Now had David not looked out for this 1916 picture post card of a Canadian Regimental mascot, I would never have gone looking for its origin.
It was sent in the October of 1916 to Miss. G. Wyatt, c/o Mrs. Fox of Yey Tree Close House Nr Yeovil in Somerset and carried the message “My dear Gwen, I expect you three are having a nice time with Granma, love to you all from Muriel."
David knows my connection with Canada, and sent it over to me a few days ago.
What caught my eye was that it was produced by Raphael Tuck & Sons, who were one of the major picture postcard companies with offices across Europe and North America.
And because there is an online site dedicated to Tuck postcards, I now know that our bear mascot was one of six produced by the company in a series called Regimental Mascots and that the artist for six was a N. Drummond.*
As so often happens information on sets of postcards can be a little vague, despite there being a serial number on the card which can be matched against the company’s record of when the card was entered into the catalogue.
The card carries the date of August 10th, 1917 as the first known use of one of the cards.
But now we can take that back almost a full year with Muriel’s card.
In time I shall go looking for Muriel, Gwen, and Mrs. Fox.
For now, I shall just reflect on the propaganda value of six picture postcards, which show the mascots of two Canadian Regiments, and one Australian, along with the Warwickshire’s, the London Scottish, and the Welsh Fusiliers.
That they were collected as a group is testified by another card sent by Dennis to Wynne with the simple message “Here is another”.
And for those who want …………. The Princess Pat’s refers to the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, which was raised in 1914 to participate in the Canadian war effort, and was the first Canadian infantry unit to on the Western Front, arriving in France on December 21st, 1914.
Location; The Great War
Pictures; PRINCESS PAT'S MASCOT OF THE CANADIAN CONTINGENT (BEAR), Number: 8820, Artist: N. DRUMMOND, from the collection of David Harrop and the full six, courtesy of Tuck DB Postcards, https://tuckdbpostcards.org/about
David knows my connection with Canada, and sent it over to me a few days ago.
What caught my eye was that it was produced by Raphael Tuck & Sons, who were one of the major picture postcard companies with offices across Europe and North America.
And because there is an online site dedicated to Tuck postcards, I now know that our bear mascot was one of six produced by the company in a series called Regimental Mascots and that the artist for six was a N. Drummond.*
As so often happens information on sets of postcards can be a little vague, despite there being a serial number on the card which can be matched against the company’s record of when the card was entered into the catalogue.
But now we can take that back almost a full year with Muriel’s card.
In time I shall go looking for Muriel, Gwen, and Mrs. Fox.
For now, I shall just reflect on the propaganda value of six picture postcards, which show the mascots of two Canadian Regiments, and one Australian, along with the Warwickshire’s, the London Scottish, and the Welsh Fusiliers.
That they were collected as a group is testified by another card sent by Dennis to Wynne with the simple message “Here is another”.
And for those who want …………. The Princess Pat’s refers to the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, which was raised in 1914 to participate in the Canadian war effort, and was the first Canadian infantry unit to on the Western Front, arriving in France on December 21st, 1914.
Location; The Great War
Pictures; PRINCESS PAT'S MASCOT OF THE CANADIAN CONTINGENT (BEAR), Number: 8820, Artist: N. DRUMMOND, from the collection of David Harrop and the full six, courtesy of Tuck DB Postcards, https://tuckdbpostcards.org/about
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