xmas and New Year. Believe me yours sincerely, M. Swinburne".

Google search reveals that "Corndean is a hamlet just southwest of Winchcomb Parish, and Corndean Hall is the seat of Thomas Ward Swinburne, Esq."

The other item tucked into the album is a Certificate of Registry of Birth, for one Frank Walter Summers, on the 1st of July 1882. It was dated 24 Aug 1882 and signed by the registrar Charles Tovey of Guiting sub-district.

I was able to find evidence of a Summers family living in Winchcombe, Gloucestershire, England, which appears on the 1881 Census. (Winchcombe is a town nearby Guiting.)

  SUMMERS, Walter (born 1854)
  SUMMERS, Emily (born 1844)
  SUMMERS, Helen (born 1880)
  SUMMERS Charles E. (born 1881)

There is also evidence at Ancestry.com of a birth record for Frank Walter Summers, born 1-July-1882 at Winchcombe to parents Walter and Emily Summers.

Interesting note - there is a street in Winchcombe called Summers Street. There is also a Corndean Lane just south of Winchcombe.

I also find a record of Estate duty papers being filed in 1907 for Matilda Swinburne, deceased, of Corndean Hall, Winchcombe, Glos. She was born in 1833 and appears with her husband Thomas W. on the 1881 Census, residing at Corndean Hall. Matilda's parents were John Remington Mills and Louisa Matilda Trueman.

I have also found a Military service mention, dated 28 Feb 1906, stating his ship was named Dominion.

I believe the owner of the album was the aforementioned Frank Walter Summers, who may have gone by the name Walter. It is easy enough to think that he carried his Birth Certificate with him as it may have been required for travel identification.