Claim: 1895 ca , , GREAT BRITAIN. The british woman CATHERINE Leigh JOYNES (Eton, 1857 – Lyme Regis, 1919) in Nurse uniform, married in 1879 with HENRY Stephens SALT (1851 – 1939), the celebrated writer, pacifist, friend of Mahatma GANDHI, Edward Carpenter, George Bernhard Shaw and founder of british Vegetarian Society. Catherine was the daughter of Reverend James Leigh Joynes (1824 – 1908) Eton professor.
Explainer: Archivio GBB do not provide any evidence that it’s Catherine Leigh Joynes.
The existing photographs of Catherine (or Kate as she was known to her friends) do not resemble the woman in the photograph. The caveat being the existing photographs are limited and generally quite small, the except being the side-on profile.
It’s unclear why the photograph is labelled Catherine Leigh Joynes and not Catherine Leigh Salt given that’s her name in 1895. Also, she was never a nurse or performed in plays which might have explained the uniform.
Archivio GBB description also contains errors: Henry Salt was not the founder of the ‘british Vegetarian Society’ but the Humanitarian League; the Vegetarian Society was founded in 1847. The Reverend James Leigh Joynes was not an Eton professor but an Eton Master.
The lack of supporting evidence raises doubts regarding Archivio GBB’s claim. However, we remain open-minded but it’s not possible to verify that the photo is of Catherine Leigh Salt.