Dorchester

Romantic Postcards 1910 - 1918

All Cards from the private postcard collection of Michael Russell OPC for Dorchester & Fordington
© Copyright Mr. M Russell FIPD All Rights Reserved

Rapture


Once more he pressed her to his heart,
Once more returned and could not part,
He kissed her eyes and lips so dear,
He held her near, and still more near


Posted Clyffe Dorchester 3rd June 1912
Miss Riggs first name was 'Ciss' possibly short for 'Alicia'
Mine For Ever


The same old story still is told,
By lovers young, and lovers old,
A story ending with this plea,
Oh darling, give yourself to me.


Messages written in numeric cipher for privacy
The cards are signed by 'Ern' possibly short for Ernest

Love's Paradise





Posted Clyffe Dorchester 16 September 1915

The Dorchester Style





Posted July 6th 1910

Assignation


The card is addressed to Miss Florrie Riggs who was the youngest of 14 children of John & Elizabeth Riggs
It was posted by an admirer at Bockhampton Dorchester 27 Nov 1915
Assignation


Florence Riggs was born at Woodsford and only 15 years old at this date
From the address it would appear that she was probably employed as a domestic servant at the Manor House

Genealogical Notes:-

(1). I have included these cards as they show how far the use of postcards had changed since they were first licenced by the Post Office on 1st September 1894. The first UK postcards had been introduced by the Post office as long ago as 1870 but they had a pre printed stamp and the sender wrote the address on one side and a brief message on the other, there were no pictures at all. The 1st September 1894 was the first time that licences were issued to other publishers and this freedom allowed them to include an image. The cost of production was reduced by requiring a halfpenny stamp to be affixed to the card by the purchaser which of course had to be purchased from the Post Office increasing their revenue. These images after 1899 had become the main reason for purchasing the card and often took up most of the space. As you were not allowed to write anything but the address on the back this led to the message being crammed in around the picture. A good example of this is the postcard of 'Judge Jeffreys Lodgings in High West street which is on the oldphotosuk.com website. It was not until 1902 that the Post Office decreed that the image should be on one side while the back was to be divided with the message on the left and the address and stamp on the right. Britain was the first country to adopt this format. Manufacturers soon produced postcards with a line on the back to indicate the division between message and address.

(2). They are also relevant as part of our social history. Queen Victoria only died on 22nd January 1901 and this marked a change in social attitudes. Only 11 years later these cards were being freely sent through the post and by 1915 we were of course well into the horror of the first world war when many of these young men were killed. The war however produced another radical change in postcards:-

(3). From 1914 troops purchased silk or lace embroidered cards in France to send home to loved ones. That shown below was sent to my great aunt Minnie Amelia Christopher (1874-1972) in 1915. Like so many others he died that year in the trenches

WW1 Card 'Modele Depose' Francaise Vise Paris 1915


The butterfly is embroidered on lace
with its wings the flags of the allied countries

Inside the small lace pocket formed by the butterfly was the small card shown below


Yours

    

(4) This Post Card was posted on 3rd Feb 1917 to Miss Hilda Alfreda LESTER (1900-1991) the daughter of Alfred and Sophia Lester a bricklayer by trade. She appears to have been known within the family and by friends as 'Dolly'. Hilda was born on 6th August 1900 and baptised at Christchurch West Fordington on 22nd September 1900 so was 17 years old at the time. They lived at 14 Mountain Ash Terrace in St Peters Parish in Dorchester and Hilda received her confirmation at the hands of the Bishop of Salisbury at Christchurch on 22nd Nov 1915. We do not know what happened to her boyfriend Jack, who had obviously been called up for war service. Rather ominously however she was later to marry in Dorchester in the last quarter of 1923 to a William Harry Christopher who is a distant relation of mine being my 5th cousin twice removed. Hilda died at the grand old age of 91, her death being registered in the district of Weymouth in Nov 1991.

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