Miss Dorothy Shakerley

A carte de visite portrait of Miss Dorothy Shakerley, daughter of Geoffrey Shakerley of Whatcroft Hall at Davenham in Cheshire. She appears at that address on the 1861 census, aged 26, together with four other unmarried sisters. Frances, the eldest, is 29; Augusta, the youngest, is 16. Their father gave 'Magistrate and Gentleman' as his profession.

Dorothy never married. She died, aged 84, in 1918. At the time of the 1911 census, she was living on 'private means' at Rowling House, Goodnestone, near Canterbury. Her household comprised five servants, including a lady's maid, a cook and a groom.

Photographed by Camille Silvy of London on 7 June 1862.

The shawl Miss Shakerley is wearing in this portrait is almost certainly a studio prop. It appears in the daybooks in several other portraits taken around this date.