Sunday 5 April 2009

Grandma's postcards 1


In my grandmother’s day sending postcards must have been the equivalent of texting. You could tell your friends and family (and the postman) what you’d been up to, and include a funny picture or view of the place you’d been. The Post Office was efficient so it was reasonably fast - there were several deliveries a day - and you didn’t have to shout down the telephone.
This card was sent to my grandmother, from Plumstead to South Tottenham, by someone called Lily. The postmark is Woolwich, 10am, 2nd September 1912. The message is partly about where she’d been, but mostly about what the weather was like there.
It’s actually an early Bamforth postcard. This company was set up by James Bamforth in 1890 to make Magic Lantern slides. By 1904 they were publishing postcards and went on to specialize in the saucy seaside variety, eventually producing as many as 100,000 different designs. This one is from series 35, and seems to be by someone who preferred to remain anonymous. Can't think why.

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