I happened to be visiting her one day when she produced a large cache of letters, bills and post cards that she had bought from a house clearance. Over a cuppa I sat with Vera and looked through the box of ephemera with her. And oh my what a story of love and life spoke to me from the past.
The box contained a lifetime of receipts, family documents, letters and postcards, all relating to the Brown family of New Eltham, Kent. On reading through with her I discovered the wartime correspondence between a couple, Syd and Daisy Brown. Now, Vera had already decided that she would separate all the items and sell them off individually to maximise her profits.
Dear reader, I couldn't let that happen, so I managed to purchase, ten postcards that detailed their lives apart during the war, their hopes and dreams of being reunited, Syd's eventual return to Blighty in 1919 and most happily the birth of a son Ken. I suspect it must have been Ken's house that was being cleared when the items came up for sale.
I have had these cards tied up in a ribbon ever since, but I think it is time to sell them on to someone who will keep them together, but who will enjoy them and value them for their content, so I will list them today on Ebay.
I thought I would post about this story and show you some of the cards. The embroidered anniversary card is especially poignant , sent August 1918, celebrating their seventh wedding anniversary. Syd has added a note to this card at the top in April 1961.
It reads, "Dear Daisy died suddenly 11.15pm Wed 4th February 1959. Now as I write this, 20th April 1961, I miss her more than I can tell. I know we shall all meet again in God's everlasting kingdom". Syd.
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| Anniversary card front |
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| Anniversary card back. |
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| Mabel Lucie Attwell birthday card for Ken 1926 front. |
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| Ken's birthday card back |
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| 1894 School Board award to Daisy front |
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| Daisy's School Board award back. |
Oh my goodness, these are so precious. Is there no way to find any family that might like these back? If not, I hope you manage to find someone who will respect and look after them
ReplyDeleteIt would be lovely to donate them back to a family member, but I think the very fact they were in a house clearance thirty years ago meant nobody wanted them. Ken's birthday card was dated 1926 so he probably would have been born just after the 1st world war, making him in his 60s when I got them. I'm thinking either he died or perhaps moved and didn't want to keep all the old cards. Shame I know. I'm hoping whoever buys them will keep them together.
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