George Pickingill of Canewdon, photograph, about 1908

The well-known photograph of George Pickingill (1816-1909): an old man in a long double-breasted coat standing at a weatherboarded cottage door, stick in one hand and bowler hat in the other. Lilian May Garner, "Granny Garner" of Canewdon, gave a print to Michael Howard when he visited her in the 1970s. In the 1980s a letter from John Pope claimed the man was a railway porter named Alf Cavill, and the identification has been doubted since. William Wallworth, who sent this copy, argues that the two newspaper photographs of "Frederick Pickingale" printed in September 1908 (Lloyd's Weekly Newspaper, 13 September, and The Essex Weekly News, 18 September, both in the archive) show the same man, in what looks like the same coat and hat, and that this picture was taken in 1908 when the reporter came to Canewdon. The date and the identification are his reading, given here as such. The whereabouts of Michael Howard's print are not known; it is said to have passed to Derek Taylor. If you know where it is, please get in touch. This copy is a photograph of a printed reproduction. How to cite: George Pickingill of Canewdon, photograph, about 1908, copy supplied by William Wallworth. Alexandrian Witchcraft Timeline & Archive.