After touching on the history of postcards, Brenda and Graham showed an unremarkable old postcard, with a view of Westgate, sent from there in January 1911. Who was the sender and what was he doing at the seaside at such a miserable time of year? Who was the young woman recipient? What happened to them both?
With much energy and good luck, the Fields established the sender was a locum teacher, born in Derby, and the recipient a barmaid in her uncle’s Staffordshire pub. Ernest and Edith were married in 1915. He enlisted in the South Staffordshire Regiment late in 1915, was transferred to the King’s Own, and sent to Salonika, Greece. Here a mixed Allied force opposed the Bulgarian Army, which, helped by the Germans and Austrians, had driven the Serbian Army from its homeland.
Sadly Ernest died of wounds at Salonika, in January 1917. Edith remarried and had a son. To add to information from numerous official records, a number of family photographs were discovered on the internet.
Next Meeting
Wednesday 12th December 2018 - Branch Members' Christmas Party