Two boys with cricket bats

A pencilled inscription verso in a period hand identifies the boys as 'M.P. Rich and Charlie Smith' of Exmouth. An inked inscription on the album page identified the boys as 'Montie [Rich] and Charlie Smith'.

Montague Philip Rich was born at Exmouth in 1845, the son of Edwin Rich, a Captain in the Royal Navy. Monty became a civil engineer but he died in 1874, aged only 29.

Photographer unidentified.