Wimbledon Common

Edith's lodger had left. In 1901 Edith and her husband, Percy we're living in an eight-room house at 62, Noth Street in Lewes and in 1906 a postcard in the collection shows that they had moved to Regis, Abinger Place in the town, a ten-room house.

July 11th 1905 was a Tuesday. There was an earthquake of 7.2 magnitude off the coast of Japan.

Lewes Castle

From Edith to Johnnie, pleased to receive your P.C., let me know when your bed will ready and Majorie is full of the Aquarium. The Brighton Aquarium was a ten-minute walk along Marine Parade from John's home so it is reasonable to assume that he would have visited there during his childhood.

June 21st 1906 was Thursday.

Post card of Lewes

A card from sister Edith to John about the weather. It was a snowy end of the year in 1906.

December 28th 1906 was a Friday. There was a rail accident on the British Northern near Arbroath.

Shall we go to the Hippo?

A post card from the Wrench Series of Southsea Terrace. Edith wrote to say that she was going to Brighton on the following Monday and would like to see her brother and may take him to the Hippo. His elder daughter, Betty said that her father enjoyed variety theatre and one of his grandchildren added that he found Monty Python funny when they watched the programmes together in the early 1970's.

October 22nd, 1904 a Saturday. It was the day that the Imperial Russian Navy fired on British trawlers, the Dogger Bank Incident.

An Idle Moments Post Card from Edie

Another of the free gift post cards from the Idle Moments magazine. Edith used this one to ask for a joint to be delivered on Wednesday. John's father travelled by train to Lewes each afternoon to visit his farm in Ham Lane. Taking a joint to his daughter would not have been greatly out of his way.

May 11th 1904 was a Wednesday, so I hope the card arrived in time.

St Giles Fair, Oxford

No message on a card from Sutton Courtney. The other postcard from the Oxfordshire village was from Fred.

October 29th 1903 was a Thursday. 

The West Pier, Brighton

A post card from Mother, Emma Goodridge to John when he was visiting his aunts, Sarah and Fanny in Horsham. Later in his life, he recalled that he generally spent the summer holidays with his maiden aunts or otherwise stayed at home. In August 1903 he was thirteen.

Mrs. Goodridge failed to put a postage stamp on the card so a 1d. penalty charge was made. There are two round post marks, Brighton at 9.30 am and Horsham at 12.30 pm.

August 26th 1903 was Wednesday.

Happy Christmas 1906

Wishing you a Happy Christmas with best love from Lily.

December 24th 1906 was a Monday.

Post card from Lily

Lily was John's cousin and had married Dave Streeter in 1905 and by the time she wrote this card she was a mother with a one-year-old son, Reginald. Her message about why her husband had not responded giving puzzles and making a "metal" for keeping with the greyhounds, fascinating.

November 7th 1907 was a Thursday. The Ottawa branch of the Royal Mint struck the first test tokens on that day in preparation for the minting of Canadian coinage.

Birthday wishes from Nellie

Many happy returns of the day, Nellie. But who was Nellie?

June 7th 1904 was a Tuesday. John started working for his father after leaving school in 1904.