A RETIRED businessman is hoping to be able to put someone in the picture after discovering old family snapshots.

Peter Sotheran found 175 photographs dating from the 1920s while he was clearing out an attic.

They consist of an album of family photographs, which were taken by Alex Boagey, a printer in Redcar, east Cleveland. Mr Boagey died in the early 1950s.

They feature family holidays at Knaresborough, North Yorkshire, and in Paris and include photographs of his wife and daughter, who was then aged three or four, outside their home.

For some reason, Mr Boagey had taken the album to work, where it eventually became buried under papers that ended up in the building's attic.

Alex Boagey was one of the original partners of the firm that later became AA Sotheran Limited.

The property has changed hands again following the retirement of Mr Sotheran.

"The three-year-old daughter in the pictures is probably about 70 years old now,'' said Mr Sotheran.

"There may be grandchildren and great-grandchildren by now.

"With the great interest in family histories today, there may be a family member who would like to add the photographs to a family collection."

* Mr Sotheran can be contacted by writing to 1 Sir William Turner's Almshouses, Kirkleatham, Redcar, TS10 4QT.