British Picture Postcards
Picture postcards are an important part of the visual record of any
trip to the British Isles. I buy them along the way to supplement my own photographs
(my camera is quite basic) and as a kind of insurance should something be blurred
or fail to turn out.
I particularly like old pictures. It matters not whether these are genuinely
old postcards or reprints; what is important is the view of places, people or
things relevant to my family history. A few weeks ago, I was driving along the
country lanes of Essex in a tiny rented car appropriately known as a Nippa.
There was no point in using my camera for a picture of the rolling agricultural
land but I found an old postcard, all the better for having the tall spire of
Thaxted church in the distance.
Here at home I have an album of old postcards collected forty years ago, when
our family spent some time in England. I also have a shoebox filled with postcards
purchased at flea markets and church bazaars. I have been looking at them all
and considering what little I know. Somewhere along the way someone told me
that the notation for the half penny postage charge was significant but when
did postcards become popular?
They were a late Victorian/Edwardian phenomenon. In 1894, the British post office
altered its policy to allow private individuals to send postcards. They were
inexpensive and delivery was quick. Not many households had telephones. Postcards
became the most popular form of written communication. It was possible to post
one in the morning to confirm an appointment in the afternoon. Postcard service
has certainly slipped, and been replaced with mobile phones and e-mail.
The rate for a postcard 'inland' was half a penny, and one penny for overseas.
These rates lasted a long time, until 1918; so, any postcard with this amount
printed in the spot where the stamp is to be affixed is at least that old. There
are other clues to dating a picture postcard. The subject matter often gives
it away, clothes and cars being obvious indicators. If the card has been posted,
there is the stamp itself and the cancellation mark or a date entered by the
writer. At the beginning of 1902, the reverse side of all postcards was divided
by a line in the middle, one half for the address and the other for the message.
Until that time, only the address information could appear on the back; earlier
postcards often have brief messages written around the edge of the picture.
There were changes in permitted sizes over the years.
Vast numbers of postcards were sent—as many as 3 million per day—especially
between 1904 and the beginning of World War I, ten years later. Our ancestors
used postcards for good wishes, family news and greetings, for advertising and
to circulate pictures. I have a card sent by my grandfather's brother to one
of their sisters in 1916. It is a picture of my great-great-uncle in uniform.
Not long after, he succumbed to wounds in a dressing station on the Western
Front during the Battle of Cambrai.
The Internet offers lots of opportunity to find out more. For British postcards,
a good place to begin is the website of the Postcard Traders Association, which offers advice on collecting, news, classifieds, and links. The small
ads are interesting because they are a mix of people seeking and selling special
interest picture postcards—one person sells cards of parish churches and
has 12,000 to choose from. Another site is www.postcardcollecting.co.uk,
the location for Picture Postcard Monthly magazine.
Postcard messages provide another angle for genealogists. Can the message and
the address be linked to relations or descendents of the writer or recipient?
Apparently they can. Over several years, one dedicated individual has collected
and indexed more than 70,000 British postcards according to location and name.
For a small charge, the database can be searched or you can order the index
and browse yourself (in several volumes or on CD-ROM). Find the site by going
to http://genealogy.about.com/cs/postcards/
and looking about three quarters of the way down the list for The Postcard Index.
Postcard hunting and collecting is one of the enjoyable sidelines of genealogy.
Postcards can also be alternative way to contribute to the family history. My
husband is not likely to take up research but he is creating some wonderful
albums of his life through postcards.
Sherry Irvine, CGRS, FSA (Scot) has been researching her British ancestry
for thirty years. She is an instructor and study tour leader for Samford University's
IGHR, and teaches for the online family history program of Vermont College.
Sherry is President of the Association of Professional Genealogists. She is
the author of:
Ancestry Daily News
