It's a long way from Belgium to Hyde Road in Woodley .......... a mystery postcard sent in the October of 1916

The King protected his army, sent in 1918

I have to say that of the ten picture postcard  from David Harrop’s collection of First World War material which I am posting in the blog  this is one of the more unusual ones.*

It was sent from France in October 1918 to Hyde Road in Woodley, but the post mark is Belgian and the image on the front appear to Belgian soldiers  surrounding an image of King Albert 1 and the national flag.

Now I would love to know the story behind the postcard.  The sender omitted his name and may just have confused where he was.

"I haven't forgotten you,"

And it may be that there were plenty of these cards still  in circulation or the message on the front “The King protected his army” appealed to the person who sent it.

That said I bet there will be someone who can shed more light on the story.

I did a bit more myself, by going up to Hyde Road and trying to track the house down which I am fairly confident I did.

It stands hard by the old Woodley Iron Works opposite the White Hart and is somewhere I have passed many times.

Hyde Road, Woodley, 1910

All of which has drawn closer to that Belgian post card and the unnamed sender.

And has made me aware of just how industrialized the area was back at the beginning of the last century.

Along with the iron factory, a network of railway lines and a woollen mill. there was a diisued coal mine.

It would be tempting to speculate if our chap worked for any of these but that is really in the realms of speculation.



Picture; from the collection of David Harrop, and map extract from the OS for Cheshire, 1904-10, courtesy of Digital Archives Association, http://www.digitalarchives.co.uk/

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