A pretty young woman wearing a sailor dress poses with a boat oar, rope, and life preserver at the Williams studio in Crouch End, England. Hopefully, she didn’t get her hair wet because her hair is so long that it might take decades to dry. This nautical minded subject appears to be standing on the steps outside a building, though it is possible that she is actually inside a studio in front of a terrific backdrop. Crouch End is five miles outside of London. SOLD
THE CABINET CARD GALLERY 
Fascinating. Incidentally, Crouch End is now very much part of London itself though would certainly have been considered outside at the time this photograph was taken.
I can make out the word “Darling” on the tiny preserver. Could there have been a ship with this in the title, or is this a sailor’s Valentine card?
Although I’m uncertain, it appears that the name of the ship written on the life saver is “Little Darling” which is probably a very common ship’s name. My guess is that the life saver was provided to the young woman by the photo studio.
After visting some websites, including ebay and the one of Roger Vaughan on Victorian and Edwardian Photographs, I was able to find out that the photographer is called Alfred Williams with addresses Park Road, Crouch End, N. or Broadway, Crouch End, London, N. and also named as Williams Studio. One photo was dated c.1879.
On flickr, among the collection of John Mathew Smith, I found this photo of two costumed girls, photographer W. D. Plummer in Croydon. Interestingly, there is a paper clipping as a back note explaining that there had been a costume ball. One participant was dressed up as “Grace Darling”. Please see for yourself:
Great detective work! Thanks for sharing your discovery. Your comment, and the comment of others about this image, are interesting an informative and add immensely to the quality of this blog.