“the herald of a better day”* ......... stories behind the book nu 14 ..... thoughts of Victory and a thank you

An occasional series on the stories behind the new book on Manchester and the Great War*

I am guessing that this picture postcard sold well.

There are four from the collection and two contain messages on the reverse.***

One sent from Eastbourne in the June of 1919 carries the simple message, “Peace June 28 1919" and the other posted on January 1 1919 to Mrs H Norton at 262½ Maynard Street, Halifax, Nova Scotia from Charlie Wishes his mother well telling her “I am well.  Love to you, and the children, Love Charlie, XX”

Now when you write about the Great War it is all too easy to dwell on those who died but of course the majority came back and went on to live productive lives putting as best they could the war behind them.

But here are two of those that survived, and given my own attachment to Canada Charlie’s message has an added significance, given that one of my great uncles fought in the Canadian Expeditionary Force, while another great uncle, along with my grandfather, great grandfather, and two uncles served in the British army and more on the side of Germany.

So I think it is more than possible that one of my family would either have sent or received Victory, the only puzzle I have is which version because Tuck & Sons issued two.

The first on the reverse had the simple message, “The Path of duty was the way to Glory” from Tennyson and in larger and bolder print “May the Future make amends for the Sacrifices of the Past.”

This was followed later by a second which added an extract from King George V’s message to the Empire, and ran “May the morning star of peace which is now rising over a war worn world be hears and everywhere the herald of a better day in which the storms of strife shall have died down and the rays of an enduring peace be shed upon all nations.” *

I wish I had access to the catalogues of Tuck and & Son to see exactly when each version was published and how long the series ran but at present that is not possible.

I had toyed with the idea of using the postcard for the book but I know my old friend David Harrop has a card which he thinks even more appropriate and it to David that I have to give a special thank you.

Without him the book would have stumbled at the first hurdle because attempting to amass a collection of material from the Great War which was varied and special to Manchester is a daunting exercise, but David has just such a collection

And he was more than happy to supply anything I wanted and continues to find more from that collection.

So with a quarter of the book written and a selection of memorabilia “in the bag” from picture postcards, letters home, as well as photographs, souvenirs from the Front and medals and very personal memorials it is time to thank David again, remind you of his permanent exhibition at the Memorial Lodge in Southern Cemetery and point you to the collection of stories on the blog which David has inspired.****

And that is all I want to say other than for the curious, the flags on the card are the United States of America, Italy, Belgium, Montenegro, Roumania, Greece, Panama, China, Great Britain, France, Russia, Serbia, Portugal, Cuba, Siam, Japan.

Pictures; Victory; from the series, Victorious Peace, issued by Tuck & Sons, first issued January, 1919, courtesy of Tuck & Sons, courtesy of Tuck DB, https://tuckdb.org/ 

*King George V’s Message to the Empire, November 19, 1918

**Manchester and the Great War, Andrew Simpson, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/A%20new%20book%20on%20Manchester%20and%20the%20Great%20War

*** Victory; from the series, Victorious Peace, issued by Tuck & Sons, first issued January, 1919, courtesy of Tuck & Sons, courtesy of Tuck DB, https://tuckdb.org/

****David Harrop, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/David%20Harrop