During the 1960s Denise was visiting auction houses looking for items to furnish her house. She found a box of clearance items for which she made a successful bid. When she emptied the box at home, in amongst the goods that she had wanted was a mysterious tin box, which contained 116 postcards that had been sent to ‘Violet’ in the first half of the 20th century.
The box was put aside, its contents often played with by Denise’s children and, on more than one occasion, was nearly thrown away. Eventually in the early 1990s, Denise took a closer look at the postcards and began to piece together Violet’s story. Researching the history of postcards, Denise discovered that picture postcards were first legalised in 1894 and quickly became a cheap and easy means of communication.
The first card in the series was addressed to Miss Violet Blakesden, c/o Fulneck Boys’ School, Pudsey in 1903. It was not clear why Violet was at the boys’ school, but later cards were delivered to the family home in Featherstone. The early postcards were mainly birthday postcards from family members, the greetings written on the pictures, because the reverse was solely for the address. It was only later that the reverse was divided between the message and the space for the address. By 1911, Violet’s address was The Primrose Inn, Cross Lane, Halifax and during this time there were birthday cards to Violet and Joel. One card was addressed to Violet ‘Whittaker’ (the surname of the landlord) and perhaps indicated a family disagreement, especially as there were no cards from Violet’s mother in the collection.
The cards that marked Violet’s (January) and Joel’s (March) birthdays in 1913 were addressed to Violet and Joel Clarke who were now married and living in Stockport. There were affectionate greetings to Violet from Ada and Fred, Joel’s sister and brother. Ada seemed to enjoy a particularly close friendship with Violet and sent cards frequently.
In 1916, conscription to the WW1 forces was introduced and Joel was called up. Joel’s 1916 Christmas card to Violet comprised beautiful hand-embroidered silk flowers – violets and forget-me-nots – a touching message to his wife from the western front. Such cards were a speciality of the region and are the highlight of many postcard collections to this day. Another card at this time was from Violet’s friend, May. Christmas 1917 saw two special Christmas cards: the first spelled out VIOLET, each letter containing a photo montage of elegant ladies; the second JOE, similarly illustrated with well-dressed gentlemen. These were the last correspondence from Joel in the collection. There was also a Christmas postcard from Violet’s family – the first known contact.
By 1919, the cards make it clear the Joel had been killed in the war. Joel’s family keep in touch throughout. Violet and May are living at the same address in Stockport, possibly both war widows. From now until 1924, birthday cards arrive from Joel’s family and Violet’s siblings and there is the first mention of Violet’s niece, Winnie.
After 1924, there are longer periods between the postcards. Winnie starts to write her own greetings. The postcards become mainly greetings from Violet’s family and friends from holiday destinations, including Southport, Morecambe, Scotland and Skegness. A card in 1934 is addressed to Violet – now Mrs J Hughes, The Featherstone Hotel. From this it is clear that Violet has re-married and returned to her roots in West Yorkshire.
Denise finished her detective story by displaying a limited family tree that she had been able to work out from Violet’s postcard collection. She also informed us that during the postcard exchanges the stamps had displayed four monarchs and their price had doubled.
When asked whether she had been able to discover any more information about Violet and Joel, Denise smiled and showed the slide ‘To Be Continued …..’ We will have to invite her back!