A Natural Perfumers Journal

My Grandmother, Ellen Gillespie, was petite in stature and came from an Irish Protestant family. She married my Grandfather who was nearly 2 meters tall. Here they are kitted out in their finery. She is wearing a beautiful and fashionable "Afternoon Dress". I wish I could see her shoes. My Grandfather Peter Ruane is also dressed very fashionably in a gentleman's afternoon suit, a shirt with a high detachable tubular collar and silk tie. I bet he is wearing spats. They are both wearing pocket watches and what look like matching chrysanthemum corsages. I'm not certain of the year this photograph was taken but I believe it was around 1908. My Father Malachy Ruane was born in 1911 and grew up on a country estate in Athenry, Co Galway. He met my mother later in life, apparently, a confirmed bachelor up until that time. My Mother always remembered the day when my father brought her home to meet his parents. They arrived up to the tall pillared gates of the big country