Edwardian Postcards
Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.
In the early decades of the 20th Century there was a boom in postcard sending.
In autumn 2009 this was highlighted in media reports of the work of Julia Gillen of the Lancaster Literacy Research Centre. In her synposis of her work on Edwardian Postcards Ms Gillen explained:
In the heyday of the postcard during the Edwardian age, (1901-1910) it offered an opportunity for rapid vernacular writing at very low cost that was not to be available again until the contemporary digital revolution. Up to six deliveries a day were being made in major cities and 6 billion cards were sent in the period. We have collected over 1,200 cards from the period to examine the creative responses of the population to this new technology. Apart from the light shed on writing practices of the Edwardians, our studies are revealing much about the travel patterns, social networks and concerns of the age.
In Fred’s collection of old photographs are nine post cards from her mother and maternal aunts and uncles in the Hill family.
Ada Hill was Fred’s mother and the others mentioned in the collection are Ada’s parents, Arthur and Alice, her sisters Lucy, Amy and Polly, and brothers Fred and Walter.
It is surprising how such a small collection can both shed light on family history and illustrate the points made in Gillen’s study.
Starting in 1905 the postcards illustrate the picture post card craze. Ada writes to her dad urging him to get an album to collect the cards she sends – and the front of the card perhaps illustrates the ‘mother in law’ humour of the time:
Stourbridge 8.30pm Sp 8 05,
Mr Alfred Hill, Dordale Farm, Belbroughton, Stourbridge
My Dear Dad,
I do hope you are better & hope you will think this nice & you must really have an album if I am to send P.Cs to you like this. Fondest love from Ada
Love to mother
Note the time of the collection on the post stamp.
A second postcard from that year, unfortunately not signed, reads:
10.40 am Oct 17 05
Mr A Hill, Dordale …,Insetton, Belbroughton, Nr Stourbridge
My darling daddy
I certainly hop this pc will find you Letty or alright I am hoping …..next week, thank mother for her pc she asked ada to send me tell her I will write….I expect she prm
The postcards also show that the family was living at Dordale Farm near Belbroughton. The farm is still there today and can be seen courtesy of Google Street View – it looks rather nice. Arthur’s occupation is given as a farm bailiff in the 1901 census and it now looks like the family were living at Doredale.
A third postcard is undated but must have been written at about this time as the family was soon to move to Bee Hive Farm at Catshill.
No date
Miss L. Hill, Dordale Farm, Belbroughton, Nr Stourbridge
Dear Louie
I don’t know whether you you have a P.P.C. like this of the “Hagley Rd Stourbridge” if you have this will to to fill up.
“With love from Edgar”
How sweet. ‘Edgar’ is almost certainly Edgar Lacy who married Lucy in 1910 at Catshill Church. For those in the family with longer memories Edgar and Lucy had a daughter who we know as Auntie Phylis.
By 1906 the family had moved to Bee Hive Farm, Catshill. I have, as yet, been unable to precisely locate this farm on either present day or older maps and suspect that it has been developed over.
However a fine example of early “Twitter” or “Txt” Speech is provided in another postcard to Lucy:
4pm Oct 23 06 Stourbridge
Miss L Hill, Bee hive Farm, Catshill, Bromsgrove
Dear Louie
Arrived h. Safe t. night feel a bit stiff from the j and ? Night shall be ther a C at 7 or 7.15pm on T…if f
With love from ALlE?
Forgive my transcription – I’ve done the best I can – any (polite) suggestions for improvement welcome.
There seems to be more than one handwriting on the card and the signature is somewhat scrawled. It begs the question about the standards of literacy in the family. Certainly Arthur and Alice were raised prior to the 1870 education act and so were not subject to compulsory schooling. Arthur made his mark on their 1876 wedding certificate rather than signing it. Were other members of the family reading/writing the postcards for their parents?
1909
Stourbridge 8.30pm July 28th 09
Mrs A Hill, Bee Hive Farm, Catshill, Nr Bromsgrove
Dear Mother, I have got orders for 2 dozen and 3 half dozen of Strawberrys & 1/2 dozen of Gooseberrys if you can get them & please send me 6 pennyworth of Potatos this week as I have got a good few left & I like them fresh hope your B. is better love to all from Ada.
Ada had married Edward Meredith in 1902 and, I suspect, was living in Stourbridge. The message on the postcard is self explanatory but shows that even in her new urban setting Ada was making use of her rural relatives to do business. Ada and Edward would also use their home in Cecil Street to provide lodgings for visiting artists at the local theatre.
1913 saw Alice Mary Hill – Auntie Polly writing wishing her mother a happy birthday. The family had now moved to Lydiate Ash – next to what is now Junction 4 on the M5 motorway.
21 Jan 13 Pedmore Stourbridge
Mrs A Hill, Lydiate Ash nr Bromsgrove
My Dear Mother
Just to wish you very many happy returns of the day
Please tell Dad I will ask Burton to bring the Dog back on Saturday much love Polls
Not sure who Burton was, but kind of him to take the dog back I’m sure.
The choice of postcard is also interesting. Arthur Hill gives his employment as ‘hauler’ in the 1911 census. Did Polly pick the postcard with the horses in the golden sunset to symbolise her dad’s trade?
War
And finally three cards from during the war years. In 1917 Fred, in the army – the Royal Artillery – sends a postcard from Aldershot to his mother. You can almost feel the soldier’s yearning for home and family. The card has an emotional poem to ‘Daddy’ on the front and Fred tells his mother that he has not received a letter from her this weack (sic):
Postcard stamped Aldershot
Mrs A Hill, Lydiate Ash, Nr Bromsgrove, Worcestershire
July 28th 1917
My dear Mother I now write these few lines to you hoping it will find you all well at home as I am very well myself. Dear mother I have not received a letter this weack from you have you sent one if so it must be lost I will write a letter later with fondest love from Fred.
In 1918 Amy writes enquiring about Uncle Walter’s address. Uncle Walter was also in the army and Amy is concerned she has not had replies to her letters:
Stourbridge 5.30pm 16 Ap 18
Mrs A Hill, Lydiate Ash, Nr Bromsgrove
Dear Mother
Did you get the parcel, I thought I should have heard from you please send me Walters address I have not heard from his & have written twice
Love Amy
Finally we have an author unknown picture postcard to Uncle Fred who was living in Cross Street, Stourbridge with his wife ‘Auntie Minnie’.
8pm Date 12 Sp ???
Mr F Hill, No 8 Cross Street, Stourbridge
Dear Fred
Hope to meet you at Snow Hill on Sat will arrive about ten to four and will be on the look out for you
Yours Truly WL
The front of the postcard has the words of ‘Its A Long. Long Way to Tipperary’
Reading these postcards surprise me at how much of an inisght into the lives of the Hills we can get. They are part of a larger collection of cards that Auntie Phyllis had. When she died Fred had some and others went to some of Phyllis’s other cousins. I wonder if they still exist?
‹ More Snowball pictures Fred’s first marriage to H.K.’Keith’ Harper ›
Hi,
Beehive Farm Catshill was formerly on the site of what is now Beehive Close Catshill (this is mentioned on the deeds of my house). The location can be found on google maps with the postcode B610PT.
My mother in law lived at beehive farm in her childhood. Her father had bought the farm some years earlier. The family name was Bennett and they owned the farm and land until it was sold and the houses built to form Beehive. Close. I,ve been trying to get photos of the farm for sometime but only have one or two taken from distance. They lived at the farm from around the 1920’s until the land was sold for development of Beehive close. Any information on the farm or area from those times gratefully received.
Al