SEPIA SATURDAY - Postcard No. 4 - Mother's Love

I thought this would be appropriate for my second Sepia Saturday entry, it certainly has the theme of love running through it and the postcard is in sepia.  Let me know what you think.

Mother's Love

addressed to:

Miss H J Smith

c/o Central ? Coy.

Sampson Road N

Birmingham

Postmarked Dec 30th 1910 in Birmingham

Message:

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (they have drawn a heart here)

to be had tomorrow

My own Beloved Darling Jess

I am sorry I have not a loving postcard to send you (you know the sort i mean) but i think this is rather nice don't you?  I think there is a love better than a mothers though!  Did you ask your Ma about the kiss. I shall be down at 6.30 tomorrow as promised. Get ready for a good loving.

Good bye Darling

with best love and everlasting ? ?

Your Val

Now i reckon this is a fairly racy postcard for 1910. You could read more into it because its sent to Jess from Val but Val or Valentine could also be a man's name or even a nickname.  They certainly seem to be very much in love/lust.

What did Val mean about Jess asking her Ma about the kiss? I wouldn't have thought that young people would ask their mothers about kisses with their girl/boyfriends, they'd be too embarrassed, wouldn't they?

Also what strikes me is that writing all that on a postcard which is open for all to read is a bit risky too. I could understand it in a sealed letter.

Going to the front of the postcard, it was the photo that made me buy it as the seller did not show the writing on the back. The photo is stunning and both models are gorgeous. I think there is a great resemblance between them so they may be mother and daughter.

I wonder who they were and if there is a record somewhere of people who posed for these postcards or if this was just a family portrait if they are credited somewhere for allowing the postcard manufacturer to use their image.

I love the verse at the top too...

What Love can match a mother's love?

            What care a Mother's care?

A heavenly blessing from above,

            A precious gift most rare.

I've not managed to turn up anything about Jess Smith or H. J. Smith on the 1911 census. Not surprising with a surname like Smith though.

The address is not clear but says something like C/o Central Many Coy.  I took Coy to be company as that can be a shortened version. So maybe Central ? Company.

To have addressed the postcard there and not at home would seem to suggest that it is possibly a military establishment or nurses home? somewhere that Jess is living as part of her job, otherwise he would have sent it to her home address surely.

I'd love to hear from you if these people are in your family tree and you can tell us what happened to Jess & Val

Postcard No. 2 - A Joyous Birthday

This is one of 3 cards i bought from a seller on eBay because of the beautiful photos on the front. I thought they made a nice change from the scenic type too.

A Joyous Birthday

To:

Miss T Maiden

6 Somers Road,

Halesowen

Nr. Birmingham

Card is franked but the year has not come out.

Stamp is a 1 Penny red with George V so date may be between 1911 and 1935.

Also the card is made in Great Britain rather than the more common ones which were printed in Berlin so it could mean its post WW1.

Message reads:

Dear Trissie,

Just a card to wish you a Happy Birthday & I hope you will have lots of good things.  Will you thank Aunty dear for her letter, and tell her I will answer it as soon as ever I get time.

With heaps of love & xxx from Elsie.

Searching in the 1911 census I could not find a T. Maiden so I next went to 1911census site and used their address search.  I found the house and the family were called Maiden but there was no T. Maiden. Looking down the list of children I found a Beatrice Annie Maiden. Trissie must be short for Beatrice. What a lovely name.

Beatrice is 5 in the 1911 census so if we say its after WW1 then she may be 13 perhaps.  Her father John was a jobbing gardener from Kidderminster, Worcs and at the time she had 3 siblings,  Edwin John,  Reginald William & Percy.

In the message, Elsie says to thank Aunty which may mean Beatrice’s mother, so Elsie and Beatrice would be cousins.

It’s a sweet message and a beautiful photo on the front.

If you know anything about this card or if you think I have made a mistake, please let me know via the email address on the right hand side of my blog.